“We want to show up and make it known that we are paying attention,” Brien said. “There’s nothing they can do to detract students.”
Jim Holmes, chairman of the working group, said in a press conference on Feb. 18 that the board is more concerned about the poverty center’s impact on law education and where it fits on campus.
“This is not a commentary on poverty proper. When we looked at where this particular center fits, and without all the focus on all the other stuff that’s been written, we would’ve come to the same conclusion,” Holmes said.
But UNC law students have begun posting testimonials of their experiences with the centers on a blog. David Harper, a third-year student, discussed how the poverty center impacted his education. He worked on a project involving foreclosures in Durham County.
“Doing the work there at the (center) alerted me to this pretty big issue, gave me valuable research experience, and it was stuff that was very different from anything I had ever studied or learned in a classroom,” Harper said.
Additionally, 139 UNC faculty members spoke out against the board, urging Chancellor Carol Folt not to follow the recommendations.
There has been speculation as to whether Folt has the power to act against the board’s closing of centers. In a letter to The Daily Tar Heel published Wednesday, UNC graduates Tim Longest and Joe Polich said the UNC Policy Manual delegates oversight of centers and institutes to their campuses. But a proposed revision might give the board power to review centers at will.
“It kind of strips power from campuses without explicitly saying so,” Longest said.
But according to a memo prepared by UNC-system General Counsel Thomas Shanahan, “The (UNC-system) president has broad administrative and executive authority, but even that broad authority remains subject to the direction and control of the Board of Governors.”
Still, the American Association of University Professors hopes the board will vote against the recommendations.
And Brien said she is grateful for the attention from national organizations.
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“It really helps put pressure on the board to understand that these issues extend beyond our individual campuses,” she said.
state@dailytarheel.com