Gene Nichol, dean of the UNC School of Law, said Thomas will meet with students and faculty members at the law school throughout the day, culminating in a speech to law students at 4:30 p.m.
Nichol said the speech is not open to the public because it is being held in the Carolina Club, which does not have enough seats to hold all law students. "We don't have enough room to accommodate the whole law school community, so we had to have students apply for tickets for admission," he said. "Also, Justice Thomas has asked that it not be a public event."
But not everyone in the law school community wants to attend the day's events. On Feb. 28, five members of the law school faculty drafted a letter expressing their intention to boycott Thomas' appearance.
The letter is signed by all the law school's black faculty members -- Professors John Calmore, Adrienne Davis, Charles Daye, Kevin Haynes and Marilyn Yarbrough. "While many law students, faculty, staff and alumni are expected to participate in the day's events, we the law school's five African-American faculty members will not join them," the letter states. "Although it has been reported in the local press that the law school is 'delighted' to have Justice Thomas visit, we emphatically do not share that delight."
The letter cites concerns about Thomas' political views and several of the votes he has made since his appointment to the Supreme Court in 1991.
"Justice Thomas is not just another Supreme Court justice with whom we disagree," the letter states. "Since Justice Thomas's appointment to the Court, replacing Justice Thurgood Marshall, he has provided the critical fifth vote in a number of decisions that have set back the quest for racial equality and social justice in this country."
Daye said he and the letter's other authors preferred not to comment individually on the statement.
Nichol said that although he is disappointed the five faculty members disapprove of Thomas' visit, he thinks it is their right to express their views. "My own view is that this is a university, and we should invite in very diverse groups and speakers, people we agree with and people we disagree with," he said.
Nichols also said he did not think the statement indicated a racial divide among the faculty, even though the letter came from all of the school's black faculty members.
