As many readers know, a working group of the University of North Carolina Board of Governors recommended, last week, that UNC's Center for Poverty, Work and Opportunity – run by law professor (and former dean) Gene Nichols – be shuttered. It also called for limiting the activities of the school's Center for Civil Rights.
There has been a good deal of (negative) press about these decisions. The News & Observer, the paper of record in the Triangle, called the decision a slap "at Nichol – and free speech." Now, on the law school's website, the UNC Law faculty has posted an open letter responding to the decisions. Read it here.
Mixed feelings on this. The Center for Poverty, Work and Opportunity has always been a political entity. Professor Nichol has been perceived by those in NC as using his position at the Center as a platform to attack the resurgent state Republican party. Now, those folks he has been attacking want his platform taken away. You live by the sword, you due by the sword part of my thinks.
I generally roll my eyes at folks who scream about attacks on academic freedom. However, this is a pretty terrible case. It does not appear that the Center gets much (possibly none?) government funding. Professor Nichol gets paid a nominal stipend to run the Center. The working group is just trying to punish Professor Nichol. Such punishment will of course fail. Closing the Center won't get Prof. Nichol to shut up. On balance I'd say that the naked revenge taking element appears petty and I hope the BoT decides against shutting down the Center. Won't count on that happening though.
On a related note, I read that Professor Nichol teaches 1 class a semester and gets paid over $200K at UNC to do it. Can't say I like that.
If Prof. Nichols is receiving $200k for teaching one class per semester, then his Center is effectively being paid for by taxpayers. Or more accurately, by tuition from the law school students. Is this compensation unique to him or do other UNC law profs have a similar deal?
Not keen on naked revenge but I could not help but wonder if the Center actually did anything for anyone. We know law faculties never shut anything down. Is possible the right things happened for the wrong reason?
Most of these center are nothing more than a webpage, no real "center" in terms of a physical space and almost all are created to stroke the ego of the profs involved. They do nothing for the school's rep, in most instances, and certainly nothing for the students funding them thru their tuition dollars.
In the case of most "centers" — there is no there, there.