UNC BoG voted to shut down Gene Nichols' Poverty Center.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

UNC governors vote to close 3 university-based centers
Faculty group, students dissent, saying decision will have a chilling effect on academic freedom

By Andrew Dunn and Jane Stancill
[e-mail] [e-mail] 27, 2015 Updated 14 hours ago



CHARLOTTE — As nearby protesters chanted slogans about freedom and democracy, the UNC Board of Governors voted Friday to close three university-based centers as part of a sweeping review of institutes across public campuses in North Carolina.

The decision was condemned by faculty members, who called it an attack on academic freedom and a blow to the university system’s national reputation. The three centers focus on poverty, the environment and voter engagement; the leader of one of the centers, a well-known liberal, has been a vocal critic of the state’s Republican leadership. The UNC board members are almost all Republicans.

....

After the unanimous vote, taken at UNC Charlotte, three campus-based centers must shut down by Sept. 1: The Center on Work, Poverty and Opportunity at UNC-Chapel Hill; East Carolina University’s Center for Biodiversity; and N.C. Central University’s Institute for Civic Engagement and Social Change.

....

“We will carry forward the work of the Center within the halls of the university, but with greater flexibility and increased resources,” he said in a statement. “North Carolinians are not easily cowered. They react poorly to petty tyrants. They always have. If the Board of Governors moves to block the creation of such a research fund – a turn that is not unlikely – I will be anxious to join them in federal court.”

....

http://www.newsobserver.com/2015/02/27/4587457/unc-governors-vote-to-close-3.html#storylink=cpy

[WorseBeforeBetter]

1. Gene Nichol's statement on closing of UNC poverty center

By Gene Nichol

February 27, 2015 Updated 14 hours ago

I have no words to match the gratitude I feel for the astonishing support the poverty center has received, in recent weeks, from thousands across North Carolina and the nation. Students, faculty, alumni, engaged citizens, activists, social services providers, political, religious and institutional leaders and, perhaps most movingly, Tar Heels living at or below the edge of poverty have raised their voices and banners in protest.

....

On an otherwise dark day for the University of North Carolina, I am happy to announce that, in response to the censorship efforts of the Board of Governors, an impressive array of foundations and private donors has stepped forward to assure that the work of the center, if not the center itself, will continue and markedly expand. Generous grants and donations will allow for the creation of a North Carolina poverty research fund at the law school to support our efforts to describe, document and combat the wrenching challenges of Tar Heel poverty.

The fund will allow us to hire student, faculty and post-doctorate scholars to assist me in probing the causes of, and solutions to, economic injustice. We will carry forward the work of the center within the halls of the university, but with greater flexibility and increased resources. North Carolinians are not easily cowered. They react poorly to petty tyrants. They always have. If the Board of Governors moves to block the creation of such a research fund - a turn that is not unlikely - I will be eager to join them in federal court.

....

But despite this heartening support for our research, none should be confused about what happened today in Charlotte. The university's governing board moved to abolish an academic center in order to punish its director for publishing articles that displease the board and its political benefactors. The governors said to a member of the faculty: We cannot allow your writings to go without rebuke. We may not be able to fire you, but we will do all we can to suppress your efforts. Criticisms of this governor and of this General Assembly, at this public university, are not to be tolerated. Were I to have praised the legislature's war on poor people rather than decry it, the board would have placed laurels on my head instead of boots on my neck.

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2015/02/27/4587459/gene-nichols-statement-on-closing.html#storylink=cpy

[Triana]

2. I hope the idiots in this state who voted for these tyrants or didn't vote at all will manage

to vote them out in 2016. Koch, ALEC, Grover Norquist et al have their boots on the collective neck of NC . While most of the US reserves the word 'thug' for brown-skinned people, it applies more aptly IMO to the likes of the McCrory regime in NC, the Walker regime in WI and others like it.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

3. I'm afraid we're headed the way of Kansas, rather than Minnesota.

Will this state ever be "right" again? I'm really discouraged.

[Triana]

4. With the Koch chokehold, I doubt NC will ever be right again.

I can't envision it. For one thing, it can't even begin until 2020 when the next census occurs.

[aggiesal]

7. The following is

NOT good news.

I am happy to announce that, in response to the censorship efforts of the Board of Governors, an impressive array of foundations and private donors has stepped forward to assure that the work of the center, if not the center itself, will continue and markedly expand.

This is exactly what the GOP wants. Get programs like this out of government funding, and have them get their money from private donations, or if they don't get any money, they close doors permanently.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

9. "The Poverty Center receives no direct state funding and is supported by foundation grants."

Indirect state funding?

Labor, librul weenies on college campuses, voter suppression... the GOP is RELENTLESS.

[jtuck004]

5. If it was important not a student or professor would attend another class until they recant.

Probably too comfortable where they are at, though. And besides, it's only poverty and voting and the environment, not finance or something important.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

6. Nichols will continue his poverty-related work at the law school...

...an impressive array of foundations and private donors has stepped forward to assure that the work of the center, if not the center itself, will continue and markedly expand. Generous grants and donations will allow for the creation of a North Carolina poverty research fund at the law school to support our efforts to describe, document and combat the wrenching challenges of Tar Heel poverty.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1069&pid=5744

I have no idea the money he's received, but it would be nice to see some funneled to the other centers as well. There's always a workaround.

[jtuck004]

10. Sure, but it legitimizes the idea that the people's work is only valuable if funded by someone

other than the people. Private money always comes with the danger of influence, no matter how much people try to avoid it.

It's a bad precedent to let stand. Not unique after decades of non-existent statesmanship by politicians on all sides, just one more idea down the tubes.

Those who will pay the price are the ones that come after, growing up with no idea that this SHOULD be done by the people.

[blkmusclmachine]

8. The 14 characteristics of a Fascist Government:

http://www.rense.com/general37/char.htm

Controlled Mass Media

Corporate Power is Protected

Labor Power is Suppressed

Rampant Cronyism and Corruption

Obsession with National Security

Supremacy of the Military

Powerful and Continuing Nationalism

Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause

Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights

Rampant Sexism and Homophobia

Religion and Government are Intertwined

Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts

Fraudulent Elections

http://www.rense.com/general37/char.htm

[WorseBeforeBetter]

11. Depressing.

I'm not optimistic about NC. Maybe after the 2020 census, as Triana mentions up-thread.

[1handclapn]

12. the Gop steps on the poor and diverts billions all the time to the 1%, it is a cult

the Abraham Vereide cultists who usurped the GOP believe that wealth and Power are proof of god's favor of a man.. therefore it is a sin against gods will to tax them (explains the GOP Dogma [they no longer have an ideology, only Dogma so they cant ever compromise] and the poor are being punished by god so it is a sin against 'God's Great Plan to help them or not torment them'. so by deliberate design an underclass of wage slaves is created and blamed for their condition. the Elites have looted over 95% if the financial wealth thru wall street Ponzi schemes and cant lose speculation on the necessities of life fro the underclasses.. that raises the cost of living for them every day. recessions happen when the Elite's get greedy and loot too much money at once.. recessions happen when there simply isn't enough money left in circulation to run an economy. how can 80% of the population survive on less than 5% of the all financial wealth of the country.?

the 1% richest hold 43% if America's Financial wealth, the richest 10% hold 72%, the richest 20% hold 95.4% of financial wealth... the bottom 80% holds a Whopping 4.6% of America's financial wealth, the bottom 80% holds about 2.5 to 2%. here IS NO MIDDLE CLASS anymore.!! only have and have not's. we are a Banana Republic run by dicktaters. read Jeff Sharlets, [9 months on NYT best seller list], "The Family" very cheap used on amazon. he is on youtube lots.