A committee of the University of North Carolina system Board of Governors voted Tuesday to bar a prominent university civil rights center from engaging in litigation, a decision that alarmed both civil rights and academic freedomadvocates.
The Committee on Educational Planning, Policies and Programs voted 5 to 1, with one member abstaining, on a proposal that would prohibit all centers and institutes — though not legal clinics — under the UNC system from joining in or initiating lawsuits. Chiefly, however, this affects the UNC Chapel Hill School of Law’s Center for Civil Rights, which is reportedly the only center or institution in the UNC system that joins in litigation. The full board is set to vote on the proposal in September.
Read more in Inside Higher Ed.