Students lined the walls of the Pleasants Family Assembly Room in Wilson Library on Monday afternoon, holding signs that urged officials to reconsider accepting money from a controversial conservative think tank.
Faculty members also aired their concerns at a meeting that mostly dealt with the possible $14 million donation from the John William Pope Foundation, which would fund a proposed program in Western studies.
The protesters said they were worried that the University's academic freedom would take a hit from the foundation, which they said could exert influence over the campus's intellectual life.
"It would devalue education and harm the reputation of the University," said senior Chase Foster. "Most people in academia know the Pope Foundation is against the University's ideals."
The Popes are the founders of the John William Pope Foundation, the John Locke Foundation and the John William Pope Center for Higher Education Policy.
The Pope Center, which is independent from the other groups, has openly contested and criticized UNC for offering courses in women's studies, mandating a cultural diversity requirement and selecting "controversial" books for the summer reading program.
But Bernadette Gray-Little, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, told her colleagues that the Popes have not intervened in the proposal and will not be allowed to control any curricula.
"We must say 'no' to funds that want to exercise that kind of influence on courses," she said.
She explained how Art Pope and his father, John, a former member of the UNC Board of Trustees and president of the Pope Foundation, came to the University seeking to donate about $14 million.