Opinion: UNC should not use donor money for lawyers, PR

The University has essentially given the Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom law firm a blank check for its services.

And in October, the University spent $782,000 on services provided by Edelman, the world’s largest public relations firm.

Not to worry, the University says. There are no public funds going to either Edelman or Skadden, which was recently named one of the top mergers and acquisitions law firms in the country. How fitting.

Instead, the University assures its constituents (or are we shareholders now?) that the millions of dollars it’s spent on the expansion of its public relations efforts and legal fees haven’t come from taxpayers.

But they have come from somewhere — namely, a fund of generous alumni donations that otherwise could have been used to fund scholarships, raise staff salaries and improve the school’s infrastructure at a time when federal and state funding is being slashed.

It’s not like UNC doesn’t need a good lawyer right about now.

The University is currently facing lawsuits for its handling of sexual assault, admission practices, workplace environments and the education it provides student-athletes.

Or, in University-speak, it’s facing “various ongoing legal matters.”

It also just lost its top lawyer. After years of stonewalling media requests for more information about the academic scandal, UNC’s longtime General Counsel Leslie Strohm left this University with her tail between her legs in January.

But the University has the services of the state attorney general’s office at its disposal. Why not use them, and save its donations for students?

The University’s response is understandable from an institution trying as hard as it can to mitigate the public fallout from its problems with sexual assault and past academic irregularities. But it is not the only way.

Granted, the $3.1 million spent on the Wainstein report went toward an effort to understand the particulars of wrongdoing at the University.

But the general focus on protecting UNC’s “brand” has overshadowed and sometimes diminished efforts that might improve the quality of the product its brand is meant to represent.

UNC is a great university, and it’s important that people know it and that it has legal protection.

But there is a balance to be struck between protecting UNC’s image and the candor required for it to actively address the problems it faces.

We believe the University has erred on the side of the former at the expense of the latter.