Departments voice concerns over HB2

House Bill 2 has drawn its most recent critics — University Academic Departments.

Departments across the University have issued statements in opposition to HB2, in hopes of continuing to promote inclusivity.

Silvia Tomášková, chair of the department of women’s and gender studies, said chairs of all departments within the College of Arts and Sciences recently met to decide how to respond to HB2.

“In our meeting, we discussed whether and how departments should respond,” Tomášková said. “There was a general agreement that departments should issue their own departmental statements.”

Tomášková said her department in particular should take a stance on the issue because the bill addresses much larger issues than just gender.

“I think that it is our responsibility as researchers, scholars and teachers to have an opinion,” Tomášková said. “We are citizens as well as employees, and as citizens we all have the responsibility to address issues that affect our fellow citizens.”

Tomášková also said there are growing concerns among both scholars at UNC and scholars from other institutions stemming from HB2.

“We have heard anxieties and withdrawals from other scholars from other institutions who do not wish to participate in any activities related to the University,” Tomášková said.

She said conferences are being cancelled or moved to other states, and now UNC scholars have to explain to their colleagues that they are better than this law.

Tomášková said many scholars who work at state universities are unable to travel to North Carolina because they lack funding.

“If you are teaching at a state university in the state of Washington or teaching at a state university in New York State, you cannot use your travel funds to go to North Carolina,” Tomásková said. “So for faculty, they will not travel because they are not wealthy people.”

Professor Rudi Colloredo-Mansfeld, chairperson of the department of anthropology, said he has had to deal with questions regarding HB2 at academic conferences.

“Colleagues at other universities and graduate students at other universities ask us about it,” Colloredo-Mansfeld said. “They want to know what it means and they’ve heard about it, and now it is a part of our reputation when we go to professional conferences.”

Professor Elizabeth Mayer-Davis, chairperson of the department of nutrition, said she was concerned about the affect HB2 would have on incoming students.

“Part of what motivated the statement, that I felt like we really needed to do, was we did have some students who decided not to come to UNC, even though they said explicitly that they loved the Gillings School of Global Public Health, they loved our department, they wanted to be here, but they couldn’t come because of HB2,” Mayer-Davis said.

Mayer-Davis said she wanted to make sure students understood the department’s perspective and culture.

“We did not want students, prospective students, to have any sense that we would be anything but inclusive and respectful,” Mayer-Davis said.

Although the University has faced obstacles because of HB2, it has also been making efforts to create an inclusive environment for LGBTQ students.

UNC Facilities Services has a page on their website listing all available gender neutral, single-occupancy restrooms on campus. Anna Wu, associate vice chancellor for facilities services, said she is focusing on providing resources to a diverse campus community.

“The first step was to update the inventory with all of the gender-neutral, single-use restrooms that we have available,” Wu said. “The next step this summer is to identify other single-use restrooms that can be made gender-neutral.”

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