After HB2 decision, professors still concerned

Nearly six months after the North Carolina General Assembly passed House Bill 2, a federal court has ruled UNC cannot enforce parts of the controversial bill that limit bathroom use on campus.

Even with the recent federal court decision, concerns over the effects of HB2 have not been erased.

“I don’t think it will change how other institutions and people and politicians outside of the state look at North Carolina,” said Rudi Colloredo-Mansfeld, chairperson of the Department of Anthropology. “I have colleagues who have moved a conference out of North Carolina in response to HB2, and this court ruling won’t return that conference.”

Colloredo-Mansfeld expressed relief that students on campus were able to use whichever bathroom matched their gender identity.

“I think the court ruling is good for restoring some kind of peace and privacy on campus, but I don’t think this court ruling is going to change our stature,” Colloredo-Mansfeld said.

Fitzhugh Brundage, chairperson of the Department of History, said he also believes the recent ruling will not make hosting academic conferences any easier.

“I don’t think the ruling changes anything at all. I wouldn’t hold a conference here,” Brundage said. “The ruling seems to make it sound as though somehow the University of North Carolina isn’t in North Carolina. If the law is operative outside of the University it doesn’t change anything, in my way of thinking.”

Brundage said that he chose to cancel a Southern Intellectual History Circle conference in the wake of HB2 being passed.

“There was one conference that I was slated to organize, I was supposed to be the sponsoring scholar, if you will, and I was going to organize it and I told them they shouldn’t hold it here,” Brundage said.

Chairperson of the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies Silvia Tomášková said she doubts the new ruling will quell concerns coming from scholars about HB2.

“Unfortunately, I don’t think (it will alleviate anxieties) because it is so narrowly defined that it’s just these three defendants and it’s still working its way through the courts, that aspect of the law isn’t having any effect I think,” Tomášková said.

Brundage said although he is happy the decision was made, it doesn’t take away the fact the law is still intended to be enforced across the state.

“I think it does very little to mitigate the damage of HB2, either to student morale or faculty morale,” Brundage said.

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