The UNC Civil Rights Center is under attack. Founded in 2001 by Julius Chambers, a black attorney who survived firebomb attacks in the 1960s and 1970s while fighting for equality, the center plays a pivotal role in protecting marginalized people.
The North Carolina General Assembly, with a politicized Board of Governors and Board of Trustees, have continued their attack on black and brown people and poor people of all races.
These legislatures are zealously committed to eliminating the Civil Rights Center’s ability to litigate under the narrative that education is not litigation.For an institution that prides itself on practical experience beyond the theoretical classroom readings, that angle doesn’t hold much weight. Sorry BOG.
The Civil Rights Center’s litigation allows students interested in public interest law to gain direct practice and experience; therefore, the motive of legislatures goes beyond litigation itself. This attack is about ideology and who the parties involved in these cases are.
Litigation is a formal lawsuit brought forth by a plaintiff addressing the violation of civil rights by the defendant. The BOG wants to ensure that the state of North Carolina is never found on the side of the defendant — not through upholding civil rights, but through silencing bodies that confront them when they do obstruct justice.
BOG member Steve Long stated that “suing the state and its municipalities violates the mission of the University.”
The mission page of UNC clearly says the University “serves N.C., the U.S. and the world through teaching, research and public service.”
In other words, the University’s mission is to serve the people of this state and promote the values of equity and equal treatment under the law. The power of litigation is strongly evident in the historical struggle for equality.
UNC’s own law school would not be integrated if wasn’t sued by its first black student, Floyd McKissick Sr., in 1957.In ROCCA et al. v. Brunswick County, community efforts joined with the Civil Rights center to prevent Brunswick County from placing an industrial waste site in a low-income, predominantly black community. A settlement was reached to build an elementary school on the property instead.
