Dive Brief:
- The American Association of University Professors has weighed in against a recommendation to the University of North Carolina system to close an independent research center on poverty.
- Advocates of the UNC School of Law’s Center on Poverty, Work, and Community and its director, Gene Nichol, have said that the closure would be politically motivated, the Chronicle of Higher Education reported.
- The university system’s board of governors is scheduled to vote on the recommendation on Friday.
Dive Insight:
A committee of the Republican-appointed board of governors made the recommendation last week, and board members who support it say the center is an advocacy organization and doesn’t fit with the mission of an academic institution. Nichol is a well-known critic of Republicans in the state and their positions on social issues, so it's not hard to see where the connection to political motivations is being drawn.
UNC's poverty center isn't alone as far as closure recommendations go, though. The committee also recommended closing a biodiversity center at East Carolina University and a civic engagement and social change center at North Carolina Central University, and making changes at 13 other centers focused on research in diversity, environmental issues, women's studies, aging, and teaching and learning.