Conservatives Seek To Block Law School’s Ability To File Suits

Conservatives at the North Carolina Board of Governors want to strip the University of North Carolina Center for Civil Rights of its ability to file lawsuits. Proponents of the ban said that lawsuits take away from the center’s educational mission. UNC law professor Gene Nichol told AP that the proposal is “strictly, certainly and undoubtedly ideological.” Julius Chambers, a black attorney who endured firebomb attacks in the 1960s and 70s in civil rights demonstrations, founded the center in 2001. The center has represented dozens of North Carolina individuals and groups, many of whom were too poor to afford representation, in cases fighting against social, economic, and racial discrimination. The center’s managing attorney, Mark Dorosin, said, “The folks pushing for this are opposed to the nature of the advocacy that the center does and the issues that people we represent are fighting for.”