Thursday, June 18, 2015
North Carolina Senate Cuts $3 Million From UNC Law School Budget: 'The Gene Nichol Transfer Amendment'
WRAL News, Senate GOP Docks UNC Law $3M:
A last-minute amendment by Senate leaders Wednesday docked the UNC Chapel Hill School of Law budget by $3 million. Democrats say it's political payback for the school's employment of legislative critic Gene Nichol. ...
Senate Rules Chairman Tom Apodaca ... wanted to take $3 million from the UNC School of Law at Chapel Hill and give it to the Mountain Area Health Education Center, or MAHEC, located in Asheville. ...
Sen. Ralph Hise spoke in support of the amendment.. "I think we all know the law school can absorb this and nothing will change. I’ve been all across my district – I've never heard, 'If we could only get some more lawyers in my district, we could solve this problem.'"
Senate Democrats were left bewildered, with many saying that while they support boosting MAHEC's funding to deal with rural provider shortages, the law school's budget isn't the best place to find the money. ...
The UNC Chapel Hill School of Law is the employer of law professor Gene Nichol, a frequent and outspoken critic of Republican legislative leaders. Earlier this year, the GOP-appointed Board of Governors cut off funding for the think tank Nichol used to lead, the Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity. But Nichol retains his tenure at the school. ...
Sen. Mike Woodard questioned whether the "capricious" cut would force reductions in financial aid or public service programs at the school. "This feels like the Gene Nichol transfer amendment," he added.
https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2015/06/north-carolina-senate-cuts-3-million-from-unc-law-school-budget-the-gene-nichol-transfer-amendment-b.html
Comments
This is the best I could find:
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/121062/north-carolina-republicans-battle-uncs-gene-nichol-poverty-center
Defunding the Edwards-Nichols Center doesn't sound so bad--- maybe it was just university-sponsored political activism--- but the current funding cut is illegitimate political retaliation unless there's something else going on (which maybe there is).
Posted by: Eric Rasmusen | Jun 18, 2015 10:28:36 AM
Tuition for in state students is now approximately the same as for out of state students at most state law schools. So why on earth should the state be funding them? Strong move here NC. Don't waste a dime of state money on law school.
Posted by: JM | Jun 18, 2015 6:33:30 AM
This sounds bad, but I didn't see anything about what Nichols had done except that he's a "legislative critic". What is it that he said that provoked this? Or did he bring lawsuits against the State or legislature? Or did he do something else?
Posted by: Eric Rasmusen | Jun 18, 2015 5:26:40 AM
Nichols compared the governor of North Carolina (a Republican) to a famous segregationist. He's been poking the bear every chance he gets and attacking the Republicans in the most intemperate language he could find.
So the Republicans took the bait and expressed their displeasure. The downside for the Republicans is this make them look like totalitarian petty a--holes. The downside for the University of North Carolina is that the Republicans have no shame and the end result of insulting their bosses is that the University just has less resources.
Posted by: UNC | Jun 18, 2015 10:39:34 AM