The greatest threat to North Carolina, says Gene Nichol, director of UNC-Chapel Hill’s Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity, is a plague of wrenching poverty. Ten years ago, North Carolina ranked 26th in poverty; it’s now 11th. Forty-one percent of minority children are poor, and in places like Charlotte, with the worst upward mobility of any American metropolitan, their lives will never change.
But the Poverty Center is on the verge of shutting down. Nichol’s criticism of Republican policies made him an enemy of the governor, a target of the state legislature and a victim of a conservative takeover of the university system.
Amidst public scrutiny from UNC’s Board of Governors, Nichol agreed to meet with me last November. Brawny with brown but graying hair below his ears, Nichol wore short sleeves, and unfazed by the freezing temperature, spoke of childhood in a Dallas Catholic school.
Son of a Texas sharecropper, Nichol’s worldview formed when influential boosters recruited the high school star to play college football. “My father was the most impressive person I knew, and these wealthy people thought he was inferior,” says Nichol. “Even then, I knew it was fucked up.”
The Poverty Center was founded in 2005 by former senator John Edwards and UNC’s School of Law, where Nichol was dean. During his unsuccessful vice presidential campaign, Edwards used the center to hone his “Two Americas” platform. Nichol left to become president of the College of William & Mary, but was forced to resign in 2008 for removing a cross from a secular chapel and allowing a sex workers’ art show in the name of free speech.
Nichol returned to take over the center as the Great Recession forced thousands more into poverty, and resulting education cuts ended public funding of the Poverty Center in 2009.
With private grants from the UNC Law Foundation and Z. Smith Reynolds, the center carried on its work, taking a poverty tour of the state, filling its blog with articles on issues like being pregnant and poor, and releasing policy briefs on topics ranging from the Earned Income Tax Credit to a community approach to retail development.
Then Republicans swept the 2010 election. Nichol decided, “given altered circumstances in Raleigh and Washington, it [was] essential to change directions … we face an unfolding crisis in North Carolina for poor and working class folks.” Nichol penned editorials in the News & Observer when Republicans cut unemployment benefits and refused the Medicaid expansion.
The criticism was not welcomed. On three occasions in 2013, UNC law dean Jack Boger relayed threats from the legislature. If Nichol didn’t stop writing articles, they’d close the Poverty Center, move it to UNC-Pembroke, or he’d be fired. But he pressed on, accusing the GOP of an “unforgivable war on poor people,” violating “our history, our ethics, our scriptures and our constitution.”
When protestors gathered for Charlotte’s Moral Monday, legislators indicated if Nichol gave a speech, grave consequences would follow. Nichol gave the speech.
After McCrory signed the voter ID bill, Nichol wrote a column, in which he called Gov. McCrory a “21st century successor to Maddox, Wallace and Faubus,” three segregationist governors from the 1960s.
Imagine McCrory’s face. “Pat called from Mississippi this morning,” wrote UNC Board of Governors member Ed McMahan to board chairman Peter Hans. Hans complained to UNC president Tom Ross, who felt they were “over-reacting.”
Retaliation came from McCrory’s budget director, Art Pope, or at least the think-tanks his family financed, including the John Locke Foundation, the John W. Pope Center for Higher Education Policy and the Civitas Institute.
Three days after Nichol’s Oct. 15, 2013, N&O story, Civitas’s Francis De Luca and the Pope Center for Higher Education Policy’s Jane Shaw simultaneously published an online piece entitled “Academic Freedom or Shrill Partisanship?” In it, they wrote: “Nichol’s nastiness and increasingly unhinged partisanship … reflects an arrogance and radicalism that have been building for years.”
Claiming the Poverty Center violated university policy by engaging in politics, Civitas filed a public records request for Nichol’s emails, phone calls and text messages, obtaining 1,180 pages of correspondence.
“He uses the Poverty Center as a personal left-wing play toy,” De Luca told me in a recent interview. “The only poverty the Poverty Center addresses is that of Gene Nichol and the people who work there.”
In response to the controversy, UNC required Nichol give a “heads up” before every column, and add the line “He doesn’t speak for UNC” at the end.
That didn’t end the backlash.
Last August, McCrory signed a budget directing the Board of Governors to consider cutting $15 million from centers and institutes. Despite private funding, the Poverty Center was targeted for review.
It’s politics. “There’s a bright line between expressing opinions of your expertise and engaging in advocacy,” says John Hood, president of the John W. Pope Foundation. “Nichol goes far beyond the causes and solutions of poverty to personally criticize elected officials in ways that aren’t academic.”
Nichol says he’s honored the Poverty Center is among the threatened institutions (including the Juvenile Justice Institute, Carolina Women’s Center, and the Sonja Haynes Center for Black Culture and History), but worries an “ideological agenda” is behind the review.
All 32 members of the Board of Governors were appointed since 2010; 29 are registered Republicans. “The Board of Governors is philosophically different than it used to be,” says De Luca. “Republicans appointed them.”
A factor-based inquiry narrowed 237 centers down to a list needing further inquiry, but a second phase focusing on 34 centers “was a very subjective process,” says Jim Holmes, the chairman of a working group formed in September to make cuts. “Any member for any reason, or motivation, could pick a center they wanted to hear from.”
Steven Long, one of the seven members of the working group, is a former board member at Civitas. Another is Ed McMahan, the board member McCrory called from Mississippi.
When the group convened in December to hear from the 34 centers, students lined the walls, some with black tape over their mouths, others with signs that read “Dear BOG, why are marginalized groups a target?”
Nichol’s hand shook as he wiped sweat from his forehead. “I don’t deny we engage in advocacy, and that we have an agenda,” he told the panel. “We think people at the bottom aren’t getting a fair shake.”
According to Holmes, recommendations, including termination, will go to the full Board of Governors for a Feb. 27 vote, and they plan to implement an advocacy policy advising center directors on what they can, and can’t say.
On Jan. 16, the Board of Governors announced UNC system president Tom Ross will leave next year, forcing him into retirement. If he’s expendable, supporters of the Poverty Center expect the worst.
The real victims are the 1.7 million living at or below the poverty level in North Carolina; they’re losing a voice. “I spent an afternoon with a homeless woman in Hickory, and haven’t gotten over it,” Nichol tells me. “She lost her cat, and said, ‘I know it sounds stupid, but when you’ve lost everything, there is no longer any expectation you’ll have a decent life. And you start to think you don’t even deserve one.’ I remember coming home after that and hearing some fool in the legislature say, ‘We don’t have any real poor people in North Carolina.'”
This article appears in Feb 4-10, 2015.
“Nichol left to become president of the College of William & Mary, but was forced to resign in 2008 for removing a cross from a secular chapel and allowing a sex workers’ art show in the name of free speech.”
Nichol DID leave UNC Law to become W&M President. The rest is untrue. Nichol claimed he was forced the resign. Not true. He was not asked to resign. The BOV asked him to leave quietly at the conclusion of his soon-to-be-expiring contract, and offered a nice severance to ensure he would leave quietly. The reasons for the BOV decision included Nichol’s refusal to follow BOV requests about management of the College, refusal to seek help in specific areas, the alienation of alumni, and loss of some of the College’s largest donors.
Nichol did not leave W&M quietly. Instead, he left while sending a hurtful bombshell of an email accusing the College and the BOV of being unfriendly to his ideas, which was untrue. Nichol claimed the BOV acted because of the cross issue and the first amendment. Not true. The BOV actually AGREED with Nichol on those issues. No less than the Rector himself, Michael Powell, said this to the media and the College community at the time. Their problem with Nichol — in the end — was his inability to be an effective College President.
If that were so, why do you not substantiate your claims, and why hide behind a cryptic pseudonym? You might be Art Pope for all we know.
Bibi – facts are facts. Go look them up. Among other things, it’s factually inaccurate to say that Nichol was “forced to resign” — his contract was up.
As a fellow W&M alum (one of the few who had the privilege to graduate under his tenure), I think the article fairly portrays what happened to him. There was a political witch hunt out for him after the cross incident in the chapel. We won’t get into the fact that NOT having a cross on the altar is actually more consistent with the chapel used by many of our founding fathers.
Yes, his contract was up as a new president but he was pushed out through various strategies.
I only really remember two things that were said that graduation weekend and one was from him – “700,000 Virginians living in poverty subsidized your education. What are you going to do to pay them back?” He believes firmly in these issues – it’s sad to see what has happened to him.
I knew Gene Nichol during his time at William and Mary. I was an undergrad during the three years he was President and knew the man well- we’d go out for coffee, dinner, ice cream, etc. at least once a semester. That was just the kind of man President Nichol was- extremely invested in his community. Do you want to know why the BoV wanted Nichol to leave quietly? Because Nichol’s decisions to respect the freedoms of religion and free speech, by moving the Wren Chapel cross and making it a treasured relic in the chapel instead of a religious symbol in a public institution and by allowing a burlesque show that had already visited the college the year before to perform again, upset conservative alumni who threated to withhold donations to the college. The Board of Visitors choose money over the well being of the College and wanted Nichol not only gone, but silent. Gene is not a man to be intimidated and he decided to release the incriminating letters the BoV was threatening him with instead of cashing out. The entire community of students, professors, and faculty of all kinds rose up and supported Our President. We protested continuely for weeks and stood in solidarity. I can honestly say that I love and respect Gene Nichol, both the kindhearted man and the outspoken proponent of progress. Though his time was short he was an amazing president who did much to improve the College, look into the Gateway program he started to help underprivileged students succeed.
Once again his decision to fight for what is right in the face of well-financed opposition is “causing trouble.” Good. The world needs more people like Gene Nichol.
Gene Nichol is a blowhard who doesn’t actually have any moral courage. In 2006 as a senior at the College of William & Mary, my roommate was accused of raping a fellow student (and coincidentally the daughter of a BOV member) at the BOV member’s James River estate where the BOV member allowed alcohol to be served to underage students partaking in a sorority rush party that this BOV member’s daughter was a member of. My roommate was arrested from our room at 3 in the morning and charged with rape. The College insisted on having its own administrative hearing before the State’s case could even get on the docket. My roommate’s lawyer advised him not to testify at the College hearing since the criminal matter was more serious, so he didn’t. The College found him guilty and expelled him…all within little more than a week from the alleged incident. Not 2 months later, it became apparent that the accuser had made up the allegation. The Commonwealth’s Attorney dropped all charges with a full apology from the Commonwealth. Armed with this dismissal AND the apology (which you seldom get) my roommate appealed to Gene Nichol directly to be reinstated at the College. He was, after all an excellent student with excellent grades and was president of the Government Society on campus and hadn’t had so much as a parking ticket his prior 3 years as a student. Gene Nichol had the opportunity to do the right thing. He could have reinstated my roommate and allowed him to graduate, which he could have done on-time. He could have stepped up and upheld the core values William & Mary holds dear: that we are a nation of laws, that we are a community that values integrity and respect. Gene Nichol never got that. For him the most important thing was keeping this as quiet as possible so our small campus didn’t get sucked into the national conversation surrounding the Duke case at the time. He was terrified that he would walk out of the Brafferton one morning to find a CNN satellite truck. So he chose the cowardly path. This is indicative of who he is a person. He might talk a good game, but it doesn’t take long for people to see that he is no different than people like Al Sharpton or Sarah Palin. Its all about the Gene Nichol show. Hopefully no one else will give this buffoon another platform to stand on. I’ll never forget the day I randomly ran into Gene in a strip mall parking lot in Williamsburg. As a proud William & Mary student, I was stoked to have just gotten my W&M branded vanity license plates from the DMV with the tag”1693VA”. He stared at it and was like ‘oh, neat. A William & Mary plate.’ Completely oblivious that 1693 was in the tag…the year the College was founded. The appropriate response would have been something like ‘I can’t believe that wasn’t taken!’ or ‘Wow! 1693! Cool!’ Or whatever. But he just didn’t get it. What a joke. I’m proud to have attended the ‘alma matter of a Nation,’ but I’m pissed that Gene Nichol’s signature is on my sheepskin for eternity.
This guy is still in the news, and his apologists are still defending him by “disliking” factual statements. His contract was up and he was asked to go. Period. He moved on and so should we. The College lives on.
*Just want to follow up on my previous statement as I want it to be completely accurate. My roommate was accused of raping the best friend of the BOV member’s daughter. Not his daughter.* Apparently you can’t edit comments after 5 mins or I would have done that instead of a second post.
I am disheartened to read what Gene Nichol and the UNC Poverty Center are going through. During his short presidency at William and Mary, Nichol ushered in a number of initiatives to make the College more inclusive (notably, establishing the school’s Diversity Statement/website and strengthening programs to diversify the faculty, administration, and student body). His open door policy, conscious efforts to vocally support student endeavors, and participation in a number of student activities helped to foster a relationship with the students unparalleled to most, if any other, university presidents.
Those who take sides and speak up will always face oppressors. Gene Nichol is steadfast in his beliefs and committed to strengthening the community around him. He advocates on behalf on those who may be unable to do so themselves and I take comfort in knowing that he continues to give voice to the “voiceless”, despite well-financed campaigns that wish to silence him. I’m glad to be on his side.
LOL at TRIBEPRIDE for holding a grudge that Gene Nichol was unaware of a few, correct responses to his license plate and didn’t acknowledge it with more enthusiasm.
All the claims of freedom are all part of the American illusion! Since when does criticising a Politician result in the closing down of an entire center that promotes the plight of the weak in society? In America, that happens! Politicians are not gods! They are there to be criticised! The Republican Party sound like the heartless Tories of Britain!But America is supposed to be better, because they have a constitution which they claim guarantees them the rights they use to do all sorts of things! But it doesn’t always work that way, does it? And we let America influence the world? This will have to change! The contradictions are far too much to stomach!
Dear WEAKARGUMENT, my point was that the guy didn’t have a clue about the significance of ‘1693’. It’s when the College got the royal charter. It’s on the weather vain above the Wren Building. It’s a part of the College crest. I had to point this out to him before he got it… You’d think he would have at least looked up W&M on Wikipedia when he got the gig. This number isn’t lost on anyone who has ever attended the College. It’s not an insignificant detail and it goes directly to my point that Gene Nichol doesn’t care about the platform he’s on, so long as he has one.
As I recall, among the very first things Dr. Nichol implemented were initiatives to diversify the student and faculty populations. To this end, he established a policy of granting full tuition to any students whose combined family income was less than $40k annually, provided the beneficiaries met all the same standards for admission that were required of all applicants .Obviously this was not enthusiastically endorsed by the BOV or their good ol’boy puppet masters in Richmond. However, to oppose these efforts would have exposed them as racist. Instead, they made a HUGE deal of the Wren cross episode, even after a reasonable compromise was proposed by Dr. Nichol.. Allowing the Sex-Workers Union to come to campus, at the invitation of a student organization, became another HUGE controversary. But both were red herrings, no doubt intended to rile public sentiment and divert attention from the affirmative action policies which were still at the heart of the opposition.
Granted Dr. Nichol was neither subtle nor apologetic, but people who effectively produce change rarely are. Once again, he is up against those who are more likely to want to “keep people in their place” rather make changes in policies with the hope of creating a more inclusive and equitable society. He’ll move on, but we will hear from him again.
I was a student at William and Mary at the time and the majority of students were outraged he was kicked out. Nichol stood for inclusion, freedom of speech and expression, supported the students and their ideas… it was a very sad week on our campus when we lost our President. I had many conversations with him during my time as a student and he was always very open and genuine. He cared deeply for the students and the community of Williamsburg. I can’t believe how much hatred people have towards him when he is truly trying to make the world a better place.
We can argue for days but the BOV never made me feel like I was listened to and just held the young, mostly liberal student body to conservative ideals. I feel so bad Nichol is trying to make the world a better place and is being met with brick walls again. He needs to work with liberal, open-minded people 🙁
Gene Nichol’s employment record in the UNC System database shows that he is paid $212,900 (plus benefits) for 9 months of work.
Perhaps the next shot in the “war on poverty” should be aimed at Gene Nichol’s paycheck.
Nichol also owns a $512,000 beachfront property on Emerald Isle, which he rents for $2,000 a week.
But any article with creepy mancrush overtones about “wiping the sweat from his forehead” isn’t going to mention that.
Mr. Cooper writes:
“The Poverty Center was founded in 2005 by former senator John Edwards and UNC’s School of Law, where Nichol was dean. During his unsuccessful vice presidential campaign, Edwards used the center to hone his “Two Americas” platform.”
That’s a neat trick considering that Edwards ran for Vice President in 2004.
There was considerable outcry about Edwards (one of the most despicable creatures to ever breathe the oxygen provided by the long leaf pine) using the veneer of UNC to launch his 2008 presidential bid, using public money to flit hither and yon to meet donors for his “non-profit”.
Mr. Cooper writes:
“Ten years ago, North Carolina ranked 26th in poverty; it’s now 11th.”
So the Poverty Center was founded in 2005 (NC: 26th in poverty) and here we are in 2015 (NC: 11th in poverty). What would happen to any private business with that kind of track record? That’s right, the exact thing that should be happening to Nichol’s and Edwards’ little cash cow.
As the W&M campus organizer of the Sex Worker’s Art Show, I feel the need to illuminate that Nichol was not exactly supportive. He, Sadler, and 3 other top administrators engaged in delay tactics in an attempt to subvert our efforts and strategized ways to do this behind the scenes. Their tactics included canceling appeals meetings the day of, falsifying insurance requirements that were not consistent with College policy, halting venue reservation without justification, etc. He also authorized a public statement that was staunchly middle-of-the-road, beginning with “I don’t like this type of show, and I don’t like having it here, but….” I was offended at the time, because he had not spoken with anyone from our group or anyone from the show. SWAS was mischaracterized as live porn, when it was in fact a very class-conscious performance art show featuring people who had done sex work to get by or get ahead. I felt that his statement–which I don’t think he wrote, most likely–played into the misrepresentation and that he effectively passed judgment on it without doing his research. It was playing to the middle by alienating both sides.
Also, it was my understanding that he walked into Project Gateway, which was well underway before his official selection as president. I could be wrong about that.
My opinion of Nichol was that he should have stuck to his guns more at W&M. Some of us left-of-center types wanted to see him champion poverty and the rights of working-class College employees who were not paid a living wage. Compared to what he could have truly accomplished, he chose an easy-target, mostly symbolic/inconsequential culture war issue as his first big power play, that backfired and became his unfortunate legacy. I have to agree with the previous commenter who said that he was not invited to return because he was ultimately inept in his political maneuvering, which was for better or worse the thrust of his position as president.
That said, there is certainly nothing reserved about his current incarnation. It would appear to me that he’s learned his lesson and is not holding back. I for one am overjoyed to read his bold words, and I of course share his passion for anti-poverty work and advocacy. Whatever happens at this point, at least he has stayed true to himself and his cause. Better to lose his job by really fighting for what he loves, rather than blowing his proverbial wad and losing his job because he under-shot. Go Gene! Tribe Pride!
Also…let’s not judge the man for being successful, mkay? It’s much easier and sadly more effective to fight poverty when you’re not living in it! Can I get an Amen?
–Sean Barker, ’07