From WUNC (3/7/2014): Conservative think tank Civitas Institute made a public records request last fall for the emails of UNC law professor Gene Nichol. Professors from around the state decried the records request as politically motivated. One thousand emails were recently turned over to Civitas, which after analyzing them says an anti-poverty program put together by Nichol amounted to a political activity. Nichol is director of UNC's Center on Poverty.
WUNC radio reports that the Civitas Institute’s public records request for emails of UNC School of Law professor Gene Nichol has been fulfilled. Nichol is the director of UNC’s Center on Poverty. Shortly after the request was made, professors from the law school and other insitutions decried the public records request, claiming it was an act of intimidation and retaliation for public comments Nichol made about the administration of Gov. Pat McCrory.
Civitas received more than 1,000 of Nichols’ emails and claims that the records show he was using state resources for political activity. The basis for that claim is a conference that Nichol organized in November titled “Poverty, Partnerships, and the Public Good” that examined the effects of recently passed legislation on poor people across the state. Nichol said the conference was not partisan.
Read and listen to the WUNC report here.