So you know that whole free speech thing we’re supposed to have as Americans? Well, turns out that some Republicans in North Carolina disagree. Republicans passed a last-minute budget cut that would strip $3 million from the University of North Carolina School of Law.
State Sen. Terry Van Duyn, a Democrat from Buncombe County, asserted that the move had been done to punish the UNC School of Law after they refused to fire Professor Gene Nichol, who has been critical of the Republican-controlled legislature’s efforts to pass voter ID laws. According to WRAL, a Republican-appointed UNC Board of Governors had forced the school to close the privately funded Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity earlier this year that was being headed by Nichol. But the school refused to fire him. … Republicans, however, defended the move, arguing that North Carolinians did not need more lawyers.
Great explanation, GOP!
Team Blackness also discussed Dylann Roof’s last meal before captivity, paid for by the police; the backlash against the Confederate flag and the White House lifts a key restriction on medical marijuana research.
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Major Major Major Major
To be fair, nobody needs more lawyers in this country. Not making a lawyer joke–there are a lot of unemployed lawyers out there.
gene108
Damn…shit’s gettin’ real…
A bunch of the state leg in NC are usually UNC-CH grads. Probably more from there than any other school.
If UNC’s taking a hit, these Republicans must really hate Nichols.
Groucho48
I wonder how many state republican legislators went to that law school?
dogwood
As depressing as these stories are, vendetta by legislation isn’t really indicative of a political movement that knows it’s on the rise.
satby
The national GOP in Congress is targeting AmeriCorps too: http://nationalservice.tumblr.com/post/122335826152/update-from-congress-house-committee-to-cut
I’m an AmeriCorps alum, and it’s the closest thing we have to a non-military national service. So of course it has to go, according to the vile shitstains of the GOP. Every single day, I find new ways to hate them more.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
The entire UNC system has been taking huge hits from the legislature lately. And this is on top of the accreditation hit from the sports scandal: 12 months probation.
There’s another RIF in the new state budget as well, this time specifying which positions are to be eliminated.
NCSteve
So, clearly, the way to end the problem of too many lawyers is to shut down a program at UNC Law that doesn’t actually have anything at all to do with the number of people enrolled. It all makes perfect sense.
And, besides, work and opportunity? For poor people? Not on our watch, buster!
I miss the days when Republican pretexts weren’t so transparently nonsensical that they represent open mockery of the MSM asshats who treat them as the functional equivalent of truth.
RSA
@NCSteve:
The UNC Board of Governors reviewed 240 centers and institutes, system-wide, and decided to shut down… 3.
jl
Nice timing. Too bad you can’t run that stuff up a flagpole, maybe would be be enough scandal to pull it back down.
PurpleGirl
… however, defended the move, arguing that North Carolinians did not need more lawyers.
Brings to mind a song by Tom Paxton:
(CHORUS:)
In ten years we’re gonna have one million lawyers,
One million lawyers, one million lawyers.
In ten years we’re gonna have one million lawyers.
How much can a poor nation stand?
Brandon
@Major Major Major Major: Yes, it is undoubtedly factually true that there are tens of thousands of more law grads every year than law jobs hiring requiring a JD.This country could do with closing a good 20-30 law schools at least. While it would be a shame over academic freedom, it would be a good start for the NC legislature and UNC to decide to close the law school just because.
Just in NC there are a massive number of law schools: Duke, UNC, Campbell, Charlotte, Elon, NC Central, Wake Forest and there are probably a few more for-profit/unaccredited ones too.
To quote Chuck D, “Shut it down”.