A public professor

Editorial by Greensboro News-Record, December 18, 2013.

If a University of North Carolina law professor uses a state email account to discuss political issues, the correspondence is a public record. Anyone has a right to see a copy of it. That’s a simple, straightforward principle.

The professor is Gene Nichol, who has served as UNC law school dean and director of the school’s Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity. He is also a former president of The College of William and Mary.

Nichol is a frequent critic of the policies of Gov. Pat McCrory’s administration and the Republican state legislature.

As a “liberal” activist, Nichol was targeted by the conservative Civitas Institute in Raleigh for an extensive public records probe. The private organization asked for phone records, emails and other communications generated by Nichol during a six-week period. Its purpose, it said, was to find out what taxpayer money may have been spent for partisan activities by the professor or the poverty center. In other words, it was a political fishing expedition.

Any material that falls within state law’s definition of public records — and Nichol would know — should be provided as requested. As an employee of a state university, Nichol works for the public. How he uses public resources, including public means of communication, is of public interest. Civitas is within its rights to make the request.

What else is Civitas up to? Nichol has many friends in the universe of higher education in North Carolina who believe Civitas aims to shut him up by badgering him with public records requests. Three hundred academics from 24 colleges and universities made an obvious connection: Civitas is funded by money from businessman Art Pope’s family foundation — the same Art Pope who funded the campaigns of many Republican legislators and serves as McCrory’s budget director. So, Nichol criticizes McCrory, and McCrory’s budget director has his political organization hound Nichol. That is the theory.

So the 300 academics wrote to McCrory and Pope demanding that they denounce this attempt to “intimidate future dissent.”

Civitas President Francis X. De Luca responded with a statement that was smug, condescending and correct: “All state employees should know that they report to the people of North Carolina, and that anyone can request public documents. Or do the letter signers think professors are an elite class above the law, and they can keep their work secret from the taxpayers who fund their salaries?”

For some work, the answer is yes. Scientific researchers, even at public universities, can seek patents for their discoveries, for example. They are entitled to withhold new ideas lest rivals steal their work. A UNC historian wouldn’t have to release a draft of a book she’s writing. But routine communications can’t be shielded from public access.

The irony is that the McCrory administration has implemented a policy of charging for public records. It claims it takes too much staff time to comply for free. Civitas has been quiet about that.

It’s not wrong in this case, however. Nichol should release whatever materials qualify as public records. Other professors should support the law, even if they recognize it can be manipulated for political reasons.