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Fallout continues to grow since the UNC board inaction on a tenure request for Nikole Hannah-Jones – and now a second UNC professor could also face penalties for speaking out against racism on the campus.
Eric Muller is a law professor who studies the history of racism in American law. He has also spent the last ten years on the board of directors of UNC Press, including the last six years as president.
But Muller was recently refused a reappointment for a third five-year term by the UNC system’s board of governors, despite Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz’s recommendation. Muller lambasted the move in a lengthy statement this week, describing it as “unprecedented.”
NC Policy Watch reported on Monday that sources close to the board of governors, including a board member, said the board likely refused Muller’s reappointment because he strongly criticized the university over racial justice issues, transparency and treatment of Hannah-Jones, a new journalism professor. The anonymous board member told NC Policy Watch that Muller has had “a target on his back” for years.
Among other things, board members were reportedly upset that Muller publicly challenged the legal validity of the UNC system’s settlement with the Sons of Confederate Veterans over the statue of Silent Sam. A court judge Superior subsequently invalidated this regulation. Muller has also been outspoken about changing the namesakes of UNC campus buildings due to their white supremacist ties.
The outlet received an email from a board member claiming that the UNC Press board should kick its members out more frequently. But the board of governors confirmed the reappointment of two other members of the UNC press council – including one who, like Muller, was in office for a third consecutive term.
Muller’s own research focuses on racism in American legal history. He wrote two books on the treatment of Japanese-Americans during World War II.
“I would hate to think [the Board’s action] had something to do with my public comments in recent years on issues of law, race and history, ”Muller said in his statement Monday. “I would hate to think it had anything to do with bringing public attention to ways the law ignored and harmed the interests of African Americans – and still do. These are questions that fall within my expertise as a lawyer and historian, the very essence of the work I do as a university professor.
“It would be a worrying sign,” Muller continued, “to the values of a leading research university and renowned academic press if our Board of Systems Governors were to punish faculty members for expressing their perspective on issues within their expertise. and research. They did that here? I wish I could hope not. But they didn’t know anything else about me. So it’s hard to imagine a different reason.
Photo via UNC Law School.
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