In the last two weeks, in the context of student protests against genocide in Gaza, the University of North Carolina Board of Governors passed a measure in committee to repeal the state’s DEI policy and replace it with a policy focused on “equality” and “campus neutrality.” The policy notes that “No unit may be organized, operated, or speak on behalf of the university on “matters of contemporary political debate or social action.”
The policy will be voted on by the entire BOG on May 23, and by all accounts is assured to pass. As Inside Higher Ed has reported, “it would likely lead to the defunding of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and the elimination of DEI offices across UNC’s 16-campus system.” Already on-campus institutions like the beloved Campus Y are restructuring to clearly separate the social justice-oriented student-led organizations from their university work, and other programs are waiting to see the legal and practical outcomes of what “political controversies of the day” entails.
The groundwork for this effort to defund and dismantle minority affinity groups and social justice groups on campus has been laid by North Carolina’s Republican leadership for decades, and by the same political actors who now lead the state GOP.
Outgoing House of Representative Speaker Tim Moore and University of North Carolina System President Peter Hans’ interest in controlling the state’s university system goes back to their respective times at UNC-Chapel Hill more than thirty years ago.
Both men were involved in campus politics during their time at UNC, Hans as the president of the College Republicans and representative in Student Congress, and Moore as Speaker of Student Congress. During his tenure as Speaker of student government, Moore was behind a much-maligned and ultimately failed attempt to strip the Carolina Gay and Lesbian Association (CGLA) of student funding over the summer and against popular opinion.
North Carolina is one of only a handful of states where the university system’s governing body is elected by the state legislature. Through this political quirk, anti-diversity and anti-LGBT political operatives like Moore and Hans are able to pull the university strings and make good on animosities they have nursed since their teen years.
The anti-DEI directive to go before the BOG later this month is part of a long-standing and meticulously planned effort by conservatives in the state government to deny minority students access to funds and community support.
We have created a helpful timeline to help students, community members, and journalists understand the long and eventful history of Tim Moore and Peter Hans’ animosity towards marginalized people during their time at UNC and afterwards.
Peter Hans becomes president of the UNC College Republicans. In a DTH article, he is described as a “a student representative to Campus Watch, a Durham-base group calling for legislation to prohibit student fees from going to UNC’s on-campus gay and lesbian association.”
Lambda, the publication of the Carolina Gay and Lesbian Association, spells this out further, noting: “Peter Hans seemed to focus on our social events when claiming that student fees are going to ‘subsidize sodomy and homosexuality.’ [The author] explained to him that the Carolina Gay and Lesbian Association is an informative, supportive group which helps to raise funds by holding social events.
Peter Hans writes a letter of support to the DTH in favor of an on-campus presidential candidate who vows to defund the gay and lesbian assocation and the Black Cultural Center
Hans runs for UNC Student Congress, calls on student government to “move in less radical directions.”
Hans listed as member of student government external affairs committee in article discussing a state bill that would have outlawed the use of student fees to support “homosexual groups on UNC-system campuses.” Hans says that although he opposes the bill on a student government autonomy basis, he still opposes gay student group funding.
Tim Moore serves as state chairman for Students for America, a “conservative group funded on Judeo-Christian Values” and was named activist of the year.
Tim Moore is listed as a member of Students for Truth, an organization that flyers UNC with leaflets stating that Democratic Senate candidate and civil rights icon Harvey Gantt had a “secret campaign” for gay rights and receives support from “militant homosexuals.” Gantt lost to Jesse Helms.
Tim Moore runs for student congress and wins after a runoff. The following month, he becomes an aide to John Carter (R-Lincolnton), a member of the NCGA. In April, he is elected to be the speaker of student congress.
Moore denies that he has plans to cut funding for Carolina Gay and Lesbian Association and Black Student Movement. In the same article, he’s quoted as telling someone he is “very concerned” about how much money the Black Student Movement is receiving. He is given the ability to appoint as many as 24 students to serve in student congress over the summer. The DTH notes “If 24 of 30 members have been handpicked by the speaker, it’s possible that students will come back in the fall to find a flood of legislation passed by people they didn’t elect.” Moore appoints 11 students, including Charlton Allen, the founding editor of the Carolina Review.
Summer Congress cuts funding to the Carolina Gay and Lesbian Association. Moore is the bill’s primary sponsor, and bypasses normal procedures for bills and resolutions. In an article, the DTH editorial board writes:”Moore must think pulling the wool over the eyes of UNC students is a simple task.”
The DTH reports: “Congress Speaker Tim Moore has called for the CGLA to lose its funds because he wants to uphold an old state law prohibiting ‘crimes against nature.'”
Peter Hans graduates from UNC in 1991.
Tim Moore is named as the orchestrator of the bid to cut funding for the on-campus gay and lesbian student association. The same month, the DTH reports that “UNC’s Young Republicans passed a resolution Friday prohibiting any dealings with Speaker Tim Moore or his cohorts on the grounds that he sought to solicit the aid of various members of the Student Congress in order to facilitate his own advancement.”
Tim Moore tries to restructure the Carolina Union board to eliminate representation from the gay and lesbian student association, and Black Student Movement, and replace them with student government appointees. The chair of the Carolina Union says it’s another “stupid Tim Moore trick to limit the representation of minority groups.” Tim Moore graduates from UNC in 1992.
After they graduated from UNC, Hans and Moore continue to take roles and deals that allow them to begin to exercise control over UNC. Much has been written about this – we recommend The Assembly’s The Troubled Last Days of Speaker Tim Moore and Joe Killian’s work for NC Newsline – but we pull out some highlights below.
Peter Hans becomes the special assistant for policy and research for N.C. Lt. Governor Jim Gardner. At the time, Gardner tried to stop anonymous HIV testing, which LGBT groups and medical groups said would harm HIV+ people.
Tim Moore writes a letter to the editor in the second issue of the Carolina Review, applauding their first issue. “It is certainly good to see a truly conservative newspaper at UNC. The articles in your first issue were very good, especially the “Politically Correct vs. Freedom of Speech article by Jeremy Blume,” he writes. The first issue, available here, attacks the Black Cultural Center at UNC.
Hans becomes the spokesperson for the North Carolina Republican Party. (Source)
Hans becomes Communications Director for Senator Lauch Faircloth (Source)
Hans is elected to Board of Governors (Source: Daily Tar Heel)
Hans becomes chair of the Board of Governors (Source: Carolina Alumni Review)
Art Pope is appointed to UNC Advisory Committee on Strategic Directions last week to “provide vital input” for the system’s next five-year strategic plan (Source: Daily Tar Heel)
The Board of Governors expands and adds 16 new members.
Tim Moore takes over as Speaker of the House, giving him the power to appoint members to the System BOG and the various campus BOTs.
North Carolina passes a new law strengthening GOP control over the university boards, by taking away incoming governor Cooper’s power to appoint campus BOT members or to fill any vacancies on the BOG..
Peter Hans is named president of the community college system.
Art Pope is elected to Board of Governors. Source: News and Observer
Peter Hans is unanimously selected to be the next UNC System President Source: Daily Tar Heel
The Daily Tar Heel reports that “The UNC Board of Governors met Thursday, and after 45 minutes of debate, approved a change to the chancellor search process that will allow the UNC-System president to personally designate up to two individuals as candidates for chancellor. “
Hans makes his first nomination: former UNC Board of Governors member Darrell Allison to become Chancellor of Fayetteville State University. InsideHigherEd reports that Allison has “has no experience in teaching or administration in higher education, and he spent much of his career advocating for K-12 charter schools. Allison previously worked for an organization headed by Betsy DeVos to expand private school vouchers and charter schools, and backed the Silent Sam Agreement. In a NC Newsline piece, sources said that “Darrell Allison did not make the final cut in the search process for Fayetteville State University’s next chancellor, according to sources directly involved in the process. Instead, the former UNC Board of Governors member was added at the last-minute to the list of finalists submitted to the UNC System.”
NCGA Senate leader Phil Berger appoints Lee Roberts to the Board of Governors
Art Pope’s thinktank publishes a white paper on how “the Board of Governors and the legislature stand at an inflection point: either stop the DEI industrial complex or it will take over North Carolina’s universities.” This is the blueprint for the BOG recommendations given in April 2024.
Lee Roberts donates $5000 to the North Carolina Senate Majority Fund and $1000 to the North Carolina Republican Party. (Source: North Carolina Board of Elections)
Lee Roberts is named Interim Chancellor for UNC-Chapel Hill. He has no higher ed experience.
Phil Berger tells reporters that he supports Roberts becoming permanent Chancellor of UNC-Chapel Hill.
Hooper Schultz is a PhD candidate in History at UNC-Chapel Hill and a historian of gay and lesbian activism in the North Carolina Triangle and the broader US South. Melody Kramer is an editor at Triangle Blog Blog, and assisted with the timeline. If you have additional events that should be added to this timeline, please email us at [email protected]