On to board for Bowles-backed systemwide proposal

By Gregory Childress

gchildress@heraldsun.com; 419-6645

CHAPEL HILL -- A committee of the UNC Board Of Governors on Thursday unanimously approved a new, systemwide policy to govern campus hate crimes.

The committee on education planning, policies and programs will now forward the policy recommendation to the full board for its consideration next month.

Before the committee cast its vote, UNC System President Erskine Bowles told its members that the proposed policy is an important one involving two of the system's bedrock principles, "freedom of expression and freedom from unlawful discrimination."

And while acknowledging that the policy might not be perfect, Bowles said it's "just about as right, if not as right" as it could possibly be.

"I hope you will support this and I hope you will support it enthusiastically," Bowles said.

If approved next month, the policy would forbid students from engaging in unlawful harassment that "threaten, coerce, harass or intimidate another person or identifiable group of persons ..."

It grew out of a racial incident in the Free Expression Tunnel a day after Barack Obama became the first African American elected to the nation's highest office.

Four students, whom the university declined to identify, wrote racist remarks such as "kill that nigger" and "Shoot Obama" among others.

The committee approved the policy with only a few questions and concerns, most of which centered on the definition of words in the document. Minor changes also were made to the draft to make meanings clearer.

Marshall B. Pitts, chairman of the committee, said he wasn't surprised the policy received unanimous support from his colleagues.

"We recognize this is just the right thing to do," Pitts said. "I believe the board understands the importance of having a policy like this."

The American Civil Liberties Union initially expressed concern about UNC system efforts to adopt hate speech codes, contending that such policies amount to government censorship.

But earlier this week, Katherine Lewis Parker, legal director of the ACLU in North Carolina, said system officials have made a good attempt to protect the free speech rights of students, faculty and employees.

The policy forbids "unlawful harassment" that is "directed toward a particular person or persons, based upon the person's race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, creed, disability or veteran status."

Unlawful harassment includes behavior that is "unwelcome, severe or pervasive, objectively offensive and so unreasonable it interferes with the target person's employment, academic pursuits, or participation in university-sponsored activities as to effectively deny equal access to the university's resources and opportunities."

Hundreds of N.C. State students rallied in the days after the hate-laced graffiti was discovered to denounce the authors' words. Civil rights organizations such as the state NAACP took the lead in challenging the UNC system to adopt a hate crimes policy.