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From the good people at the UNC Law School Center for Civil Rights — pass it along:

If you or a family member was a victim on North Carolina’s forced sterilization program, you may be eligible for compensation from the state. The deadline for filing a claim for compensation under the Eugenics and Asexualization and Sterilization Compensation Program is June 30, 2014. The UNC Center for Civil Rights, along with other volunteer lawyers, are providing free assistance to those filing claims. We encourage victims and their families to call us with questions about eligibility and how to fill out the claims form. We also encourage victims and their families to attend one of the free clinics we are conducting with help from the NAACP, local churches and community leaders, during which we will provide additional information and assist in filing claims.

  • Thursday, May 22, 10am-1pm at the Lucille W. Gorham Intergenerational Community Center, corner of 5th and Tyson St., Greenville, NC
  • Thursday, May 29, 10am-1pm at the Martin Street Baptist Church, 1001 East Martin St. Raleigh, NC

Clinics will also occur in Mecklenburg and Hertford Counties on June 5 and June 12, times and locations to be publicized soon. Below are answers to frequently asked questions we have received about the process:

Q: Where can I get the claims form?
A: You can download the form at http://www.sterilizationvictims.nc.gov/, or call the Office of Justice at 1-877-550-6013 or 919-807-4270.

Q: Who is eligible for compensation?
A: Living victims of the program are eligible, as well as the heirs of deceased victims so long as the victim was alive on June 30, 2013. Read More

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Frank Bruni of the New York Times has authored an uplifting article about a candidate for student body president at UNC Chapel Hill that’s worth your time this morning (full disclosure: my daughter is helping to support his campaign):

“The campaign for student body president at the University of North Carolina here has just begun, and there’s nothing unusual in the number of candidates — five — or the fact that two are Morehead-Cain scholars, an elite designation.

But there’s a wrinkle that’s certain to generate discussion, especially in a state whose politics have taken a profoundly rightward turn. One of the candidates is an undocumented immigrant who readily identifies himself that way. In fact he’s at or near the head of the pack.

His name is Emilio Vicente. He’s a junior, 22, and a minority three times over: Latino, undocumented and gay. He came to the United States from Guatemala at 6, his mother leading him under barbed wire and into Arizona, as he recalls it. (He remembers the screech of a woman with them whose hair got caught.) And he flourished here, his grades earning him the private scholarship he needed for Chapel Hill, where he’s on this committee, that board, a one-man whirlwind of engagement.

Read the rest of the piece by clicking here. Read more about Vicente’s campaign by clicking here.

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Art Pope 3Pat McCrory 4ICYMI, scholars representing 24 North Carolina colleges and universities and 61 separate departments and programs called on Gov. McCrory and state Budget Director Art Pope yesterday to condemn and repudiate the actions of the Pope-Civitas Institute (an organization funded almost exclusively by Pope’s family foundation)  in demanding the personal email, correspondence, phone logs, text messages and calendar entries of Prof. Gene Nichol of the UNC- Chapel Hill School of Law. Click here to read WRAL.com story.

Here is the text of the letter that the scholars delivered to McCrory and Pope yesterday:

Open Letter from North Carolina Scholars

December 14, 2013

To Governor McCrory and State Budget Director Art Pope,

As scholars from institutions of higher education throughout North Carolina and citizens committed to the constitutional right of free speech, we call on you to condemn the Civitas Institute’s demand for six weeks’ worth of personal email correspondence, phone logs, text messages, and calendar entries from Gene Nichol, Boyd Tinsley Distinguished Professor and Director of the Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity at the UNC School of Law.

This request is clearly in retribution for Professor Nichol’s public commentary critical of your administration. Read More

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The UNC Chapel Hill Daily Tar Heel reported late last night that a former Assistant Dean of Students, three current students and one former student have filed a civil rights complaint against the university over alleged efforts by officials in the University Counsel’s office to squelch sexual assault complaints.

“In 2011, the University Counsel’s office pressured Melinda Manning, then UNC’s assistant dean of students, to under-report cases of sexual assault, according to a complaint against UNC filed to the U.S. Department of Education by Manning and four others.

Manning, three students and one former student filed the complaint Wednesday, alleging that the University has violated the Clery Act, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, and Title VI and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, among other federal laws. Read More

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