UNC president: Job candidates say no, citing bathroom law
ASSOCIATED PRESS
University of North Carolina President Margaret Spelling spoke from the campus in Chapel Hill, NC. today. Spelling said a state law limiting the legal protections of LGBT people has had real but unquantified effects limiting one of the leading engines of economic growth.
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. >> A North Carolina law limiting the legal protections of LGBT people has hampered the public universities that drive the state’s economic growth, University of North Carolina President Margaret Spellings said today.
Spellings said recruited candidates have ruled out moving to North Carolina because of the law, and that she’s unaware of any academic talent embracing a North Carolina move because of the law called House Bill 2.
“I know people have withdrawn their candidacy,” Spellings told The Associated Press during an interview today. “But how many? To what effect? Were they not coming anyway? We’ll never know.”
The state law enacted in one day in March excludes gender identity and sexual orientation from statewide antidiscrimination protections. It also requires transgender people to conform to the sex on their birth certificate when using bathrooms in universities and many other public buildings.
Companies, concerts and conferences have reacted by shunning North Carolina.
A special legislative session last month to repeal HB2 fell apart and the law remains in place. The law’s defenders have argued that it is needed to protect people from being molested in bathrooms by men posing as transgender women. New Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper said Monday he continues to discuss repeal with leaders of the Republican-dominated legislature.
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“They believe it’s had some unintended consequences for the state,” said Spellings, who was President George W. Bush’s Education Secretary and began leading the 17 public university campuses three weeks before the law passed.
“Obviously the legislature knows what we know. That’s why they had a special session. That’s why they are trying to come to some solution. That’s why the governor and the legislative leaders are apparently talking,” she said.
The 220,000-student UNC system is a defendant in a lawsuit filed on behalf of transgender students and university employees. The plaintiffs say requiring them to use restrooms that don’t match their gender identity is discriminatory.
Spellings has said the campuses must obey the law, but won’t change any policies or enforce the bathroom requirements.
“We’re in a competitive world and our competitors have used this issue against us to some extent,” she said today. “If I’m in Georgia and I’m in a competitive bidding war for a world-class faculty member, I’m going to say, if this is a transgender or gay person, ‘Is this an environment where you’re going to live and work?’ So I think anecdotally there’s some of that going on.”
22 responses to “UNC president: Job candidates say no, citing bathroom law”
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From the beginning of civilization, use the facilities that allows with what you were born with…plumbing wise….not head wise.
Liberalism is a disease.
we already have unisex bathrooms – They are called family bathrooms.
Yes, and they are single stall restrooms, but that is not what transgenders and their supporters want. They want to be allowed to use any multi-stall restroom based on how they feel about themselves.
The thought of sharing a toilet with Chelsea Manning, disgusting.
What you don’t know won’t hurt you I guess
So, if my wife or daughter or both, enter a Women’s Restroom, and 1, 2, or even 3 males “posing as transgender” follow behind them, I’m supposed to be OK with that? WTF, jusris.
I would like someone to explain in simple to understand English why it is discrimination to require people born with male genitalia to use male restrooms and people born with female genitalia to use female restrooms.
Exactly, and have someone please explain in simple to understand English why it is discrimination to require black people to drink only from black water fountains??? #MAGA
So, when the first person is “molested” because “legislation” changed the law to accommodate the so called gay criminal who committed this crime, who’s shoulders does that fall on? Legislators, enforcement( how would you enforce this law anyway? ), or the LGBT community? Really, this is what we’ve come to. What a f—ing joke you clowns are.
So you are imagining a time when a transgender person molests someone in a bathroom?
Transgender people have been using the bathroom of their choice for as long as reassignment surgery has existed. I would think that from a statistical standpoint, you’ll be dead of old age before the first assault takes place.
Keep imagining!
I used to have my boat at a marina where there was a “transgender identity” guy dressed up as a woman who started using the women’s bathroom.
The bathroom also had the showers in it.
It caused a major discomfort to some of the female slip users.
Multiple complaints to management. It became a significant problem.
It eventually ended when he/her moved on.
So whose rights are to be honored? The transgender or the women?
Juris, you didn’t explain why the NC law is discrimination.
Still no explanation, so I will go back to watching the Trump inaugural parade on TV.
I bet prospective college undergrads and graduate students are probably looking elsewhere too. People who think like Keonigohan and Ronin006 are welcome there. Others can find more welcoming and non-discriminatory universities to attend.
So it is ok to have a man in your daugthers bathroom?
Yep! She’ll grow up fast and start carrying a concealed weapon to class.
So, you would prefer someone who looks like a man, dresses like a man and acts like a man to follow your daughter into a restroom because they were born female? Think about that visual for a minute. Or, conversely, would you like someone who looks, dresses and acts like a woman in the men’s restroom because they were born male?
You’re expecting him to think? Have you read his other comments?
One can hope, klastri. I’m just hoping that people think twice before getting swept away by the hysteria being promoted by republicans.
“If I’m in Georgia and I’m in a competitive bidding war for a world-class faculty member, I’m going to say, if this is a transgender or gay person, ‘Is this an environment where you’re going to live and work?’ WRONG, that transgender/gay person makes the decision if they going work at the establishment they want to work for!
Why not hire Illegals workers in your University system as they are the minority too? CRAZY Libertards, standing for the minority and dissing the majority. I had enough of this bs.
One reason the Constitution exists is to protect the minority against the tyranny of the majority.
Maybe move elsewhere? I’m betting that you wouldn’t be missed here. American society has passed you by anyway. It hasn’t been 1950 for a long time.
Yes, Klastri, the Constitution exists to protect the minority against the tyranny of the majority, but it was never intended to allow a very small minority force its will on the majority as the this transgender thing has done. The Supreme Court ultimately will address this issue and when it does I believe common sense will prevail and it will side with the majority.