The Board of Governors of the University of North Carolina is making national news by proposing that three centers—one at UNC-Chapel Hill, one at East Carolina University, and one at North Carolina Central—be eliminated.

The grounds are that the centers are more political than academic. And they have dared to go after a notoriously outspoken law professor, Gene Nichol, who heads the law school’s Center on Poverty, Work, and Opportunity. Thus, the publicity, some of which is pretty negative.

Professor Nichol has argued that his academic freedom is being stifled and, further, defends himself by calling the Board of Governors “agents of wealth, privilege and exclusion” who are unconcerned about poverty.

Jon Sanders of the John Locke Foundation has some judicious words in response. First, he points out that the Center was political from the start. It was formed in 2004 for John Edwards after he lost his vice-presidential bid (running with John Kerry). The center was meant to be a “vehicle to keep him politically viable” till 2008. That didn’t happen, primarily because Edwards got himself involved in a scandal.

Sanders then points out that the center’s policies are counterproductive when it comes to reducing poverty. Nichol promotes the minimum wage, which is known to hurt the least able workers and, in fact, was initially motivated by racism (Sanders gives citations); the center opposes school vouchers for poor children; and it ignores and the positive impact on economic growth of lower taxes and less regulation, while disparaging those who favor those policies.

Let’s hope that the Board of Governors stays the course.