UNC president: Job candidates say no, citing bathroom law
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 Wednesday.
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“I know people have withdrawn their candidacy,” Spellings told The Associated Press during an interview Wednesday. “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.