CHAPEL HILL - The leaders of North
Carolina public universities met Tuesday to grapple with the looming threat
that the federal government could withhold billions of dollars if the state
loses legal battle over transgendered students and bathroom.
A North Carolina law adopted in March
requires transgender people to use the bathroom or dressing room in schools or
other public buildings appropriate sex on their birth certificate. The US
Department of Justice alleged in a lawsuit Monday that the 17-campus University
of North Carolina and other state institutions observe state laws that violate
civil rights laws federal.
UNC President Margaret Spellings, former
secretary of the US Department of Education, stressed because he for weeks that
public universities toeing a fine line. The universities will comply with state
law without changing the policy or enforce the requirements of the bathroom,
hoping that it will lead the Obama administration to cut the federal funds, he
said.
"We can not operate this place
without federal funding, and we will not put that at risk," Spelling said
after he and the UNC Board of Governors spent nearly three hours discussing
litigation.
Attorney General Loretta Lynch said Monday
that the Obama administration is not currently funding cuts to the UNC system
but keep it as an option.
Despite the potential cutoff is not close,
it is unlikely the Obama administration has a "greater interest in the
poor and minority students lose financial aid than we do," said Spelling.
At stake for the UNC system is the
potential loss of more than $ 1.4 billion in federal funds. An additional $ 800
million in federal loans for students attending supported public universities
could also be risky.
UNC system Board of Governors and is a
defendant in a lawsuit the Justice Department but did not join a separate
lawsuit filed Monday by Governor Pat McCrory and legislative leaders to defend
the state law.
10 North Carolina Republican members of US
House of Representatives has asked the US Secretary of Education John King
promised it would not cut federal education funds on House Bill 2. The Ministry
of Education this year sent nearly $ 4.3 billion to North Carolina, more than
half of that in the form of federal student loans supported. Cutting the funds
will be part of the same, based on the efforts to extend protection to
transgender people by re-interpreting the civil rights beyond what Congress
intended as the Justice Department tries, the lawmakers said in the letter.
Meanwhile, Democratic state legislators
introduced legislation Tuesday that would replace HB 2 by state
anti-discrimination protection expanded to include those based on sexual
orientation, gender identity and marital status. The House bill would require
equality in housing, insurance, loans, jobs and education, and restaurants,
hotels and shops. One could use the bathroom or dressing room "is based on
a person's gender identity."
Republic, which holds the majority of the
legislature, is not expected to bring the bill to a vote.
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