Letter in Support of Prof. Eric Muller

 We offer our adamant support for our colleague Eric Muller, Dan K. Moore Distinguished Professor in Jurisprudence and Ethics at UNC’s School of Law, and we express our grave concern that the Governance Committee of the UNC Board of Governors has denied Professor Muller’s reappointment to the UNC Press board in an act of retribution for his critical public comments regarding the Confederate Monument Settlement and other racial justice issues. Such actions undermine the university’s and our nation’s commitment to free expression and constructive dialogue, a commitment that the Board of Governors is charged by North Carolina law to honor. Punishing faculty for legal participation in North Carolina public affairs has a chilling effect on free speech and academic freedom on UNC’s campus and beyond.

Signed:

Mary Floyd-Wilson, Chair & Mann Distinguished Professor of English and Comparative Literature

Jennifer Larson, Teaching Professor

Joseph Viscomi, James G. Kenan Distinguished Professor of English

Martin Johnson, Associate Professor

Jessica Wolfe, Marcel Batallion Professor of English & Comparative Literature

Matthew Taylor, Associate Professor

Jeanne Moskal, Professor, English & Comparative Literature

Eric Downing, Gerhard L Weiberg Distinguished Professor of German and Comparative Literature

Ruby Pappoe, Teaching Assistant Professor 

Jane F. Thrailkill, Bank of America Term Distinguished Professor

Florence Dore, Professor and Director of Graduate Studies 

Leslie Frost, Teaching Associate Professor

Philip Gura, Newman Distinguished Professor of American Literature and Culture

Marsha S. Collins, Professor of Comparative Literature

Jordynn Jack, Chi Omega Term Distinguished Professor

William L. Andrews, E. Maynard Adams Distinguished Professor of English Emeritus

Tom Reinert, Associate Professor

Marc Cohen, Teaching Associate Professor

Hilary Lithgow, Teaching Associate Professor

Janice Hewlett Koelb

Michael Keenan Gutierrez, Teaching Associate Professor 

Gregory Flaxman, Associate Professor

Todd Taylor, Professor

Kym Weed, Teaching Assistant Professor

Adam O’Fallon Price, Teaching Assistant Professor

Karen Tucker, Teaching Assistant Professor

Geovani Ramirez, Teaching Assistant Professor

Margaret O’Shaughnessey, Teaching Professor

Gabrielle Calvocoressi, Associate Professor/Walker Percy Fellow 

Courtney Rivard, Teaching Associate Professor

Rick Warner, Associate Professor

Soren Palmer, Teaching Assistant Professor

María DeGuzmán, Eugene H. Falk Distinguished Professor of English & Comparative Literature and Director of The UNC Latina/o Studies Program

Rebecka Rutledge Fisher, Associate Professor and Institute for African American Research Fellow

Heidi Kim, Professor

Tyler Curtain, Associate Professor

Susan H. Irons, Teaching Professor

Eliza Richards, Professor

Randal O’Wain, Assistant Teaching Professor

H. Leinbaugh

Meta DuEwa Jones, Associate Professor

Liz Gualtieri-Reed, Teaching Assistant Professor

Wendy Weber, Teaching Associate Professor

Inga Pollmann, Associate Professor

Cynthia Current, Associate Teaching Professor

Jane Danielewicz, Professor Emerita

Beverly Taylor, Professor

Guillermo Rodríguez-Romaguera, Teaching Assistant Professor

Daniel Wallace, Professor

Stephanie Elizondo Griest, Associate Professor/Margaret Shuping Scholar

Joseph Fletcher, Teaching Assistant Professor

Sarah Boyd, Teaching Assistant Professor 

Bland Simpson, Kenan Distinguished Professor