Columnist Demands Accused UNC Official's Resignation
by Jim Brown
August 17, 2004
(AgapePress) - Just days after denying recognition to a Christian student group, the man at the center of a religious freedom controversy at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill is being accused of playing a role in the 1996 theft of a conservative student newspaper.At the UNC campus that year, someone stole 1,500 copies of The Carolina Review, a conservative student publication. Now Jon Curtis, UNC's assistant director for student activities and organizations, is being accused of helping liberal students steal the newspapers in an effort to influence the outcome of an election for student body president.
TownHall.com columnist Mike Adams is calling upon UNC administrator Jonathan Curtis to resign, claiming he interfered with student groups instead of remaining neutral. "What's bad about this," Adams says, "is the conservative paper, after these very serious allegations, did in fact talk to Mr. Curtis, and he admitted to being there and letting them into the office, but he makes the claim that he did not see them with the newspapers."
Read Mike Adams' column on the controversy
However, Adams finds the claim suspicious, considering that the thieves carried out three very large, transparent plastic bags, each containing around 500 newspapers. "I have photographs of those after they were discovered after being stolen," he says, "and the words Carolina Review are stamped all over -- I mean, you can see right through the bags."
Nevertheless, the conservative columnist says despite Curtis' admittance that he let the thieves into a locked university office in the middle of the night, UNC chancellor James Moeser is standing by his man.
"It's extremely difficult for me and other rational thinkers to accept Jon Curtis's version of events," Adams says, "and this begs the question: why is Chancellor Moeser standing behind this person? If he was involved in this theft, if he was involved in influencing this student election, these are serious, serious, allegations. It's all going to come out in a court of law, and this does not bode well for UNC-Chapel Hill."
Curtis has not returned phone calls from the media seeking comment on the matter. The accusations against the UNC official come amid controversy surrounding his decision to deny recognition and freeze funding to a Christian student group on campus, actions for which he has already come under fire.
