Center a boon for UNC, Edwards

Poverty institute has benefited both

CHAPEL HILL -- For two years, the anti-poverty center at UNC-Chapel Hill has served as a vehicle for former Democratic Sen. John Edwards to talk about the issue that has become a centerpiece in his quest for the White House.

The UNC Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity provided Edwards with a platform to travel the country discussing poverty. It buttressed his credentials on an issue important to many Democratic voters. And it allowed Edwards to court labor leaders who could be important to his presidential prospects.

But UNC-CH officials say they, too, benefited from the arrangement. They say Edwards used his star power to draw major speakers and big donors, and made the privately funded center a permanent institution.

"There was skepticism both within and outside the university whether this would be a genuine academic, worthwhile exercise," said Jack Boger, dean of the UNC School of Law, where the center is housed. "My opinion is that it has exceeded everyone's expectations."

When Edwards resigned as director last month, Edwards said the center had "helped spark a nationwide renewal of interest" in the problems of poverty.

Gauging the effectiveness of a think tank is difficult because they trade in the ephemeral world of ideas, conferences and reports. The center's work was overshadowed by Hurricane Katrina, which dramatized the problems of poverty in ways that no forums or reports ever could.

The naming of a prominent politician to head an academic institution raised some eyebrows on campus.

"It didn't seem he had any expertise on poverty law," said Roger Lotchin, a UNC-CH history professor. "I didn't think the university should be appointing someone to an important institution unless they are highly qualified to be in charge of it."

Edwards had made inequality a cornerstone of his 2004 presidential run. Three months after Edwards lost the vice presidential race, he and UNC-CH set up the nonpartisan poverty center.

Edwards has long had a relationship with the law school, from which he and his wife Elizabeth graduated. Elizabeth's father once headed the Naval ROTC program at UNC-CH. Boger holds the Wade Edwards chair, named for the couple's son who was killed in a 1996 automobile accident.

Poverty or politics?

There are anti-poverty centers based on campuses around the country, most notably one at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan. But those centers are mainly focused on research into the causes of poverty.

The UNC center was designed to be different, focusing on solutions as well as raw research. It brings together researchers and activists, as well as academics and those running community programs, according to Marion Crain, a law professor who was recently promoted from the center's deputy director to be its new director. The program also pulled together academic disciplines in departments across campus.

The speakers at a dozen forums, panels and other center events included experts on such issues as health insurance, education, minimum wage and job training. In April, the center will publish a book, "Ending Poverty in America," with essays from some of the participants.

Among those who spoke at center events were two of the most influential labor leaders in the country, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, and Anna Burger, chairwoman of the breakaway labor group Change to Win -- both of whom could be important to Edwards' chances of capturing the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008.

There was a sprinkling of conservative speakers, such as former Republican U.S. Rep. Jack Kemp, and Tim Kane, a scholar with the Heritage Foundation in Washington.