Gene R. Nichol is a law professor, commentator, and author of Indecent Assembly: The North Carolina Legislature’s Blueprint for the War on Democracy and Equality (Blair) and The Faces of Poverty in North Carolina: Stories from Our Invisible Citizens. He was director of the UNC Poverty Center until it was closed by the UNC Board of Governors for publishing articles critical of the then governor and General Assembly. Since 2015, his research has been supported by the North Carolina Poverty Research Fund. He lives in Chapel Hill, NC.