The UNC Board of Governors met in a special session on Tuesday to discuss the University System’s legal options following a flurry of litigation on Monday over House Bill 2.

The controversial North Carolina legislation was the subject of three federal lawsuits filed on Monday.

Board chair Lou Bissette echoed the words of System President Margaret Spellings, saying that the system is stuck in a difficult situation between complying with federal and state law.

“We are committed to resolving the legal issues in the university’s favor as quickly as possible,” Bissette told reporters after the board spent nearly three hours in a closed session meeting.

Governor Pat McCrory started off the legal action Monday by suing the United States Department of Justice over the agency’s claim HB2 violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. North Carolina House Speaker Tim Moore and Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger also sued the DOJ on Monday; the lawsuit from the legislators expanded the scope to the DOJ claim that HB2 violated Title IX of the Education Amendments and the Violence Against Women Act. United States Attorney General Loretta Lynch then capped off the festivities announcing the agency was suing the state, the governor, the Department of Public Safety and the University System for violating federal law.

The biggest economic downfall from the litigation could be the pulling of federal dollars from public schools in North Carolina, including the University System. Spellings said she and the board know those funds are “essential” to the 17-campus system’s operation.

“The board and I are completely committed and very clear that we can’t operate this place without federal funding,” Spellings said.

Bissette said turning off the faucet of federal dollars was a very real concern for the board but could not occur over night.

“And we would certainly be in contact with the Department of Justice long before any eventuality like that occurred,” Bissette said.

Spellings did say there had been an open channel of dialogue between the system and the DOJ before the lawsuits were announced Monday. Bissette added there has been continued conversation with the state General Assembly in the days since letters were sent from the DOJ to the University System, Governor Pat McCrory and the state Department of Public Safety notifying the agencies they were out of compliance with federal law.

Bissette described the conversations with lawmakers as “constructive” and “frequent.”

“The [lawmakers] we’ve talked to are very supportive of the University System,” Bissette said. “And many of them share some of the same frustrations that we do.”

Bissette did acknowledge that it has been a frustrating time for the entire board trying to navigate these legal waters.

Bissette said the board will now go forward retaining legal counsel to represent the University System in the lawsuit brought by the Department of Justice.

Bissette reiterated that the University System has not changed any of its antidiscrimination policies and would not going forward. Spellings then said that there is no enforcement mechanism in House Bill 2, and, therefore, the system campuses have taken no action to implement or enforce the law.

“We’ve not violated any provision of Title IX [of the Education Amendments] or Title VII [of the Civil Rights Act],” Spellings said, “as it relates to House Bill 2.”

The legal process form here may be a long one; with the University System trying to figure out which laws it must follow.

Watch the full press conference with Lou Bissette and Margaret Spellings: