CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Protesters have disrupted a University of North Carolina Board of Governors discussion over an anti-poverty center headed by a sharp critic of Republican lawmakers and Gov. Pat McCrory.

About two dozen protesters on Friday read a statement opposing the closing of Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill law school. Some were led out by campus police at the meeting in Charlotte.

State university leaders moved to a smaller room, allowing in board members, reporters and staffers and leaving protesters to chant outside.

The poverty center is headed by professor Gene Nichol, who was the law school’s dean when he helped created the center in 2005 as a platform for John Edwards ahead of the former Democratic vice presidential candidate’s 2008 campaign.