The following content was created by Public Ed Works. We requested permission to republish it.
RALEIGH (May 8, 2024) – There’s a process to choose chancellors at UNC System campuses.
Follow it.
If there was any doubt university leadership has become hyper-politicized in recent years, state House Speaker Tim Moore and Senate leader Phil Berger removed it last week.
As if we need more evidence, both declared that ‘interim’ should be removed from UNC-Chapel Hill Interim Chancellor Lee Roberts’ title.
Moore said Roberts showed “incredible leadership” and “a lot of backbone” in directing removal of pro-Palestinian protesters from the main quad on UNC’s campus and ordering the American flag to be restored after protesters took it down.
Asked whether he supported Roberts becoming permanent chancellor, Moore responded, “100 percent.”
Moore said he told UNC System President Peter Hans and UNC System Board of Governors Chair Randy Ramsey they “ought to take that interim title off and name Lee Roberts the chancellor today,” according to The News & Observer.
Similarly, Berger told reporters there was “no question” Roberts should become the permanent chancellor.1
Roberts, a former state budget director under Gov. Pat McCrory and former member of the system Board of Governors, was named interim chancellor in December after Kevin Guskiewicz announced he would leave Carolina to become president of Michigan State University.
There’s no question Roberts was decisive in dealing with the protesters last week, who offered him a political gift when they removed the U.S. flag Tuesday afternoon.
“That flag will stand here as long as I’m chancellor,” Roberts told reporters after the American flag was restored.
But this isn’t about Roberts so much as the politicians. By virtually anointing Roberts, they made his job harder should he become chancellor. (He still hasn’t said publicly whether he’ll apply for the permanent job.)
They confirmed beyond any doubt that the choice of chancellors is a political (and emotional) one – and in the process further poisoned his standing with a skeptical university faculty.
“It was not a good look for the interim chancellor to be standing on the steps of the South Building with armed guards next to him, right?” said Anthony Charles, a member of the Faculty Executive Committee. “It kind of made the situation a lot worse.”2
And support from the faculty is critical to any chancellor’s success.
THERE’S A PROCESS to follow, and the politicians should allow that process to play out, rather than jumping the gun to declare a winner.
We’ve already heard mutterings for months that “They have their man.”
The General Assembly doesn’t have a direct role in chancellor searches, but it does appoint all members of the systemwide Board of Governors and some members of campus Boards of Trustees.
After more than one version and significant teeth-gnashing, the Board of Governors adopted a new chancellor search policy last year – and Roberts was a member of the Board at the time.
By changing the composition of search “advisory” committees at each campus, the policy shifted considerable influence in the process away from the campuses to the UNC System Office.
The committee can include no more than 13 members. It must include the System President, the Chair and another member of the Board of Governors, and a sitting or retired UNC System chancellor. It also must include members of the campus Board of Trustees, faculty, student body, staff and alumni.3
The search advisory committee recommends candidates to the campus Board of Trustees, which must recommend at least three candidates to UNC System President Hans, who in turn recommends a final nominee to the Board of Governors.
The current search committee at UNC Chapel Hill includes just two members of the faculty: Dr. Cristy Page, Executive Dean at the UNC School of Medicine and chair of the search committee; and Dr. Beth Moracco, Chair of the Faculty.4
AT THE OUTSET, university officials promised a legitimate national search for the next chancellor at UNC Chapel Hill.
“A thoughtful and professional search goes a long way in setting a new chancellor on the path to success,” Hans told the search advisory committee at its first meeting in March.
“And if we meet our responsibilities well, building trust through a fair and rigorous process, we can help ensure that an incoming leader has the confidence and the support of the campus and wider community.”5
Building trust through a fair and rigorous process – that’s the ideal.
If the politicians can just keep their fingers out, it would be a very good thing to let that process play out.
It might just help build a better North Carolina.
1 https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article288208965.html.
2 https://www.wral.com/story/it-was-not-a-good-look-unc-committee-discusses-interim-chancellor-s-actions-during-pro-palestinian-protests/21408970/.
3 https://www.northcarolina.edu/apps/policy/doc.php?type=pdf&id=74.
4 https://publicedworks.org/2024/03/unc-ch-chancellor-search-launches/.
5 https://ncnewsline.com/2024/03/22/search-begins-for-unc-chapel-hills-next-chancellor/.