In just four days last week, the current Board of Trustees once again showed that they are incapable of being entrusted with the state’s “priceless gem,” the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
To recap:
- Dave Boliek used his position as a trustee to help win the Republican nomination for State Auditor. That’s wrong, and he should resign from the board.
- The board – at the urging of Boliek and trustee Marty Kotis and without hearing from affected staff, students or faculty – voted to move all funding from programs that promote diversity and protect against discrimination to law enforcement.
- The board announced that it would hold a closed-door session to examine the Athletics Department budget, indicating that they do not know the basics of open meetings law in the state. They had to back down after a judge ruled they would violate North Carolina’s Open Meetings Law. Chair John Preyer then tried to deny the plain facts of what happened.
Here are the details:
Boliek: Using UNC to Campaign
Boliek was wrong to use his official actions as a trustee to help his campaign for Auditor. That’s an abuse of his position.
On Monday, May 13, the day before the Republican runoff primary, Boliek said at the trustees’ meeting, “I think that DEI is divisive. I don’t think it’s productive. I don’t think it gives a return on investment to taxpayers and to the institution itself.”
The next day, Boliek narrowly won the runoff against Jack Clark. Boliek had finished second to Clark in the March 5 primary.
Boliek’s campaign website boasts:
“While board chairman, Dave led the fight at UNC to eliminate woke diversity and equity policies and create a new School of Civic Life and Leadership to help bring ideological balance to the notoriously liberal campus.”
Website: https://auditordave.com/
Another trustee, Jim Blaine, is a consultant to Boliek’s campaign. The campaign paid Blaine’s company, “Martin & Blaine/The Differentiators,” $35,250 last December: https://cf.ncsbe.gov/CFOrgLkup/ReportDetail/?RID=213669&TP=EXP
Boliek is using his position as a trustee to further his political ambitions. We call on him to resign.
The Attack on Diversity
The Board of Governors is expected to vote this week to repeal the UNC System’s diversity policies. But the trustees didn’t wait. They voted last week to eliminate from the university’s budget all $2.3 million in funding for diversity programs – and to transfer the money to law enforcement. They also want to revisit their financial relationship with the town of Chapel Hill because of their views about the Chapel Hill Police not participating in police actions on campus.
Neither the trustees nor the Board of Governors have taken time or made the effort to consider the impact of their actions on students, faculty, and staff at the state’s 17 UNC System campuses. Diverse campuses benefit everyone.
Here is what UNC Student Body President Jaleah Taylor said:
“As a Black student, I am very supportive of diversity, equity and inclusion programs. I’ve seen the benefits of them on campus. And so I’m hoping that the Board of Governors does not vote to approve this policy, even though it’s probably very likely.”
We recommend that you read the eloquent defense of diversity written by Dr. Mimi Chapman, one of our co-founders: https://coalitionforcarolinafoundation.org/dr-mimi-chapman-why-diversity-matters/
We also recommend The News & Observer’s interview with a professor who studies diversity programs and concludes that they “ultimately benefit students and account for small portions of university budgets.” He says “the loss of DEI offices could significantly hinder the ability of universities to deal with incidents of discrimination and harassment on campus — a responsibility they are required to uphold by federal law.”
Behind Closed Doors
Also last week, a legal challenge forced the trustees to back down on their plans to discuss the UNC athletics budget in secret.
On Monday, May 13, the same day of the anti-diversity vote, trustees said they would meet in closed session the next Thursday to talk about alleged deficits in the athletics budget.
Chair Preyer, according to WRAL said:
“I think it is imperative that we carve athletics out of the approval today, and we have an extended discussion in closed session at our meeting on Thursday, so that we can all hear just how bad it is and what needs to be done to remedy it, and I think that’s best to accomplish Thursday in a closed session.”
But, on Wednesday, Triangle attorney David McKenzie filed a legal complaint saying that a closed session would violate the North Carolina’s Open Meetings and Public Records law. He also said the board held an illegal secret meeting to discuss the matter in November 2023.
His complaint said:
“The public has a vested interest in the discussions surrounding UNC’s affiliation with the ACC and the financial management of UNC Athletics. These critical matters should be conducted in open sessions to uphold the principles of transparency and accountability. Shielding such discussions from public scrutiny undermines public trust and violates the law.”
A Superior Court judge agreed and issued a temporary restraining order. The trustees had to cancel the closed-door session.
Preyer read a statement at Thursday meeting to, in his words, “correct and clarify” the board’s intent. In other words, he had to backpedal.
WRAL summed it up: “The chairman of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Board of Trustees said it would not discuss the school’s athletic budget in closed session Thursday despite saying it would do just that during a special meeting Monday.”
You can read more – and read McKenzie’s complaint and the judge’s restraining order – here: https://www.wral.com/story/facing-open-meetings-lawsuit-unc-board-says-it-won-t-discuss-athletics-budget-in-closed-session/21434783/
At Thursday’s meeting, Interim Chancellor Lee Roberts defended athletic director Bubba Cunningham against trustees’ criticism: “Our athletic director is one of the most senior, well-respected, well-regarded, admired athletic directors in the country. He has broad respect from his peers and we don’t have a more capable, more experienced, more talented senior administrator here at Carolina.”
Cunningham is one of the few long-serving administrators still in place on campus. The trustees have chased off most of the rest.
Enough is Enough
These three events, all in less than a week, reinforce our total lack of confidence in the trustees’ current leadership.
Some trustees – notably, Ralph Meekins – have carried out their responsibilities in a responsible way. But some – this week it’s Preyer, Boliek and Kotis, next week it may be some other combination – are doing more harm than good.
They are an embarrassment to UNC. The chaos they cause impedes the ability of the interim chancellor, faculty and staff to manage day-to-day campus operations.
Most damaging, they undermine any hope that there will be a meaningful search for a permanent chancellor. Who would want to work with this board?
In January, UNC System President Peter Hans and Board of Governors Chair Randy Ramsey cautioned the trustees to, as one board member put it, “stay in our lane.”
Instead, the trustees gave us a dystopian version of romper room.