The Quiet Turmoil in the UNC Board of Governors
Chairman of the UNC Board of Governors Harry Smith stepped down on Oct. 1, 2019, citing burnout from high-profile issues. (Image)
The UNC Board of Governors continues to reckon with instability in the wake of two major announcements. Recently, Interim UNC System President William Roper decided he will not seek to permanently fill the position, and Board of Governors Chairman Harry Smith has chosen to step down and reassume his previous role on the Board. Turnover in the UNC System’s leadership follows the challenges posed by the removal of UNC-Chapel Hill’s Confederate Monument Silent Sam by protestors in August 2018. Since then, clashes over the monument and other political influences from the Republican-controlled NC General Assembly have overshadowed the board’s initiatives to improve higher education for students.
Smith acknowledges the stress of recent high-profile issues across various UNC System campuses as his main reason for stepping down. In the initial aftermath of the Silent Sam protest that brought the statue crashing down on McCorkle Place, he wanted the monument restored to its original position. This stance was largely unpopular with UNC students and faculty, whose main concern was the safety of minority students. After a failed proposal to build a history museum on UNC’s campus to house the monument, the Board of Governors remains uncertain on any plans to relocate Silent Sam. The controversy sparked by the statue’s removal, as well as the advocacy of students and community members, prompted Smith to retract his support of returning the monument to its place on campus.
In addition to the contention over Silent Sam, the UNC System has struggled with the aftermath of three recent hurricanes. In the wake of Hurricane Florence, UNCW was closed for just short of a month, with the campus sustaining expensive damages. As the policymaking body for the UNC System, the Board was forced to respond to the interruption in UNCW’s semester with barely any precedent for this type of emergency.
The Board was further pressed for urgent unity and action when a gunman opened fire at UNC-Charlotte in April 2019, killing students Ellis Parlier and Riley Howell and injuring four others. Smith noted the impact of this event specifically when explaining his decision to step down.
Despite the uncertainty surrounding specific issues and changes in leadership, the UNC System has effectively implemented policies to increase the affordability of higher education for students. The NC Promise program, available at Western Carolina University, UNC-Pembroke, and Elizabeth City State University, lowered the cost of tuition to $500 dollars per semester for NC residents and $2,500 per semester for residents of other US states. Lowering tuition greatly increases the accessibility of education for low-income students, helping the Board to realize its enrollment retention goals among this demographic. NC Promise also aligns with the Board’s aim to increase enrollment of students from rural communities in its college programs.
These policies and trends are promising, but the UNC System still suffers from dysfunctional politics, largely due to the Board of Governors. When the Board was created in 1971, the General Assembly had little control over its actions. Now, the influence of state politicians pervades the Board, as the General Assembly has assumed the responsibility of electing its members. Therefore, the partisanship of the Board currently reflects the Republican majority in the state legislature. This trend has prompted some to call for a return to the Board’s original institutional structure to prevent the General Assembly from putting a heavy hand in university policies.
Looking forward, businessman and former Vice Chairman of the Board of Governors Randy Ramsey was named the new Chairman on October 1. Chairman Ramsey’s appointment to this position reflects the continuous influence of conservative company executives on the Board. Additionally, the UNC System has created a Presidential Search Committee, led by Chairman Ramsey and committee co-chair Wendy Murphy. They issued a statement outlining the search process and calling for public input where it is necessary.
Overall, as the search for a new president is just beginning and the solutions to pertinent issues like Silent Sam are still unrealized, the state of higher education in North Carolina remains turbulent. With the Board of Governors falling victim with increasing frequency to the political concerns of the General Assembly, it is hard to imagine they have the students’ interests at heart. There is still hope for change, and Chairman Ramsey could usher in a new era of higher quality education for North Carolinians. Nevertheless, the public should remain skeptical of anything except business as usual from the Board of Governors - we’ve been given no reason for optimism in recent years.