This story originally published online at NC Newsline.
A new, interim chancellor for UNC-Chapel Hill could be announced as soon as Friday, according to sources within the UNC System, on the UNC System Board of Governors and on the campus board of trustees.
Those sources, who asked not to be named so they could discuss personnel matters, told Newsline they expect UNC System President Peter Hans to appoint Lee Roberts. Roberts, a politically appointed member of the board of governors who served as budget director for former Gov. Pat McCrory, has strong GOP political connections but no previous experience as an administrator in higher education.
It has been nearly a month since word leaked that UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz was in the running for the presidency at Michigan State University — a story first reported by Michigan State’s student paper, The States News. Last week, Michigan State’s board of trustees made it official, electing Guskiewicz with a unanimous vote.
But almost as soon as Guskiewicz was named as a finalist, rumors began to fly that Hans had already hand-chosen Roberts — not just as interim chancellor, but for the permanent position as well. As those rumors have grown more persistent in the last few weeks, faculty members, students, alumni and even trustees have grown more concerned.
“Honestly, if we think we have problems with governance and politics now, the solution is not to put someone whose qualifications are mostly political connections into a role as important as chancellor,” said one member of the board of trustees this week.
That member is not alone in that opinion.
Power, politics and pushback
On Thursday, the nonprofit Coalition for Carolina launched a petition asking Hans and the system board of governors to stop political meddling by the board of trustees and to appoint an interim chancellor “who will maintain stability, earn the trust of the campus community, and resist improper overreach by trustees.”
The petition also asks for a diverse and representative committee to mount a true national search for the university’s next leader.
According to two sources on the board of governors, UNC-Chapel Hill Board Chair John Preyer shares that sentiment.
“There’s been pushback on Lee Roberts coming from the trustees themselves, and Preyer has been part of that,” one board member told Newsline this week. “There are some people who feel, rightly or wrongly, that if they make Lee the chancellor, it’s just going to be seen as politics and he’s never going to have the chance to grow into the job or earn the trust of everyone you need to do that job well.”
“The other thing is, if they do a serious national search for the chancellor of the flagship university in our system and they just land on a member of the board of governors with Roberts’ connections, it just confirms everything,” the board member said.
Preyer seemed to be sending that message last week in a written statement that addressed the task of finding Guskiewicz’s replacement.
“A university of the stature of UNC-Chapel Hill deserves a thoughtful and thorough national search for its next chancellor, beginning immediately upon the appointment of an interim chief executive,” Preyer wrote in the statement “The trustees, the faculty, and other key members of the Carolina family stand ready to participate fully in the search.”
Holden Thorp, a former UNC-Chapel Hill chancellor, penned a column last week blaming Guskiewicz’s departure — like his own and that of his successor Carol Folt — on poor governance. This week, he told Newsline the potential appointment of Roberts is part of a national trend that has finally reached North Carolina.
“It’s happened in a lot of other states,” Thorp said.
Thorp pointed to former Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels, who became Purdue University president immediately after leaving office; to Bruce Herrald, the businessman who became the president of the University of Iowa; and to former GOP U.S. Senator Ben Sasse, now president of the University of Florida.
“These are all people from the business world or from the political realm who are leading outstanding research universities that have deep academic values,” Thorp said. “So, it’s a model that’s taking hold in red states. And it’s probably inevitable that it’s going to happen in North Carolina. Of course, I don’t agree with it. I think we should have academics with academic values and give them the support to learn the administrative side, and the political side and the communication side. But, you know, it’s, it’s very hard to do that. And at public universities in red states, for sure, it’s even getting harder.”
For the good of Carolina, Thorp said, he’ll wish the best for whoever ends up in the position. But with opposition to the idea of Roberts coming from faculty and even some of the trustees, Thorp believes he would start off in a difficult position.
Credentials and credibility
Beth Moracco, chair of the UNC-Chapel Hill faculty, said she agreed it is important to name a university leader with true academic and administrative credentials.
“I’ve said before and I still say, these are not positions where you should learn on the job in a short amount of time,” Moracco said. “I also agree with the chair of the board of trustees, John Preyer, that an interim should be someone with Carolina ties. And by that, I would say I mean someone with deep knowledge and experience at Carolina.”
Roberts, a Duke University graduate who has taught courses at that school, has no direct experience at UNC-Chapel Hill beyond his political appointment as a member of the system’s board of governors.
“If there were someone who had been chancellor or had been in a senior leadership position at the university, that would be willing to step in, that would be really advantageous because it would lessen that learning curve,” Moracco said.
UNC-Chapel Hill Provost Chris Clemens, an outspoken conservative, would fit that bill, said Moracco and several other faculty members.
“I would say that Chris has experience in academic leadership,” Moracco said. “He has been a faculty member, I believe he’s been a chair as well. So, he definitely has the experience to step in and lead as interim.”
Jay Smith, UNC-Chapel Hill History professor and president of the North Carolina chapter of the American Association of University Professors, agreed.
“It would just be insulting on a certain level for a true political appointee to be placed into this position,” Smith said. “Especially when there is a viable candidate in the provost, who is an outspoken and well-known conservative. I mean, I’ve had my own conflicts with Clemens over the years. But I respect him. And I think he’s a capable administrator. He would have the confidence with most of the faculty.”
One member of the UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Trustees said pushback on Roberts is wrong-headed and premature.
“I don’t think you need to have a degree from Chapel Hill to be an effective leader at Carolina,” said Marty Kotis, a former member of the board of governors and current member of the board of trustees. “I think there are a lot of people who could be successful leaders who don’t come just from academia.”
Roberts could make a good interim or permanent chancellor, Kotis said, as could Clemens or UNC-Chapel Hill trustee Malcolm Turner, whose name has also been mentioned for weeks.
“Peter Hans is going to make that call, on the interim,” Kotis said. “And I’ve always said I think the president of the system should be able to choose his chancellors, because they’re his direct reports. I said that when I was on the board of governors and I would say that now.”
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