This story originally published online at NC Newsline.
The search for UNC-Chapel Hill’s next permanent chancellor began in earnest Thursday with the first meeting of the 13-member search committee charged with identifying candidates to lead the flagship university in the 16-campus UNC-System.
With the swift and dramatic exit of former Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz to Michigan State University in December and the appointment of UNC-Board of Governors member Lee Roberts as interim chancellor, the search has garnered national attention. At Thursday’s meeting at the UNC School of Government, UNC System Peter Hans said that makes this search all the more important.
“A thoughtful and professional search goes a long way in setting a new chancellor on the path to success,” Hans said. “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.”
“UNC-Chapel Hill is one of the strongest and best supported institutions in American higher education,” Hans said. “The next leader of this university will need to build upon those strengths while putting forward a compelling vision of Carolina’s future, balancing and appreciation for history and tradition with an eagerness to write the next chapter in public higher education. University Leadership demands an impressive set of skills in many ways, unmatched by other sectors of our society.”
The search for the right candidate, Hans joked, would be like finding “Superman or Wonder Woman.”
“It would be impossible to offer an exhaustive list of qualifications,” Hans said. “And part of our role will be to seek the right balance of what any institution can ask from one person.”
Among the traits he the committee will search for, Hans said, are “a profound devotion to the public mission of UNC Chapel Hill, someone who cherishes Carolina, has a deep connection to the Tar Heel State, prizes our service to the people of North Carolina and recognizes the importance of preserving and strengthening public trust in higher education, honesty and integrity.”
Under a new chancellor search process adopted last May, Hans—who will ultimately forward a final nominee to the UNC System Board of Governors for a vote—wields a great deal of power in the process. He, along with members of the board of governors itself, are directly involved in the process from start to finish in a way that was previously prohibited. Each chancellor search committee now includes Hans and members of the board, allowing them to influence the process before they ultimately make the final nomination and election decisions as well.
The process has led to concerns among students, faculty members and alumni that while they are all represented on the search committees, ultimately Hans and political appointees on the system’s highest governing board will be able to engineer the outcome they prefer. Roberts, a politically well-connected former state budget director under former GOP Gov. Pat McCrory, stepped down from his position on the board of governors when Hans handpicked him for the interim chancellor position. That’s lead many to conclude he will become the permanent chancellor whatever the results of the search. Since his appointment as interim, Roberts, who is making a $684,053 annual base salary as interim chancellor, has avoided answering whether he will seek the permanent position.
Faculty members did get to hear from Roberts on a broad range of topics Wednesday in a webinar organized by the nonprofit Coalition for Carolina.
On Thursday a member of the UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Trustees told Newsline that while they expect the search to be thorough and above board with many candidates from across the country, they doubt any of them will top Roberts.
The trustee asked not to be named so that they could discuss the search, which is a personnel matter, and their opinion based on conversations with other trustees and members of the board of governors.
“There’s a reason he was tapped for that interim position,” the trustee said. “As budget director and serving on the board of governors, he has relationships in the legislature and on these governing boards that you can’t put a price on. He’s proved himself in Raleigh in a very demanding and difficult position and by the time this search is concluded, he will have been interim chancellor for almost a full year. That’s enough time to prove himself in the position, and it’s difficult to compete with that kind of on-the-job experience.”
On Thursday, Hans told committee members he expects to have a final candidate to submit to the board of governors by the end of 2024. If the process does take the next nine months, Roberts will have been in the interim position for almost exactly a year.
Marty Kotis, another UNC-Chapel Hill trustee and former member of the board of governors, agreed that sort of experience has historically given candidates an edge.
“Kevin Guskiewicz was made interim chancellor first,” Kotis said. “When that happens it does give everyone the chance to see that person in the position, to see how they do the job. Also, people with a deep connection to Carolina and to our state tend to have an advantage, and that would apply in this case as well.”
At Thursday’s meeting, committee members, who were all asked to sign confidentiality agreements as they enter into the search process, were shown a schedule for a series of “stakeholder listening sessions” with student, faculty, alumni and employee groups. The first, with UNC-Chapel Hill Student Government, will be April 1.
Further listening sessions will be scheduled after the committee hires an outside firm to assist with the search, which the committee expects to have chosen and have in place by its next meeting on April 16.
“Our role as a search advisory committee is not to seek a consensus among those voices but to ensure that their input is eagerly sought and earnestly heard,” Hans said of the many people from whom the committee will hear during the process. “Similarly, our role is to seek qualified candidates while keeping an open mind about the background the expertise in the vision best suited to lead this great institution. Given the strength and national profile of Carolina, I’m confident we will have a broad and compelling pool of candidates and I’m eager to hear their ideas about the future of UNC Chapel Hill.”
Comment on this story at backtalk@indyweek.com.
