CHAPEL HILL (July 24, 2020) – The UNC System Board of Governors declared yesterday that there will be no refunds of student tuition and fees if university classes must shift entirely online due to the coronavirus this fall.

The Board also unveiled a proposed policy that would let the System President suggest two candidates in a search for a campus chancellor, and those names would have to be included among the finalists the campus Board of Trustees submits to the President for consideration. ¹

Historically, campus trustees have conducted the search for a new chancellor and recommended two finalists from whom the System President chooses the new chancellor.

Incoming System President Peter Hans told a committee of the board Wednesday, though, that trustees haven’t always recommended the strongest candidates during his 12 years on the board and his two years as an adviser to former President Margaret Spellings.

Trustees at UNC System schools have begun to question the proposal – which the full board won’t vote on until September – as a measure that could politicize chancellor searches and dilute campus engagement in the process. ²

The policy would also direct the President to develop a corps of potential chancellor candidates within the UNC System. BOG Chair Randy Ramsey said he and Hans “believe we need to start building some sort of bench, if you will, for our UNC campuses.” 

Any candidates recommended by the President would still have to apply for the chancellorship and go through the interview process, Ramsey said. 

The search committee would be able to question the candidate and could declare a failed search if they don’t find qualified candidates, he said. Or, if the Board of Governors doesn’t find any of the recommended candidates suitable, the board could also return the decision to the campus. The Board took such an action in the most recent search for a chancellor at Western Carolina University.

“In no way are we trying to usurp the trustees,” he said.

In other matters:

• No tuition refunds if classes shift online this fall. The board voted not to provide refunds of tuition and fees if classes must shift fully online this fall due to the coronavirus pandemic.
  
  At the beginning of the meeting, Dr. David Weber, an epidemiologist at UNC-Chapel Hill, told the board the virus is spreading most rapidly among those ages 18-49. “This is the hottest group now,” Weber said.
  
  If the virus forces all classes to move online, some board members argued, online instruction remains inferior and the state has a constitutional duty to provide an education for as free as possible. Others said they have a fiduciary duty to sustain the campuses.
  
  “I think it’s the right thing to do for the long-term stability of the institution,” said Budget and Finance Committee Chair James L. Holmes Jr., noting that libraries will remain open and universities will still have to make debt payments. “We don’t have the ability to stop paying our bills.”
  
  But student member Isaiah Green said online courses don’t have the same quality as in-person classes. “Putting it on the families that may have lost their jobs … is not a sustainable solution,” he said.

• SATs and ACTs not required for Fall 2020 applicants.Because many dates for the SAT and ACT have been cancelled this year, the board said it will not require Fall 2020 applicants to submit standardized test scores – though they can if they’ve taken the tests. More than 200 colleges and universities have waived the tests.
  
  Several attendees noted mounting stresses for students during the pandemic. “Right now our families are under tremendous stress,” said NC State Chancellor Randy Woodson.

• Operating budget for 2020-21. The board approved an operating budget based on appropriations from the NC General Assembly. It includes $29.4 million to provide for growth in enrollment last year, as well as an additional $15 million for NC Promise, which provides tuition of $500 a semester for in-state students at Elizabeth City State, UNC Pembroke and Western Carolina. The budget does not, however, provide $2 million the board sought for the Faculty Recruitment and Retention Fund to counter offers from competing universities.

• Capital budget for 2020-21. The board allocated $39 million for repairs and renovations across the 17-campus University System that are estimated at $2-3 billion. The General Assembly provided another $59 million for specific projects, including $16.5 million to complete a new steam plant at Western Carolina, $14 million toward a $150 million Business School building at UNC-Chapel Hill and $14 million toward a $160 million STEM building at NC State.

• Sanctions for trustees and BOG members.After several scandals involving Board of Governors members and campus trustees, the Governance Committee revised its standards of conduct. The full board will vote on the proposed revisions in September.
  
  The draft rules emphasize that members can act only as a board, not as individual members, and should refer complaints to administrators and not conduct their own investigations. They would also forbid lobbyist and lawyer members to represent clients in any matter adverse to the UNC System. The rules also would allow for interim sanctions short of removal.

• Best practices for student government elections. After two trustees at East Carolina University tried to intervene in a student election, the Governance Committee recommended a new policy that no University employees or board members are allowed to contribute to or influence a student election. The committee also recommended best practices for student elections, including a financial reporting system and maximum contributions.employees and board members could not participate or contribute.

• Military studentsnow account for 19,000, or 8%, of students in the UNC System. Committee Chair Leo Daughtry reported that 44% of those students take at least one course online. He said that 8,000 students are attending UNC System schools on the GI Bill.

• Appreciation for Bill Roper.The board passed a resolution of appreciation for William Roper, who will step down as Interim President when Hans becomes President Aug. 1.Roper has served as Dean of the UNC School of Public Health, Dean of the UNC School of Medicine and CEO of UNC Health Care. Ramsey announced that UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz and Board of Trustees Chair Richard Stevens have agreed to name a building or appropriate space on campus for Roper.

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¹ The draft policy reads: “In any chancellor search, the president shall have the discretion to designate up to two individuals from the president’s succession planning efforts to become candidates upon their submission of complete applications. Candidates designated by the president shall participate in search committee interviews and shall be part of the slate referred by the board of trustees for the president’s consideration in accordance with Part IV of this policy.”
² http://pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/2020/07/22/change-to-unc-system-chancellor-search-process-would-allow-president-to-bypass-trustees-insert-finalists/.