The Leadership and Policy Statement of the
University of North Carolina notes that the institution “operates under an
arrangement of shared governance” that “honors the important traditional role
of the faculty in the governance of the academy.” (http://www.northcarolina.edu/content/leadership-and-policy )
Regrettably, for the
better part of a half decade, the UNC Board of Governors has repeatedly failed
to follow its own stated principles of good governance.
The UNC Faculty
Assembly has faithfully advised the Board on best practices regarding
admissions, tuition, financial aid, leadership appointment processes,
curricular design, research and freedom of inquiry, and processes of peer
review, yet the Board has repeatedly refused to acknowledge – let alone discuss
– points of counsel they have been offered. Instead, they have frequently
promulgated ill-advised policies and practices that have proven detrimental to
the best interests of public higher education in this state.
The recent
mismanagement of the Executive office of the University, from the firing of
Thomas Ross, to the hiring of the new President, is but the most egregious in a
long train of problematic governance actions.
The failure of the
Board to seek the advice and counsel of the staff and faculty is both
shortsighted and troubling. No student attends our campuses to be taught, no
funding agency or organization provides grants of research support, and no
business, governmental entity, or civic organization has come to our
institutions seeking public service expertise, because of the teaching,
research and service achievements of the Board of Governors or the President of
the University. Yet the Board continues to act without the advice and counsel
of the constituencies whose expertise they need to effectively govern the
institution.
Over the years, the
most effective and respected leaders of the University system and its respective
campuses have argued that their success is contingent on the support of staff
and faculty. We now appear to have entered an era when it is not support, but
an ill-informed indifference, that defines how governing authorities in the
University think of their relationship to those who carry out the core mission
of public higher education. No institution of higher learning has ever achieved
excellence and distinction without an active, engaged, and committed community
of staff and faculty. It is then incumbent on the Board of Governors to now
begin – as it always should have been -- cultivating effective shared governance
if the University is to continue on the path of excellence and achievement.
As this leadership
transition unfolds, foremost among those confidence building principles must be
a steadfast and unyielding dedication to seeking the best advice and counsel
possible, and a readiness to stand against the debasement of institutional
governance that has brought the future of the University into doubt.
22 October 2015
For the UNC system
Faculty Assembly
Stephen T. Leonard, UNC-Chapel Hill, Chair
Stephen T. Leonard, UNC-Chapel Hill, Chair
Gabriel Lugo,
UNC-Wilmington, Chair-Elect
UPDATES:
UPDATES:
Story comes to the surface about University of North Carolina's plan to hold emergency meeting to talk with president finalist Margaret Spellings (10/15). This meeting is scheduled for Friday, 10/16, seemingly in an effort to bypass a bill not yet signed, which "requires the search committee to bring forward three candidates to the full board for discussion."
Amidst a call for John Fennebresque’s resignation (10/16) we see positive and negative discussion regarding What a Margaret Spellings Presidency Might Mean for North Carolina (10/16), with critiques on her political involvement (10/20) and her past actions combating LGBT equality (10/21).
Faculty continue to criticize UNC president search process (10/21), noting that '"The failure of the Board to seek the advice and counsel of the staff and faculty is both shortsighted and troubling.' Concern over this lack of shared governance is widespread (10/22), as is the realization that Spellings is surely in (10/22).
Compiled by Alysse Rathburn
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