UNC-Chapel Hill is conducting a national search to recruit and select the institution’s next chancellor. The chancellor is the chief executive and administrator of the university under the supervision of the UNC President Erskine Bowles and the UNC Board of Governors.
To facilitate the hiring of Chancellor James Moeser’s successor, Carolina’s Board of Trustees formed a 21-member search committee (including members of the Board of Trustees, students, faculty, staff and alumni), and hired an outside head hunter R. William (Bill) Funk to help enlist candidates. The University is paying Funk a flat fee of $90,000 plus reimbursement for expenses related to the search. The start date for Carolina’s next chancellor is July 1, 2008 when Moeser will step aside.
So who will be Carolina’s tenth chancellor? Although the search is being conducted in the utmost of secrecy, I have evidence, and a reasonable belief, that former presidential candidate John Edwards is a finalist for the position. That’s right John Edwards; the former senator and 1977 alumnus of Carolina’s law school.
Consider the evidence. First, the job requires exceptional academic credentials “to include an earned doctorate, appropriate terminal degree or equivalent professional experience and all of the qualifications required for an appointment of full professor.”
Edwards has a terminal degree in the area of law and already enjoys the rank of professor at UNC. The title of professor was bestowed upon Edwards when he became the first director of the law school’s Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity. Edwards resigned from the post once he officially began his campaign for president. Members of the Board of Governors and the N.C. General Assembly are always looking for chancellors who are “home-grown” and who have a previous affiliation with the university — Edwards has both in addition to the necessary academic qualifications.
According to the search committee’s website, additional requirements for chancellor candidates include “excellent fund raising and communication skills and a savvy approach to working with elected officials.” It almost appears as if this requirement was written specifically for Edwards.
The Chapel Hill resident has no difficulty in raising money. In his 2004 bid for the presidency, Edwards raised more than $33.5 million. According to the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics; “at the end of 2007, Edwards had raised $43.9 million without accepting money from registered lobbyists or PACs.” I think we can all agree that the former senator can work with elected officials and has adequate communication skills.
But like most high profile job openings, it is more about who you know rather what you know. And Edwards knows the right people. A number of members of the UNC Chancellor Search Committee has given campaign contributions to Edwards including: Dwight Davidson, Willis Whichard and Roger Perry. Perry is not only the vice-chair of the selection committee, but he is also chair of the full UNC Board of Trustees.
Edwards’s operatives also hold key positions on the Board of Governors (BOG). Current chair Jim Phillips and past chair Brad Wilson were classified by the Edwards campaign as “Fundraising Solicitors”. Not only did Phillips and Wilson individually give Edwards thousands of dollars respectively in 2007, but they we also responsible for “bundling” other individual’s contributions. Edwards also has support prominent North Carolinian’s including former Gov. Jim Hunt.
It should be noted that this is the same “crew” that successfully placed Erskine Bowles in the UNC presidency.
Although the good ole boy network is doing everything in its power to keep the names of potential chancellor candidates confidential; we owe to it to the people of North Carolina to be open about the search in order to protect the interests of the nation’s oldest public university. Congratulations to John Edwards on being a finalist.
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