Earlier this month, the UNC System’s Board of Governors (BOG) elected a new chairman, the former vice chairman Randy Ramsey, to take over for former chairman Harry Smith until the end of his term in June 2020. Smith announced his resignation in late September, citing stress and the political environment of the board, spurring the third high-level replacement the board has had to face this term.
In the past year, Margaret Spellings has stepped down as UNC System president two years prior to the end of her contract, and Carol Folt resigned from her post as UNC-Chapel Hill’s chancellor, also ahead of schedule. Both often experienced friction with the board, especially over the marquee issue of Silent Sam, which has roiled the BOG for years.
Given all that has occurred, Ramsey has his work cut out restoring the UNC System to working order. Not only will he need to fill Spellings’ and Folt’s spots, he will also have to mend the ties that were frayed by the BOG’s role in pushing both women out of office. After that, he or his successor must work to resolve some ongoing issues in policy, while maintaining the system’s academic excellence.
As the highest governing body for the UNC System, which incorporates UNC-CH, NC State and 15 other public institutions, the BOG sets policies for the entire system, which are then executed by the UNC System president in conjunction with the chancellors and Boards of Trustees of each university. BOG members are appointed by the North Carolina General Assembly.
The BOG’s policies can dramatically alter students’ daily lives. One from 2012 banned schools from creating gender-neutral housing, which could allow them to better and more safely accommodate transgender or gender-nonconforming individuals. Another prevented the Center for Civil Rights at UNC’s law school from participating in actual lawsuits.
The BOG also passed a new campus free speech policy. Although this was mandated by a new state law, the policy outlined by the BOG failed to offer some important clarifications on what qualifies as a violation and how those will be punished. Except for the housing policy, all of these were passed while Smith was on the board, and as chairman he has not moved to modify or reverse any of them.
It should be noted that Smith has overseen multiple positive trends, including increased enrollment and implementing reforms at some of the system’s smaller universities. Policies such as the NC Promise program — which lowered tuition at three schools to $500 per semester — have had a positive impact on many students.
These have all been important actions by the BOG, but when discussing Smith’s time at the helm, one issue overshadows all others: Silent Sam.
Following the riots in Charlottesville, Virginia, protests of the statue prompted a letter from Folt, Spellings, Lou Bissette (Smith’s predecessor at the BOG), and the UNC Board of Trustees to Governor Cooper asking about the legality of removing the statue. Cooper indicated that it would be legal as the statue posed a public safety issue, but UNC’s administration ultimately refused Cooper’s legal advice and left the statue up.
Spellings, alongside the BOG chairman at the time, was criticized by the BOG for signing the letter. Smith was among the members most critical of the decision. After he became chair, he publicly offered support for Spellings, but strife within the BOG was further amplified when the statue was torn down. She stepped down a few months after the statue’s removal.
Folt’s resignation was even more ferocious. In January 2019, after months of stalemate on how to respond to the removal of Silent Sam, Folt released a statement where she resigned and ordered the removal of the statue’s base. She intended to resign following graduation of that year, but at an emergency meeting, the BOG accepted her resignation for the end of the month.
In both cases, all parties stringently denied that Silent Sam had anything to do with the decisions, but the highly suggestive timeline of both resignations seems to undermine that claim. Regardless of the cause, the fact that two powerful figures left within a few months of each other sent shockwaves through the UNC System, ones which still have yet to be resolved by replacements.
Let’s hope that Ramsey and the BOG are up to the task of setting the UNC System back into working order. The students at NC State and across the system are depending on it.
