CHAPEL HILL -- The UNC Board of Governors is poised to clamp down on leave policies that wasted hundreds of thousands of dollars on UNC administrators who were supposed to return to teaching but instead retired, found work elsewhere or were shown the door.
A board committee Thursday approved a revised policy that would prevent chancellors and presidents from taking the paid leave without returning to the classroom. The revised policy also would reduce the amount of pay those officials would receive while on leave, as well as the amount of time they could spend away from campus.
Committee members said the revised policy would eventually be extended to other senior administrators, such as provosts and vice chancellors, who also have received paid leaves.
"We're paying them for six months at a very high-dollar value to retool," said board member Brent Barringer. "The worst-case scenario is that they retool for someone else."
The committee's actions follow reports in The News & Observer that showed the policies were being abused. A provost at N.C. Central University, for example, was paid $104,000 for a six-month leave and then retired, while a provost at Fayetteville State University received $72,500 to go on leave for five months only to be let go shortly after she returned. UNC-Asheville paid a provost nearly $59,000 to go on a leave, while knowing he was out looking for another job, which he eventually won at another university.
The review also found that some leave deals exceeded UNC policies on how much an administrator could be paid during the transition into teaching.
Over the past five years, the universities have paid a combined $8 million on leaves to 117 administrators.
Vote in January
The full UNC board will vote on the revisions for chancellors and presidents in January. The board will then work on policy revisions for other administrators.
Currently, administrators who work at least five years get a one-year research leave at their full salary and a guaranteed faculty position when they return. They have no work requirements during these unsupervised leaves.
The revised policy would cut the leave in half and lower the salary to one similar to what faculty members in their specific academic department earn.
It would also require a work plan spelling out the administrator's academic intentions for the time off.
At UNC system workshops over the past few months, chancellors have said research leaves are a vital recruiting tool in a state where the benefits package is less than ideal.
Further, they say the time off is critical to prepare for a return to teaching after years -- or even decades -- in administration.
"The worst thing you can have is an unprepared faculty member in the classroom," said NCCU Chancellor Charlie Nelms. "No matter what position the person had."
Staff writer Dan Kane contributed to this report.
