Shawn Rocco - srocco@newsobserver.com
Tom Ross points out N.C. A&T State University's marching band to UNC Board of Governors Chairman Hannah Gage during his inauguration as UNC system president at the college in Greensboro on Thursday.
GREENSBORO -- Tom Ross was sworn in Thursday as UNC system president, during a ceremony of pomp and music tempered with the awareness that the higher education landscape has shifted.
At an inauguration at N.C. A&T State University in Ross' hometown of Greensboro, the new president struck a determined and optimistic tone, despite the reality of dwindling public dollars and bigger challenges for education as the world catches up to the United States.
The university system has a distinguished past, Ross said, but people are afraid for its future and anxious about North Carolina's horizon.
"We are in an economic and social malaise and fear we may never come out of it," he said in his inaugural address. "We have heard the words 'the new normal' so often we sometimes believe that where we are right now is where we will stay. Well, I don't buy it. I don't buy it. It doesn't have to be that way. This is our time, and what we do with it is up to us."
Ross offered a roadmap for strengthening the university at a time of financial duress - with a focus on greater academic success for students, efficiency through technology and shared services among the 17 campuses, and outreach to a broader population of students, including adults, the military and community college transfers.
He said students must come to UNC prepared for college work, and the university will continue to prudently raise minimum admissions standards. UNC will also have stronger, clearer standards for students to maintain satisfactory progress toward degrees, he said.
Ross recommitted UNC to being "a university of all the people," and said the university system must retain its historic promise of access and affordability.
Raising more money from private donors is one way to do that, he said, but there must an adequate stream of financial aid so low- and middle-income students aren't locked out.
And, he stressed, the university must be more cost-efficient, nimble and innovative.
"We cannot simply continue to do things the ways we've always done them," he said. "We cannot expect things to return to the way they were. They won't."
Accepting the challenge
Ross, 61, a former lawyer, judge, foundation leader and private college president, started as UNC president on Jan. 1 and was immediately confronted with the state's budget crisis. The university's state funding was cut by $414 million this year, resulting in the loss of 3,000 employees and another nearly 1,500 vacant jobs.
The president joked that since he took the helm, people have repeatedly asked him the question, "What in the world were you thinking?"
He accepted the challenge, he said, because "I know there is no institution more important to North Carolina and her future than this university."
Speakers at Thursday's inauguration repeatedly said North Carolina will look to the university system for solutions to society's big problems.
"The University of North Carolina is a driving economic engine within our state," said Atul Bhula, a graduate student at Appalachian State University who represents students on the UNC Board of Governors. "With budget cuts affecting families all across the state, we need to work together to solve our state's economic issues."
'Seize our time'
On a spectacular early fall day, the festivities began with an outdoor academic procession led by N.C. A&T's spirited marching band. Other student musicians performed at the ceremony in the campus arena, including the UNC School of the Arts Orchestra and choral singers from N.C. A&T and UNC Greensboro.
The event was attended by political leaders, including Gov. Bev Perdue, state Senate leader Phil Berger and House Speaker Pro Tem Dale Folwell.
Former N.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice Henry Frye administered the oath of office. Former UNC presidents William Friday, C.D. Spangler and Molly Broad also attended the ceremony.
Erskine Bowles, the immediate past UNC president, was traveling out of the country.
The ceremony was followed by a reception. The total cost for the event was about $100,000, paid for by private donations.
Ross' speech was titled "Our Time," and he asked others to join with him to "seize our time."
"We must remake our great university for a greater tomorrow," he said. "Our methods will change; our programs may be different, but our constant purpose must remain the same."
