UNC board members look for better relationships with each other

The UNC Board of Governors is seeking better communication and consensus after a year dominated by the firing of a president, political upheaval and fractious relationships.

Gathered for a two-day retreat in Greensboro, the board tried Thursday to work out its roles and responsibilities related to the 17 campuses, the legislature and the university system’s next president, Margaret Spellings, who will start the job March 1.

Members discussed the difference between policy-making and micromanagement. A survey revealed that more than three-quarters of members disagreed that the board had the appropriate balance between its oversight role and the president’s authority to manage the university.

Some suggested that the board gets too caught up in financial details or moving from one crisis to the next, instead of taking the long view of the university. One member suggested that the current strategic plan may be irrelevant because half the board started after it was adopted.

At times there were fundamental disagreements among board members, who are overwhelmingly Republican and were elected by the Republican majority in the legislature. One question arose about whether the board is more accountable to elected leaders in Raleigh or to the taxpaying public.

Thom Goolsby, a board member and former legislator, said there was no clear line of communication with the General Assembly and that the board needed more guidance on what lawmakers want – instead of complaints. “We do work for them,” he said.

Board member Bill Webb spoke up and said, “I don’t think I work for the legislature. ... I’m responsive to them. I don’t work for them. I work for the people of North Carolina. If [legislators] don’t want to re-elect me, if they want to remove me, that’s their prerogative. That’s a discussion we need to have – how responsive we need to be to the legislature.”

Spellings attended the retreat and told the board that its problems are solvable.

“I think it’s about communication, it’s about processes, standards, clarity,” she said. “We just need to be disciplined about it. ... We’ve got to go back to square one and kind of figure out, what are the guardrails around this stuff? It’s going to take a little time to do, but I think it will make for a lot less heartache and pain when we do that.”

Better communication seemed to be the mantra of the day. Members said some problems stemmed from a lack of communication with General Administration staff and former President Tom Ross, who was ousted by the board.

“We need to be governing instead of being managed,” said member Philip Byers.

Steve Long said some believed that Ross’ administration was not focusing on one of the board’s key priorities – getting the cost of education under control. “We were frustrated with management,” Long said.

Some members said they had felt excluded from important decisions made by small factions of the board. They said they were blindsided by news coverage of sensitive discussions.

Board member Temple Sloan said he was disturbed to read last week in The News & Observer about a proposal in the legislature for a new low tuition strategy at historically minority universities – and the possible renaming of the institutions. A few board members had met about the issue in the office of state Senate leader Phil Berger.

“I’m sitting there going, where did this come from?” Sloan said. “We just had a board meeting and it didn’t come up.”

Board member Champ Mitchell said that kind of thing breeds divisiveness and anger. “These are big issues that the whole board needs to be heard on,” he said. “We’ve got to fix this.”

Board Chairman Lou Bissette said that proposal was initiated by the legislative leadership and that he and others were summoned to talk about it. “I think it’s gotten to this because I don’t think they had a president they felt comfortable in engaging,” Bissette said.

Webb said the situation put board members in a difficult position.

“I got calls from people saying, ‘What are you doing, changing the names of black schools?’ and I said, ‘What are you talking about?’”

This story was originally published February 11, 2016 at 7:33 PM with the headline "UNC board members look for better relationships with each other."