UNC faculty urge McCrory to veto Board of Governors bill

UNC System faculty have written to Gov. Pat McCrory, urging him to veto a bill that imposes parameters for the UNC presidential search and term limits for UNC Board of Governors members.

The letter, dated Oct. 2, is from the Faculty Assembly, the representative body of 16,000 faculty across the UNC system. It is signed by Steve Leonard, chair of the Faculty Assembly and political science professor at UNC-Chapel Hill.

[Read the letter from the UNC System faculty to McCrory here.]

“This legislation purports to correct but in reality reinforces the politicization of Board of Governors appointments, and promotes an ill-advised interference in the legitimate and proper prerogative authority of the UNC Board of Governors to guide and direct the activities of one of the country’s most prestigious public university systems,” the letter said.

The letter says the bill originated with a conflict between some legislators and UNC board members surrounding the search for a successor to UNC President Tom Ross. It cites a News & Observer story from Sept. 26, which revealed draft legislation, one version of which would have required the legislature to confirm the final choice for president.

Such a proposal, the faculty letter said, “would be vigorously opposed by the University community, as well as many in the legislature who do not support such stark and blatant legislative meddling in the governance of the University.”

And so professors find themselves in the unusual position of defending a board that they have criticized publicly for months.

“Faculty members are deeply critical of many of the Board’s actions and the failings of its leadership, most particularly in the lack of transparency, and failure to seek input from UNC stakeholders including the faculty, staff, students, alumni and other concerned citizens,” the faculty letter said. “However, there is no possible circumstance in which the faculty would support laws that strengthen the legislature’s arbitrary power to dictate the composition of the Board, even to remove members with whom faculty might disagree.”

The bill also requires that the full board vote on a slate of three candidates brought forth by the board’s presidential search committee. An earlier amendment to the bill, later dropped, would have required public disclosure of finalists 10 days prior to a selection and a public discussion of finalists by the board.

The faculty themselves had pushed for transparency in the search but bristled at legislative interference.

“The point is that any goal ill-obtained, whether laudable or not, is merely a precedent for further abuse of power,” the letter said.

This story was originally published October 2, 2015 at 5:54 PM with the headline "UNC faculty urge McCrory to veto Board of Governors bill."