UNC System board remains mostly white and male. That’s not what campuses look like.
North Carolina lawmakers had an opportunity last month to narrow the diversity disparity between the UNC System governing board — most of whose members are white men — and the student population the board serves.
But not a whole lot changed about the political makeup or the number of women and people of color on the board.
State legislators in the Republican-dominated General Assembly had 12 spots to fill on the UNC System Board of Governors, which has 24 voting members, as terms were expiring. Seven of the 12 spots went to white men. Most board members were re-elected. New members added to the board were three white men and one Black woman.
That did increase the number of female, Black and Democratic members by one each. Still, the makeup of the voting members of the board does not look like the makeup of the 16 public university campuses in the UNC System.
▪ Nearly 70% of board members are white men. But just 24% of UNC System students are white men, according to UNC System enrollment data.
▪ The board has six women, or 25%. But 57% of students in the system are women.
▪ Two Black women, one American Indian woman and two Black men serve on the board, or nearly 21%. But nearly half of the system’s students, or 44%, are students of color.
“If there’s not a gender and racial diversity that’s reflective of the state and the system, that’ll be problematic,” House Democratic Leader Rep. Robert Reives II said.
Diversity is particularly important for this board, considering it runs “the most important economic engine in this state,” he added.
Reives sees the lack of board diversity as a missed opportunity to instill more confidence in the decisions it makes. People lose faith in systems — like the legislature or the Board of Governors — as they become more and more one-sided, he said.
“People feel more confident … when they see people who they feel have similar backgrounds and experiences of them making decisions for them,” Reives said.
“I’m not saying we have bad people, but we need more diversity than what we have.”
The makeup of the board
The UNC System Board of Governors oversees and sets policies for the state’s public universities, which serve more than 240,000 students. In recent years, the GOP-led General Assembly has rid the board of most Democrats.
This year, the state Senate re-appointed current board chair Randy Ramsey, Jimmy Clark and conservative businessman and political donor Art Pope. The state House re-appointed Leo Daughtry, Wendy Murphy, Carolyn Coward, Kellie Hunt Blue and Reggie Holley.
The four new board members are:
- Lee Roberts, a partner at an investment firm and former budget director for then-Gov. Pat McCrory, a Republican.
Sonja Phillips Nichols, president and CEO of a security-services firm and former Republican State Senate candidate.
Kirk Bradley, a real estate developer and CEO of a real estate investment firm in the Triangle.
John Fraley, a former Republican member of the North Carolina General Assembly.
The new appointments take effect July 1.
The state Senate also picked former Democratic state Sen. Joel Ford to fill out the term of Darrell Allison, who resigned from the UNC board in September to become chancellor of Fayetteville State University. Both men are Black and HBCU alumni. Ford is now the only Democrat on the UNC board.
Marty Kotis, Steve Long, Dwight Stone and Doyle Parrish won’t be returning to their roles on the UNC board.
A spokeswoman for NC Senate Republicans, Lauren Horsch, said the most recent slate includes “multiple diverse appointees” and that legislators expect board members to think and act for themselves.
“When it comes to appointing members to the Board of Governors, the N.C. Senate seeks out individuals based on their qualifications, not whatever box they might check off,” Horsch said in an emailed statement.
“It’s important that the Senate selects people who they believe are capable of making sound decisions and who agree that affordability in education is a top priority, no matter their race or gender.”
Board members have staggered four-year terms, which are capped at three terms. The president of the UNC Association of Student Governments serves as a nonvoting, ex officio member of the board. W. Louis Bissette Jr. is board member emeritus and does not vote.
Legislation filed this month would keep lobbyists off the board. Another bill filed would add more political influence to the board by putting four state legislators on the board as non-voting members.
Lack of diverse leaders is a problem
Isaiah Green, the current student board member and president of the UNC System’s Association of Student Governments, said the Board of Governors is lacking diversity in terms of race, gender and political affiliation. He also wants to see more alumni from historically Black institutions serve on the board, since five of the 16 UNC campuses are HBCUs.
“Colleges in general are majority women, but … on boards it’s a majority male, which doesn’t match off the bat,” Green said. “And with the racial disparity on most of the boards, outside of HBCUs, we have some progress to be made.”
Green said students are concerned that board members don’t reflect their campuses or the state as a whole. He pointed to a recent UNC System report that examined racial inequities in higher education. The report included a survey of more than 20,000 students and employees that found that 75% of respondents believe UNC System leadership is not diverse.
“While this process is not in control of the UNC System, faculty, staff, and students repeatedly stated that the current Board of Governors does not reflect the diversity of our state, student body, and institutions,” the report says.
State lawmakers, who appoint board members, have the ability to address that.
“I’m hoping in the next couple years when they have this opportunity again, that we will continue to see progress made,” Green said.
State Rep. Paul Lowe, D-Forsyth, said he would like to see candidates who bring more diverse thoughts and perspectives to the table. But the minority party has “very little say in the selection,” he said, and the recent slate of candidates would’ve looked different had Democrats been in control.
“If I had the opportunity I would’ve wanted to see more diversity,” Lowe said. “Maybe that wasn’t the goal though.”
More diversity means better success
Henry Stoever, president and CEO of the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges, said board members can’t just represent one group of students. He said boards will be more successful if members have a diversity of skills, experiences and perspectives and reflect current and future students.
That diversity includes not just students of color and women, but also low-income, rural and first-generation students, Stoever said.
Though he didn’t address the UNC System board in particular, he said, “Boards that are diverse… have the potential to be more anticipatory and receptive towards the views and needs of multiple stakeholders and also make more equitable decisions.”
Those stakeholders include students, faculty, alumni and residents, he said.
The next opportunities to add more diverse voices to the UNC System board either the next time a board member leaves or when the next set of terms end in 2023.
This story was originally published April 9, 2021 at 10:09 AM with the headline "UNC System board remains mostly white and male. That’s not what campuses look like.."
