Education

Groundskeepers at UNC want a place to escape extreme temperatures

By Jane Winik Sartwell

February 10, 2026 5:00 AM

AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.

Grounds staff seek shelter after Carolina North trailer froze, flooded.
Supervisor confronted leadership about broken Carolina North trailer at forum.
Administration cites state approvals while staff report lost trust and morale.

Hello, readers! Welcome to Higher Stakes, the revamped higher education newsletter from The News & Observer. This is Jane Winik Sartwell, your guide to all things happening on North Carolina campuses. Buckle up!

Groundskeepers at UNC ask for a place to escape extreme temperatures

During the Triangle’s two recent winter storms, grounds staff at UNC-Chapel Hill were out working in extreme cold without a proper facility to warm up or take shelter, grounds supervisor Todd Hannon said at a recent UNC Employee Forum meeting.

Hannon let university leadership know that he’s had enough. He directly addressed Nate Knuffman, vice chancellor for finance and operations.

“Nate, you promised our trailer to escape the heat of the summer,” Hannon said. “That never materialized. You promised our trailer to escape the cold of winter. That didn’t materialize.”

“None of us in the entire department has any faith that there will be any progress to take care of us and give us the place that we deserve.”

A triple-wide, furnished trailer for the grounds crews was set up on the Carolina North campus, but the electricity was never turned on, according to Hannon. Without electricity, the pipes froze, then thawed and burst, flooding the trailer and rendering it unusable. Until the trailer is repaired or replaced, or another option for grounds staff is made available, Hannon said he is quitting the Employee Forum, which is a coalition of non-faculty UNC staff.

“Our staff works tirelessly to make this place special, to make it what it is. It’s a magical place, and it should be treated as such. We all love being Tar Heels, but the administration is sucking the moral life out of this department,” Hannon said.

Knuffman responded that the administration is working with the state construction office to get approval for a trailer, and that leadership is frustrated, too. He said the university must abide by the timelines of state regulatory agencies.

He also said that he fears that Hannon is overstating some of his claims: “I think this is being misrepresented some,” Knuffman said.

The other Lee Roberts in Chapel Hill

Imagine you’re Lee Roberts. You’ve been working at UNC-Chapel Hill for eight years as an academic advisor for ambitious undergrads. Life is alright. Then, all of a sudden, a guy with the exact same name as you becomes chancellor of the university.

Students are now deeply confused: my academic advisor is the chancellor?!

No, no, he’s not. It’s the other Lee Roberts.

Welcome to the struggle of UNC academic advisor Lee Roberts. On campus, he now goes by Jude, his grandmother’s maiden name, to avoid confusion.

One year at NC Central’s AI Institute

Last week, I caught up with Siobahn Grady, founding director of NC Central University’s Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Research. One year ago, the school received a two-year, $1 million grant from Google to launch the institute, which is the first of its kind at an HBCU. Now, the institute is entering its second year. So far, the work has focused on AI literacy, preparing students, faculty, and Durham residents to work and succeed in the new world of artificial intelligence.

“This signals that HBCUs are not just participating in the future of AI, but helping to shape it,” Grady said. “It’s an honor and also a responsibility ... We’re hoping that others are watching and following as we build this blueprint.”

In its first year, the institute partnered with some of the biggest names in the industry. Deloitte is coming to campus for an AI summit next month, just as OpenAI did in August. Dell and Nvidia also visited. Plus, every freshman at NC Central is required to take an AI course offered by IBM. Two year-long AI research cohorts — one for students and one for faculty — have project showcases planned for April. The institute has awarded 11 grants totalling $70,000 to faculty researchers working on projects in the AI realm. This year, the school is launching an AI minor, opening an innovation hub and working to increase research submissions.

“We’re no longer a campus initiative,” Grady said. “We’re an institutional asset.”

NC College Connect’s reach

Simply scan a QR code and see what colleges you’ve been automatically offered admission to based on your GPA. That’s the promise of NC College Connect, a program aiming to simplify college admission for North Carolina high schoolers. Nearly one quarter of the Class of 2026 accessed higher education this way, the state announced Monday.

More than half of high schoolers say applying for college is more stressful than anything they’ve done in school so far, according to a presentation given to the UNC Board of Governors last month. But this may help. Students with a grade point average of 2.8 or higher qualify for this simplified admissions process. One-third of the forms came from students with a GPA of 3.6 or higher, showing that program appeals to both high-achieving students and those who didn’t believe college was possible.

Eleven UNC system schools participate in NC College Connect, and so far, the biggest enrollment impacts are at Appalachian State, East Carolina University and UNC Charlotte.