Across the UNC System, signs of Republican influence

November 2021 marked the 50th anniversary of the creation of the UNC System, the governing body of all 16 public universities in the state. The original six schools controlled by a Board of Governors were joined by the state’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), the predominantly Native American University of Pembroke, and universities outside the Triangle.

Each of the 16 universities has maintained individual cultures during the system’s 50-year stretch, but the UNC System Board of Governors has attempted to gain more control over each school’s administration, whether it’s a small HBCU or the flagship university. Here are how some individual schools have encountered the assertive central leadership.

East Carolina University

Intrusion by the UNC Board of Governors in campus affairs reached a fever pitch at East Carolina University after Cecil Staton, a former Georgia Republican state senator, was elected by the Board of Governors as ECU’s 11th chancellor in April of 2016.

Staton became engulfed in campus disputes over the football program and his vision for transforming the proud regional school into “the next great national university in this country.”

Harry Smith, an ECU alumnus and a prominent Republican donor, became the Board of Governors’ chair in 2018 and clashed with Staton. The chancellor said Smith’s meddling interfered with his ability to lead. He reportedly told an associate, “I had a bunch of things on my agenda, but I spent the morning on the phone with Harry Smith.”

Staton resigned under pressure in 2019 and Smith left the Board of Governors shortly afterward. Staton sued the UNC System and Smith in 2020 alleging his exit was caused by Smith’s “irrational and obsessive vendetta” against him.

There was more intrigue about claims that then-Board of Governors member Tom Fetzer tried to manipulate the selection of the next chancellor by undermining the candidacy of Interim-Chancellor Dan Gerlach. Gerlach resigned in October 2019 after photos and videos showed him drinking at a bar with students and later driving away. He was replaced by another interim chancellor, Ron Mitchelson.

In December 2020, Philip Rogers, who was raised in Greenville and has strong ties to ECU, was named the university’s 12th chancellor. Rogers has calmed and unified the campus and reasserted its role as an economic driver and medical provider for Eastern North Carolina, but the university is still recovering its balance after the recent turmoil at the top.

NC State University

In the summer of 2020 with COVID spreading and no vaccine in sight, the faculty at N.C. State worried about a return to in-person classes. At the same time, Republicans in the state legislature were pushing to end COVID-related shutdowns and the message to the legislature’s appointees on the UNC Board of Governors was clear: Don’t shut down the campuses.

N.C. State professor Steven Vincent, a member of the Faculty Senate, circulated a petition signed by about 20% of the faculty asking for flexibility to hold classes online. The petition also sought campus-wide mask requirements, rigorous testing, no budget penalties for departments that moved most of their classes online and that N.C. State’s COVID response going forward would be determined in consultation with the faculty.

In a response to Vincent, Chancellor Randy Woodson supported most of the petition’s requests, but noted that N.C. State was not free to decide on its own how to respond to a health threat to its faculty, students and staff. He wrote, “It is critical that we all understand that much of this is out of our hands and subject to the leadership of our State Government and UNC System.”

Vincent wrote back that the university should determine its own response. “I think one of our very highest priorities should be to create as safe an environment as possible for the populations we cherish. I believe that this requires making tough decisions for NCSU, if need be in opposition to the directives of the leaders of the UNC system.”

Just weeks after students returned in August of 2020, widespread outbreaks of COVID-19 caused undergraduate courses to be moved online and undergraduate students were told to leave campus.

Fayetteville State University

The small, historically Black university was subject to newfound media attention in February 2021, after its now-chancellor was added to the list of finalists. Darrell Allison is a former member of the UNC Board of Governors who stepped down from his role to apply to the position, despite having no experience in higher education administration. Multiple trustees told NC Policy Watch that he was in no way the most qualified candidate for the job. A member of the university’s search committee has also indicated Allison was not one of the original finalists in the search process.

Later, system president Peter Hans adopted a police in which two of the president’s choices for chancellor would automatically make the final round of prospects.

“Faculty morale is still very low,” said Chuck Tryon, a FSU professor and the chapter president of the American Association of University Professors on campus. “We’re all frustrated. To a certain extent, we feel powerless, because we don’t have the protections of a union.”

Fayetteville State University serves a majority-minority population, but Tryon notes that there is no major for African, African American, and Diaspora Studies. It is something students have also mentioned, since many of them are pursuing careers in criminal justice or social work. Otherwise, it’s predominantly a “commuter school,” and about half of its students are older than 24.

NC Central University

In 2011, Art Pope proposed the creation of a constitutional law center at N.C. Central University funded by his family’s conservative foundation. The proposal was quickly dropped after alumni objected to having the partisan group involved with the HBCU.

In 2015, the university’s Institute for Civic Engagement and Social Change and two centers at ECU and UNC-CH were closed by the UNC Board of Governors. The institute, founded in 2006, was focused on encouraging young people of color to vote and be involved with democracy, like recruiting students to help Durham homeowners fill out their census paperwork in 2010, and seeing a 90% voter turnout at the NCCU precinct in the 2008 election after holding voter registration drives. The institute’s founder, Jarvis Hall, still teaches political science at the university.

In 2016, NCCU chancellor Debra Saunders-White died from cancer after filling the role for three years. The provost, Dr. Johnson Akinleye, served as acting chancellor for five months, then was interim chancellor for six months before taking over the role permanently in June 2017.

Western Carolina University

In early 2018, Western Carolina University’s chancellor search was upended after a member of the UNC Board of Governors gave confidential information about the chosen candidate to a friend’s private company for a background check. After this, the candidate, who has never been identified, pulled their name from the consideration process.

Later, it was revealed that Tom Fetzer, former chair of the NC GOP and the board member in question, had been vying for the interim chancellor position at Western, but the spot was filled. The chancellor search process was changed after the incident to be more confidential and thorough. It would be about a year before the 12th chancellor, Kelli R. Brown, filled the spot. Brown was working at a state university in Georgia before moving to Cullowhee.

This story was originally published February 6, 2022 at 5:58 AM.