Big news: Chancellor resigns

Priscilla, you asked an interesting question about the two committees, UW-Madison, and UNC. Look at the Wisconsin structure that also has 21 members. Eleven are faculty, two are staff, two are students two are administrators and four are called “community.” Note that the students are both undergrads. I observe a variety of faculty, and the administrators are senior types. But look at “community.” One is past chair of their Foundation, one is the chair of BAR (The Badger Action Network is a bipartisan coalition of alumni, parents, students and other volunteers who value higher education and want to keep the University of Wisconsin-Madison strong.), one is the director of the research park and one is the past president of the system board of regents.

In the case of UNC, our 21 include six trustees, six professors, five alumni, two employees, and two students. The students represent undergrads and grad students. The main difference of course is the high representation from the Board of Trustees, reflecting the politics of our state system. I think this is also reflected in the composition of other recent selection committees at other UNC system institutions.

Note that neither of the committees include employees from the lowest pay levels, nor community activists like the ones we met on the Madison trip or like the ones we have here.

From my perspective, when the committee is this large, there will most certainly be a smaller “executive” committee that will drive the process. With everyone participating having to sign a confidentiality agreement, I suspect that unless someone leaks it, we won't know how they work.

This makes Mark M's suggestion interesting – vote for the chancellor. As a state institution with an international student body, who would get to vote? I shudder to think that this would produce similar levels of participation and outcomes like those that we see in national and state voting processes. Scary!

Speaking of voting, Fred, nice commentary on WCHL today about voting in municipal elections. I hope the interest in who is in our town government matches the above interest in who might be the next chancellor. Hopefully more than 15% vote in our election, which is a handful of who lives here---so potentially a handful of people could decide who deals with the university on Carolina North, the largest development to ever hit Chapel Hill. Vote!

The DTH, The CHH, and The N&O all have stories on the Selection Committee's decision to negotiate contract terms with Bill Funk to assist with the search. Funk, formerly of Korn/Ferry before going out on his own, is a recognized leader in this business. He did the Syracuse and U-W Madison search, among others. He also does flat rate work rather than basing his fee on a percent of the president's/chancellor's salary.

As stated in one of the articles, Funk has a reputation such than when he calls candidates, they take his call.

Fred,

Now that you put it that way, I'm convinced that voting would indeed be messy.

In fact, since you mentioned our state & national elections, I think we should consider leaving it up to a small group of party leaders and corporate media moguls to choose our candidates for us so that the hoi-polloi don't screw things up - oh, wait - maybe we've already made that change...

Laurin

Put another way: The largest development to hit UNC is Chapel Hill. Seriously I hope the reference to Carolina North as a “development " is not equating it with Meadowmont or Southern Village. That would miss an important point about why we came to CH/Carrboro and seem to fight to preserve it the way we perceive we found it. That point is that UNC is Chapel Hill and Chapel Hill is UNC, for better or worse.

I would submit that the growth of the medical complex has been a far greater "development" in our community in terms of impact of growth of big buildings, employees and people coming to our towns for treatment and homes.

I agree that the university has not been the best partner in the past indeed they have often seemed to ignore the town. For much of the history of the University there was no town other than the academic community. That has changed and I hope recognized. I want the new chancellor to be a champion for all the community. However they will have a broader perspective by the nature of leading a state university with national and international leadership in many areas.

As for our elected officials they (you) have a tough job providing input and oversight. Thank you for your service.

I do not think however any of us are well served seeing UNC as just another developer and Carolina North as a property development. Property developers will come and go, we will all go to dust but the University of North Carolina and the Town of Chapel Hill will likely endure together for many generations to come.

Steve
UNC is not just another developer. They are coming forward with the largest development plan we have seen. I agree with you that UNC and the Town will endure together for many generations to come. I will contend that one of the best ways to attract great faculty to UNC which helps the University remain competitive is to not only have a great University in which to teach, work, do research, etc. , but a great Town in which to live and raise a family. It's a symbiotic relationship. I personally know excellent faculty that have chosen UNC over some other higher paying University because that University's city is a less desirable place to live (too much traffic, no charm, etc). It seems you are jumping to conclusions that the Town Council(or me) is going to ignore the University's importance.

Lauren

I seized on your use of the word "development". I actually think that in terms of actual build upon acreage Meadowmont and Southern Village rival CN. Especially if you consider what has been built in our life time as opposed to the timeline for build out on CN.

I accept you at your word about how you regard the university. I also thank you again for your service on the board. TC is often a thankless job. What the current TC is involved with CN is crucial.

I agree that Chapel Hill has been and remains a wonderful place to live and the new chancellor and Chapel Hill must always remember that fact. I do not see CN as a threat to Chapel Hill but an opportunity for both town and gown.

I made no conclusion about the Council overlooking the importance of the University. In fact the TC has shown many times over the years that they regard UNC as critically important.

Those of us living in this community must accept and work with the concept that our desires for UNC and CN evolution (we are talking 50+ years just for CN) will sometimes conflict with the vision and mandate of UNC. The new chancellor must accept the fact that this is no longer just an academic community, aka "company town”, that can be dictated to as in our not too distant past.

My thought is that those who advocate or believe in treating the University "like any other developer" is guilty of believing too much in their importance as a Town Council member or as citizen. I am glad you are not one among that group.