The University’s faculty is tired of watching Chancellor Holden Thorp take punches.
For the past two years, faculty members have sat back as Thorp grappled with the athletic, academic and administrative scandals that have plagued his tenure.
But at an emergency meeting of the general faculty Tuesday, members decided it is finally time to stand up and share the burden.
Thorp announced Monday he will step down in June.
“I feel like (Thorp) is fighting the fight I want fought,” said Rudi Colloredo-Mansfeld, a professor in anthropology. “And I feel like he’s doing it alone.”
“I say all this in concern that when we leave the room, we’ll leave the problem.”
Following Thorp’s brief appearance to address the crowd, which welcomed him with a standing ovation, more than 300 faculty members voted overwhelmingly in support of a resolution that calls on UNC-system President Thomas Ross to decline Thorp’s resignation.
The emergency meeting was the first of its kind in the University’s history, said Chairwoman of the Faculty Jan Boxill.
The Nelson Mandela Auditorium of the FedEx Global Education Center was packed with faculty members singing the praises of a chancellor whose time in office they believe should be far from over.