Sanders' Snub Bodes Poorly For System

Granted, my experience with the university system's governing body has been limited to the last two years, but Sanders has been the heart and conscience of the BOG during that time.

He has been one of the board's most knowledgeable members and students' most stalwart supporters during his two-year tenure.

Above all, Sanders believes in the University and its capacity to do good with its students and the state.

He has spent his career in service to North Carolina.

Sanders was a member of the faculty at the Institute of Government for 33 years, with 25 as the institute's head.

He is one of the fathers of the state's modern constitution. When the General Assembly convened in 1968 to redraft the Constitution, he served as staff adviser.

Sanders helped create the statewide community college system. He helped design a plan for desegregating the UNC system in the early 1970s.

How did the N.C. House not re-elect him to the BOG?

Sanders was the one person who should have been a shoo-in to keep his seat. He and others estimated that he was running second or third among the 12 candidates for the seats.

The decision makes no sense.

Who knows what our illustrious representatives were thinking when they cast their votes?

Maybe everyone assumed that Sanders was guaranteed to keep his seat, so they voted for other candidates.

Or maybe Sanders was doing his job too well. Perhaps he made the General Assembly and the other members of the board think too hard about raising tuition capriciously.

Perhaps he was too great an advocate for students and too loud in his refrain of only raising tuition under exceptional circumstances.

He warned with great foresight that the decision last spring to raise tuition on five of the 16 UNC campuses was a dangerous precedent that would lead to a flood of future requests. Just as he predicted, N.C. Central and Appalachian State universities, among others, requested tuition increases this year.

Perhaps representatives from the west were intent on increasing the influence of Piedmont and Charlotte residents on the board. Others could have been trying to raise the board's minority presence. There are rumors of an alliance between the Black Caucus and the GOP.

Theories abound as those who know and respect Sanders try to explain the illogical decision.

It could have been politics; it could have been carelessness.

Politics seems the likely explanation, but it's also the worst reason. Support for public higher education shouldn't be an issue that splits Democrats and Republicans.

"It's unfortunate how politicized this process often gets," said Jeff Nieman, a former student BOG member.

"(BOG) votes almost never come down along party lines, yet party affiliation plays an inordinately large role in the membership selection process."

Nieman is currently circulating a letter of support for Sanders among the state's leaders, many of whom have looked to Sanders as a mentor throughout their careers.

The only certainty is that the UNC system and the state as a whole will be worse off after Sanders' last BOG meeting June 8.

I hope Sanders will continue to stay involved with higher education in North Carolina. Even though he and I are only slightly acquainted, I know he has the integrity to not let one vote from the N.C. House keep him from pursuing his passion.

He will be a dangerous watchdog for the interests of students and universities in North Carolina.

Columnist Anne Fawcett can be reached at fawcetta@hotmail.com.