Officials Consider UNC's Standards For Excellence

Chancellor James Moeser and Provost Robert Shelton engaged the BOT in an exhaustive discussion about the measures Thursday, debating the merits of some standards and adding others to the extensive list.

Administrators said the standards are meant to capture the qualities of a large research university. "Not only do these reflect the complexity of Carolina but they also allow us to do quantitative measures," Moeser said. "These are measures of excellence by which we want to be held accountable."

The measures are broken down into six categories: undergraduate program strengths; graduate and professional students; faculty strengths; research and programs; extending the University beyond the campus; and finance, facilities and staff development.

They will allow administrators to more effectively compare UNC with peer institutions such as the University of California-Berkeley and the University of Michigan.

Shelton said the standards are still a work in progress and welcomed input from the board.

BOT members said that it was a good place to start but that there is more work to be done.

Much of the discussion involved the undergraduate program strengths on which organizations such as U.S. News & World Report most often rate UNC.

The measures outlined by Shelton suggested different ways to gauge the quality of incoming students using just SAT scores, AP scores and diversity. But trustees wanted to see more standards such as grade point average and class rank used.

BOT members also struggled with how to market UNC to incoming students.

Shelton suggested emphasizing UNC's financial accessibility and proportion of courses with less than 20 students. But members said UNC can't be described by just facts and figures.

Trustee Nelson Schwab said one of the biggest reasons why students come to the University is for the intangible experience of UNC. But he admitted that would be difficult to measure.

Other topics the board discussed included ways to gauge the success of students, the recruitment of graduate students and the retention of faculty. The breadth of the discussions left many trustees overwhelmed. "I think this thing needs focus to be really effective," said trustee Paul Fulton.

Student Body President Jen Daum agreed. "The challenge now is to really focus these measures and make a decision, as a campus, what the best ways to mark our progress (are)," she said.

Daum said the measures will be discussed by various campus groups, including Student Congress and the Faculty Council, later in the semester.

The BOT will continue with the discussion at its next meeting, in November.

Earlier in the meeting, BOT members heard reports from each of the committees, including a proposal by an ad hoc committee refusing to allow Faculty Council and Employee Forum representation on the board.

Much to the dismay of faculty and employee representatives in attendance, the full BOT unanimously upheld the committee's decision.

The University Editor can be reached at udesk@unc.edu.