UNC system could lose voice with Rand

With the departure of N.C. Senate Majority Leader Sen. Tony Rand, D-Cumberland, a vacancy will open in the N.C. General Assembly that could have a significant impact on the UNC system.

Rand, who has served in the legislature since 1982, has repeatedly made the UNC system a top priority. He said he hopes his departure will not affect the legislature’s relationship with the UNC system.

Rand announced his departure earlier this month.

 “It’s been North Carolina’s tradition to protect the university, and to value education and enlightenment,” Rand said. “Having a world-class education available right here is what has separated us from the rest of the South.”

Anita Watkins, vice president of government relations for the UNC system, stressed Rand’s accomplishments for higher education in the state.

“Sen. Rand has had a profound impact on the university. He recognizes how integral the university system is to our state’s current and future success,” Watkins said.

Dwayne Pinkney, assistant vice chancellor for finance and administration at UNC-Chapel Hill, listed UNC-CH accomplishments that he said Rand helped make possible — among them groundbreaking cancer research and a biomedical center.

He also helped ensure that the University received larger budgets in the face of enrollment growth.

“Rand has his hand in any of the major legislative accomplishments of the last 10 to 15 years,” he said.

N.C. Sen. Marc Basnight, D-Dare, pointed out Rand’s personal ties to UNC-CH.

“Tony Rand has had a greater influence on UNC-Chapel Hill than anyone who has ever lived, outside of William Davie and the founders who created the school,” Basnight said in a statement.

Schorr Johnson, Basnight’s communication director, said in an e-mail that in Rand’s years in the Senate, Rand helped double the UNC-system budget, procure $500 million for building expansion in 2008 and create the N.C. Research Campus in Kannapolis.

He was also the muscle behind the $3.1 billion schools bond in 2000, which has generated 88,000 state jobs, Johnson said.

With Rand gone, there is both speculation and uncertainty about who will assume his role and carry the academic torch between the legislature and the UNC system.

“That’s the issue — I don’t know who will stand in his place as far as having that kind of influence,” said N.C. Sen. Tony Foriest, D-Alamance.

Pinkney said he hopes the newly appointed senate majority leader, Sen. Martin Nesbitt Jr., D-Buncombe, will continue in Rand’s legacy and preside over tough economic times with special attention to the system’s needs.

UNC-system Chief of Staff Jeff Davies said it’s simply too soon to tell who will step up on the system’s behalf. It will become clearer once the legislature completes the upcoming term’s agenda in February or March.

“I hope the legislature will continue to support it in same vein and spirit. It should certainly be one of the primary focuses of state resources,” Rand said.

Basnight said he sees no immediate substitute for what Rand has meant to the UNC system.

“The best Carolina ever gave is found in Tony Rand and we have no replacement. None.”



Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.