Since Chancellor Holden Thorp announced his intent to resign, there has been widespread concern on campus that his successor might not have similar values.
In response to Thorp’s announcement, faculty passed a resolution requesting Thorp to rethink his decision. The Board of Trustees voted to ask UNC-system President Thomas Ross to decline Thorp’s resignation. On Friday, Student Government coordinated a rally supporting Thorp and urging him to reconsider.
However, Thorp has since stated that he still fully intends to resign.
The Board of Trustees must make sure that all of these stakeholders’ voices are represented on the chancellor selection committee that will choose our next leadership.
The selection committee that ultimately chose Thorp for the position in 2008 had representatives from faculty, staff, alumni, trustees and students.
This distribution of representation on the 2008 committee should be applauded — it’s more inclusive than selection committees at our peer institutions who recently had similar searches this year, such as University of California, San Diego and University of California, Berkeley.
All of these UNC groups should again receive as equitable of representation as possible for this year’s chancellor selection committee.
However, undergraduate students, as one of the largest bodies represented, should have more than just one voice.
The board should ensure the next chancellor’s selection represents everyone in the University community through appointing a representative committee.
