Students, faculty worried about diversity in UNC system's strategic plan

University students and faculty gathered Tuesday to take advantage of their first opportunity to formally provide input for the UNC system’s new strategic plan.

They echoed a familiar concern: a lack of diversity on the plan’s advisory committee.

The system’s Advisory Committee on Strategic Directions is drafting the plan, which will determine budgetary and academic priorities, and will submit it to UNC-system President Thomas Ross in January.

At the forum, which was held in the Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Black Culture and History, attendees raised concerns that the plan’s priorities will be misguided.

Attendees broke up into groups at the end of the forum and discussed goals they want included in the plan. The results of these discussions will contribute to a platform to be submitted to the system’s advisory committee, said Deborah Stroman, a lecturer and academic adviser in the Department of Exercise and Sport Science.

William Race, a classics professor, said at the forum that he’s concerned the committee has a narrow perspective, leaving the committee ill-equipped to address the vast needs of higher education.

“A report is one thing — a living voice on the committee is another,” he said.

Race also criticized the three-month time frame of the plan’s development. He said the most recent five-year plan, which was drafted over a longer one-year period, was more effective in meeting student and faculty concerns.

Maria DeGuzman, an English professor, agreed that the brief time frame would be detrimental.

“(The short planning period) leaves the faculty and others concerned and suspicious,” she said, adding that the time frame is too focused on efficiency, which will result in the loss of certain programs and positions.

“The liberal arts education should not be made subservient to the notion of ‘getting a job’,” she said.

One of the goals listed in the committee’s preliminary report is tailoring degree offerings to the state’s workforce needs.

Art Pope, a committee member and conservative political figure, attended the forum to express his willingness to discuss these issues.

He has faced criticism from the N.C. Student Power Union, a group that is concerned Pope would cut education funding.

“There is documented support that I have defended public eduction,” he said, adding that the student power union’s perception is incorrect.

“It will provide momentum to share with the 16 schools of the UNC system,” Stroman said.

Joseph Jordan, Stone Center director, said the forum shouldn’t sit back while the plan is created.

“We don’t have to be so concerned that someone is going to bring on a vision that we don’t share — we have a vision,” he said.

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