The job of chancellor is a difficult one. There is no denying it. Trying to balance UNC’s public image and please sometimes angry students can be easier said than done.
Chancellor Carol Folt has presided over a particularly hard time in North Carolina and UNC history. She faced issues from academic scandals to House Bill 2 and increased pressure on campus policing. No one envies her responsibility.
Yet it can be disappointing when her campus-wide emails fail to take real stances on political issues.
Many students feel her letters are over-generalized public relation statements — not the personal, empowering thoughts one would expect from a campus leader.
Simply acknowledging a problem or telling students to go the wonderful, but limited, CAPS is not leadership. It is restating UNC policy.
But the words of a chancellor, or lack thereof, affect the student body. They can make people feel excluded from the University or make it seem like Chancellor Folt doesn’t care.
Which is a shame, because speaking with her makes it clear that she does indeed care a lot.
Chancellor Folt doesn’t need to publish manifestos every day, and all the work she does for the University is admirable. But those emails are the only communication most students have with her, and they need to be better.
All UNC students need to know that their chancellor cares about them and their passions. Overly general emails will never be able to convey that real feeling.
