Op-ed: UNC must make the BOG more open

By N.C. Senator Jay Chaudhuri

The legislative proposal to reduce the 32-member Board of Governors of the University to North Carolina to 24 members is a good first step.

Any board with 32 members is too large, and the bill sponsors rightly argue that (reducing) such a board size would result in a more efficient and effective board.

However, in an effort to shrink the Board of Governors, our General Assembly has a real opportunity to address two equally, if not more important, issues that could strengthen our world-class higher education system: establishing independence from the legislature and ensuring diversity on the Board of Governors.

First, it is critical that we establish an independent Board of Governors separate and apart from the General Assembly so the university system can carry out the mission of serving our state by providing world-class teaching, research and service.

Under both Democrats and Republicans, our appointment process has become too political.

Back in 2005, when Democrats controlled the General Assembly, the late State Senator Ham Horton remarked that the Board of Governors “is becoming a partisan political preserve of one party.”

In 2015, with Republicans controlling the General Assembly, News & Observer columnist Rob Christensen noted that “political interference in public Southern universities was a way of life,” with the exception of North Carolina.

That changed with the unexplained removal of the last UNC-system president.

For the sake of our current and future presidents of the UNC system, the General Assembly must take politics out of the university system appointment process.

We can do so by taking three steps.

First, all Board of Governors appointees should serve one eight-year term, not three four-year terms.

A single eight-year term allows a Board of Governor to focus on the best interests of the university system rather than appeal to the political interests of the legislature. Second, both the governor and legislature should appoint such members.

To ensure better cooperation between two branches of government, the governor should be granted authority to make a third of these appointments (eight members).

This idea of our governor making such appointments is not a new one.

In 2005, the Pope Center for Higher Education Policy made a series of recommendations to reform our Board of Governors, including giving the governor authority to appoint all Board of Governors members.

As the Pope report correctly points out, the governor is elected by all the people of the state and can appoint members who fit his or her statewide vision.

The governor’s appointment would also add balance to the legislative appointments who tend to focus on more regional interests.

Finally, the Board of Governors should consist of members from both major political parties. From 1987 to 2001, our state law required that four Board of Governor seats come from the minority political party. Today, we should return to this idea.

The governor, Speaker of the House and Senate President Pro Tempore should be required to appoint two members each of the opposite political party. This approach would underscore the support the UNC system receives from both political parties.

Second, it is important that our Board of Governors be diverse. In the corporate world, studies have shown that boards with different viewpoints, backgrounds and experiences make better decisions and are less likely to take risks.

The same concept applies to the Board of Governors. Diversity on the Board of Governors means representation from historically black colleges or universities, non-research institutions, rural parts of the state and yes, different political perspectives.

For example, our current Board of Governors consists of only four African-Americans and six women. There are no Native Americans, Hispanics or Asian-Americans.

Today, our Board of Governors includes just one graduate from a historically black college or university. A more diverse Board of Governors would better reflect the changing demographics of our state.

Today, our consolidated university system remains the envy of other states around the country because, until recently, we have managed to avoid undue political interference from the legislature.

By making these two simple changes — one that gives the Board of Governors true autonomy and one that ensures diversity — the General Assembly can make sure the UNC system stays focused on carrying out its mission to provide high-quality, affordable and accessible education to our students.

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