The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is constantly trying to protect its image. Keeping UNC looking good is integral to raising funds during a difficult time. Yet this editorial board has not been silent about our thoughts on the University’s decision to continually hire people to put a good spin on any bad news, while as of 2015 only a third of faculty at UNC are on the tenure track.
Clayton Somers, a UNC graduate, was hired as vice chancellor of public affairs for his “unique knowledge of the General Assembly and the state government.” This “unique knowledge” stems from Somers’ past employment as chief of staff for Republican Tim Moore, Speaker of the House in the North Carolina General Assembly. According to reporting from the News & Observer, Somers will be paid $280,000 for his service to our university.
Somers has only been at UNC for a month, so we cannot fairly critique his work so far.
But this board must ask, isn’t there some better way to use the resources dedicated to Somers? We have no choice but to wonder whose interests the University aims to protect with the addition of this position.
The Chancellor has said that Somers will “ensure the University has a more dedicated focus on state and federal relations issues,” though UNC has always been negotiating with legislators. If anything, the University appears to have decided to consolidate key responsibilities that used to be shared among a number of influential people onto the desk of one person.
The money spent paying Somers’ salary could be better spent on a scholarship, a new professor or raises for groundskeepers. We believe that people make UNC great, and our community members should be able to speak for themselves.
This is not only a question of resource allocation; this is a question of values. The Republicans in the North Carolina General Assembly have a clear agenda to defund higher education in an attempt to appear fiscally conservative.
Instead of trying to appease or negotiate with the Republican legislature, our University should be actively and totally opposing measures that would decrease public funding for the our campus, our faculty and our students. We have a lot of power in our image, our logos and our name. The University would be wise to leverage that public power against legislators who wish to defund UNC.
Image matters, and connections matter, but values are more important.
