Who’s in charge? A look at the University's most powerful decision-makers

Following the removal of a years-long policy requiring diversity and inclusion services, the elimination of the student-led Honor System and the announcement of Lee Roberts' controversial chancellorship, the University remains at the forefront of a dynamic 17-school UNC system.

But, the question remains: who’s at the helm of all these recent changes? 

Formation of the UNC Board of Governors 

In 1971, the N.C. General Assembly established the UNC System Board of Governors, which oversees all 17 UNC member institutions.  

There are 24 voting members on the BOG, all of which serve staggered four year terms. As it currently stands, 12 members of the BOG are elected by the North Carolina House of Representatives and 12 additional members are elected by the North Carolina Senate. 

In 2025, both bodies will each elect six members to the BOG, repeating the process every two years. 

“When you have one party in charge of both of those houses, you have a lower likelihood that you will have people from across different political persuasions represented on those boards, which leads to a situation where those boards are more likely to be politicized,” former chair of the UNC-Chapel Hill faculty executive council Mimi Chapman said. 

The General Assembly is currently comprised of a Republican supermajority. The GOP gained ultimate control after State Rep. Tricia Cotham left the Democratic party in 2023 and became a Republican. 

“So there are myriad ways that it's done,” former North Carolina State Senator and UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Trustees Chair Richard Stevens said. “I doubt there's a perfect system anywhere. Ours has worked pretty well.”

In 2022, Governor Roy Cooper (D) signed an executive order establishing the Commission on Public University Governance to study the current status of public university governance in North Carolina.

The following year, the commission released recommendations including growing the size of the BOG from 24 to 32-36 members. It also suggested, in an effort to increase bipartisanship, that the majority party in the House and Senate should each select 12 members and that the dominant minority party in the House and Senate should select 4 members each.

A Layered Approach 

“Chancellors report to the UNC System President, who in turn reports to the Board of Governors. Campus Boards of Trustees serve as advisory bodies to the Board of Governors and to chancellors,” BOG Chair Wendy Murphy said in an email statement.

The UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Trustees consists of 15 representatives, including the student body president, who serves as an ex-officio member with voting power. 

UNC undergraduate student government Secretary and Chief Communications Officer Jakob Williams said student government’s main power moves through the president’s position and vote on the Board of Trustees. 

“One really critical thing to understand is this concept of delegated authority,” Chapman said. “You know, from a legal perspective, the legislature is in charge of everything related to UNC-Chapel Hill, or to any of the UNC system schools, but they delegate authority down through these various layers.” 

The specific powers of UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Trustees and the Chancellor are outlined in their delegated authority resolution, as created by the BOG. 

“What you see a lot of times is people get very frustrated with the leadership on campus, the chancellor, the provost, whomever,” Chapman said. “But those people don't necessarily have the delegated authority to make whatever decision it is that that is in question.” 

In May, the BOG voted to repeal the UNC system DEI policy — a decision that fell within the board’s jurisdiction. 

At the BOG meeting, a group of students protested the vote. Two students who attempted to enter the meeting building were arrested and charged for trespassing. 

In July, UNC-Chapel Hill administrators announced plans to alter the student-led honor court and move to a staff-led system. Through his delegated authority, then-interim and now permanent, Chancellor Lee Roberts controls student conduct policies. 

Speaking out against the change, student groups like TransparUNCy made social media posts and statements. 

Following current UNC system president Peter Hans' recommendation to the BOG, Lee Roberts was selected as UNC-Chapel Hill’s newest Chancellor in August, reporting directly to Hans. 

More than 900 students signed-off on an op-ed disapproving of Lee Robert’s chancellorship. 

"The installation of Roberts further entrenches the takeover of our University by far-right political operatives who disregard the values of academic freedom and diversity as well as the voices of the students, faculty and staff," the petition reads. 

Who has the power? 

“Chapel Hill is a public institution, proudly so for 230 years, but that adds other layers of responsibility to that governing process,” Stevens said. “In our case, the legislature, the governors, as well as the chancellors and President and the trustees."

Still, “the group that has the ultimate responsibility, under state law derived from the Constitution, is the Board of Governors,” he said. 

In contrast, Murphy said no one group has dominant influence over North Carolina’s public universities. 

“Faculty exercise significant authority over academic affairs through shared governance; elected student representatives serve on the BOG and campus BOTs; alumni make their voices heard through campus associations and boards of visitors; and the people of North Carolina get a strong say through the board appointments of their elected representatives,” Murphy said. 

The UNC BOT will next convene on Sept. 18 and Sept. 19 and the BOG will meet on Sept. 11 and Sept. 12. 

Williams said students need to be aware and do their own research. 

“I don't think you need to really know every single detail, but I do think it's important to know who is making these decisions that are going to impact your university experience," Williams said. “Because at the end of the day, we are the students who make up this University.” 

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@dailytarheel | university@dailytarheel.com

CORRECTION: A previous version of this article stated that the BOG will meet on Sept. 18. The BOG will meet on Sept. 11 and Sept. 12.