Q&A: Chancellor Lee Roberts discusses his first semester as permanent chancellor

Wednesday marked the end of classes for UNC students, and the end of the first full semester led by Chancellor Lee Roberts. University Editor Ananya Cox sat down with Roberts to talk about the unprecedented year, including changes to admissions and criticism from different members of the community.

This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

Daily Tar Heel: How do you feel like the year is going in one sentence?

Lee Roberts: I feel really grateful for how the semester has gone, my first semester as permanent chancellor, and I'm honored to be entrusted with this role, and I'm grateful to everyone for their hard work for the entire semester.

DTH: What do you see for your future at UNC and what are you envisioning?

LR: I feel as though we've made really good progress on our strategic priorities, so, our goals around enrollment, around building out our capabilities in Applied Sciences, in artificial intelligence, and in updating our physical master plan. We broke ground on the new nursing school building just a few weeks ago. We're about to break ground on the translational research building. We're continuing to work on the future home of Carolina basketball, and we obviously have significant repair and renovation needs. I also feel good about where we are with our two new schools. Our School Civic Life and Leadership is off to a very strong start. The minor is up and running. It's heavily oversubscribed. Our School of Data Science has the major up and running. I think there's very strong student demand there as well.

This is such a complex, and in many ways, decentralized organization that I think in order to make progress on any long term strategic priority you really need to be strapped in for the long term and take a broader perspective. I think if you look back at the history of successful chancellors, the ones who have had the greatest impact are the ones who have been patient and who have been able to serve for an extended period of time and continue to focus consistently on a small number of strategic objectives.

DTH: This is the first year that we’ve seen the incoming class come in without the use of affirmative action in our admissions process. Some students have described this feeling of belonging less at the University. There has also been a system-wide removal of requirements for DEI services, as well as racist text messages sent out to Black people across the country, which included UNC students. How is the University providing support and protecting students at a time when some don’t feel safe here?

LR: I can't imagine what it would have been like to receive one of those text messages. I did see them. They were repulsive, and my heart does go out to the students who received them. We're obviously working with law enforcement to try to get to the bottom of that. As you say, it was not isolated to Carolina. From my perspective as an administrator, there's a difference between anonymous, racist text messages, a UNC System Policy and the Supreme Court decision.

We were a defendant in the Supreme Court case, we spent years defending our affirmative action policy and millions of dollars, as has been broadly reported. I think it's too early to identify the impact. First of all, one year wouldn't be enough data, regardless. But this year, we have the additional complication of the change in the FAFSA administration. I think there's broad bipartisan consensus that that was botched. Our head of admissions testified in front of Congress to that effect, we delayed our enrollment deadline twice to account for that, and so did many of our peer institutions.

The DEI policy is obviously a system-level policy, not a Carolina policy. We comply with the policy. We've implemented the policy. I have heard from students that they feel that these factors, taken as a whole, have, as you put it, made them feel as though they belong less. And that's terrible. We have to be a place that works as hard as it can to make sure that every North Carolinian feels as though this is a place that they are wanted and welcome. We primarily serve North Carolinians. We obviously also welcome people from around the country and around the world, but we have a moral trust with the people of this state. Across our history we have obviously have not always done that in as comprehensive a way as we as we need to, and we need to always be working as hard as we can, to be reaching out to people in every nook and cranny of the state and make sure that they know that they're wanted at Carolina.  

DTH: The Davie Awards are for “extraordinary service” and are the highest honor of the Board of Trustees. Virginia Foxx, an awardee this year, is a congressional representative. She voted against the Equality Act in 2019 that would have banned discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, and voted against the Respect for Marriage Act in 2022 that put protections for same sex and interracial marriage into law. Does this decision reflect institutional neutrality from the Board of Trustees, and in your opinion, does making this decision reflect Carolina values?

LR: The Davie Awards are trustee awards, not administration awards. But I don't think there's an inconsistency between the principle of institutional neutrality, which, as you say, is not just System Policy, but I think it's been adopted by all kinds of colleges and universities across the country. But when it comes to any award, that doesn't necessarily imply an endorsement by Carolina of everything that person has ever said and done.

We're really honoring them for their service to the University, and in the case of Congresswoman Foxx, she's the dean of the North Carolina congressional delegation, the longest serving member of Congress from from North Carolina and a really stellar Carolina alum. She told a remarkably compelling story at the Davie Awards dinner of how Carolina changed the trajectory of her life. The speech she gave really was a terrific example of Carolina doing in practice what we all hope and believe that it does, which is change people's lives, put them on a path to a career and a life that they might not have thought of, might not have available to them without this remarkable public institution.

DTH: Can you briefly describe how the University is supporting students that are affected by Hurricane Helene, and if there are any other plans in the works or future that we're not yet aware of supporting students in that area?

LR: If there's a silver lining to the terrible devastation in western North Carolina, it's seeing how people have responded; how the UNC System has responded and in particular, how the Carolina community has responded. We've done everything we can administratively to support the students from the counties that are affected, but to me, the part that is most compelling is the direct action from our community.

So we had people from our pharmacy school set up a temporary pharmacy immediately after the storm to dispense insulin to people who needed it. We had students who were activated in the National Guard who left campus to go work on the relief effort. We've done everything we can to support the other UNC System schools in the area. I continue to hear stories about remarkable individual action of people across our community just taking matters into their own hands.

DTH: In the Spring, professor Larry Chavis departed from the University after his class was recorded, without his knowledge, and then he decided to take legal action in September against the University. How is the University letting faculty and professors know they can speak freely, given this situation?

LR: The situation you mentioned, as you say, is the subject of litigation. There's therefore not that much I can say about it in particular.

I think everyone agrees that was an isolated incident, and my understanding is that it was confined to this particular professor, particular set of circumstances, but it identified the need for a policy around when classes can be recorded, who has the authority to approve the recording of classes. The provost has been working with the deans on trying to craft a policy on recording of classes so it should just give more clarity, predictability, transparency for everybody. More broadly, the faculty have extremely wide latitude to speak out, and that's been true for a long time. I can't think of anything before I got here, that in any way restricts the faculty's ability to teach, say, research, whatever it is that they want to to speak or research or write about. 

DTH: With high faculty turnover, the narrative from previous faculty that the School of Civic Life and Leadership has taken a religious focus and with ongoing claims that it was created for the purpose of conservative discourse, has your perspective on where you see the school going in the future changed?

LR: The speed with which they've been able to attract faculty is remarkable. They've hired really high quality faculty in a surprisingly short period of time. Those faculty are all hired and reviewed by a committee of faculty members from across the college, not just from within SCiLL, just as the dean was hired by a committee of faculty members that itself was chosen by a committee of other faculty members. There's been comprehensive faculty involvement, college faculty, not the SCiLL faculty.

I don't think it's surprising that as the as the program evolves into a school and as a new dean comes in with new faculty members that some of the original faculty members from the previous program would have a difference in envision between what they saw as the role of the program and what the new dean and some of the new faculty members see as the role of the school.

Successful programs, successful new initiatives, work through that and are successful through their performance, and I'm confident that's what will happen with SCiLL.

DTH: In a position where you face a lot of pushback, and you face a lot of pressure, what keeps you doing and enjoying this job?

LR: I really do feel extraordinarily honored to be asked to serve in this position — it's an immense responsibility. I feel as though I've been entrusted with helping to lead the crown jewel of this state for every one of the 230 academic years. Here in Chapel Hill, I'm confident that this has been the most important institution, the most important pillar, on which we build a better future for North Carolina's families. Who wouldn't be honored to have the opportunity to play a role in that?

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