UNC’s Board of Trustees is no stranger to controversy.
Just last month, UNC System President Peter Hans issued a memo on the BOT’s overreach into University athletics, stating that trustees “appear to act independently of their campus’s administration in matters squarely within the responsibility of the chancellor.”
But the Board’s power grab is not limited to sports.
Within the last decade the Board has proposed directing D&I funds to police expansion, accelerated a School of Civic Life and Leadership without faculty input, denied civil rights journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones tenure and tried to house Silent Sam, a Confederate monument, within a $5.3 million center on campus.
We know the actions and words of the trustees echo around our community, but we started this project to delve into what else they do. In many ways, the stories in this series are an effort to fill in our own blind spots. They range from large questions — like what is the connection between North Carolina’s state government and the Board, to smaller, literal ones — like what does the resume of a trustee candidate look like?
Along with answering our own questions this project is also full of stories that have the goal of holding the Board, and the state legislature, accountable for how it has governed UNC. While the news cycle has moved on from many of the Board’s significant decisions, we, as reporters have not. Though their bylaws call them an advisory board, few systems exist to check their power, which is where this project aims to increase transparency.
The title of our project isn’t an accusation — it’s built on themes we’ve come across in our months of reporting and research. Strategy and tactical choices are crucial to management and important characteristics of an advisory board. That said, there have been times where the trustees have acted more like players in a game than administrators shaping our education.
The student body president serves as an ex officio member of the BOT — but how can one representative reflect the positions of over 30,000 students? Though the University receives state and federal funds, ultimately the institution relies on our tuition dollars, and more importantly, defines our futures. We too are stakeholders in the University, and major decisions by the board should reflect our perspectives, needs and interests.
It is our responsibility as journalists, but more importantly as community members, to remember, historicize and reflect on their actions, not just when their statements receive attention.
