Governor's review of the way UNC system is run gets underway

Cooper called their work “one of the most important discussions that we can have,” and he reiterated complaints about the way leadership for the General Assembly’s Republican majority has stacked the deck in the boards and positions that decide UNC system policy.

The General Assembly appoints every member of the system’s Board of Governors, and the legislature’s Republican majority also controls appointments to campus-by-campus boards of trustees. North Carolina governors used to hold some of those trustee appointments, but Republican lawmakers changed that after the 2016 elections, when Cooper, a Democrat, beat Republican Gov. Pat McCrory.

Opponents to those changes say such appointments are too often partisan decisions and that membership doesn’t reflect the state’s diversity. Cooper said Wednesday, in remarks to his commission, that there are signs of intolerance, undue meddling and “singularity of political thought,” and that the system’s foundation can erode when “all of the appointed leaders are chosen by too few.”

Cooper calls for governance shift at UNC System

Change is a longshot, though. Republican leaders have shown little willingness to overhaul the process, and the General Assembly would have to vote changes through. Spokespeople for the legislature’s top Republican leaders didn’t immediately respond Wednesday to a request for comment. Speaker of the House Tim Moore said last month when the commission was created that he had “no interest in changing the structure of the UNC system, regardless of whatever report this politically motivated commission produces.”

“This effort is only about the future of our great university,” Cooper said during opening remarks to the commission. “Nothing else. And that is an important point. I mean that.”

Cooper acknowledged that it’s possible none of what the commission suggests will be adopted. But he predicted “waves of public support,” with people calling state lawmakers to advocate for changes the group recommends.

The meeting agenda was heavy on consulting reports. Members were scheduled to hear a presentation on the UNC system’s history written by a professor at the University of Florida, a demographic breakdown of the UNC Board of Governors and campus boards of trustees by The College Crisis Initiative at Davidson College. The commission was also scheduled to attend a session on a comparison of university governance structures from other states. That session was put together by AGB, a consulting firm that specializes in reviewing governing boards and assessing university presidents.

WRAL News requested contracts for all consultants reporting to the commission and the governor's office said that, while a contract for outside consultants is expected, it has not been finalized.

Based on the 2020 Census, 70% of North Carolina’s population is white, 22% is black and 10% is Hispanic.

Roughly 51% of the state is female, but only UNC-Greensboro has a majority female board of trustees, the report says. All but one of N.C. State’s trustees are men.

Politically, 64% of Board of Governors members are registered Republicans, and the board has just one registered Democrat. The state’s voting rolls are more evenly split, with 30% of voters registered as Republicans, 34% registered as Democrats and 36% registered as unaffiliated.

Two states elect their boards in popular elections. North Carolina was the only system in the group that has the state legislature elect members to the university system’s top board, the presentation states.

Spellings, a commission co-chair, said the group will likely meet again in early February, and that after that she expects to hold a series of public hearings.

“Our whole thing is looking forward,” she said.