Editorial: Cooper makes a much-needed move to fix UNC System's instability and patronage

CBC Editorial: Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2022; editorial #8803
The following is the opinion of Capitol Broadcasting Company

When Republicans took control of the General Assembly a decade ago one of the earliest and most visible exercises of their clout was to maneuver Tom Ross, a most capable leader, out of his job as president of the University of North Carolina system and replace him with Margaret Spellings – Republican President George W. Bush’s education secretary.

It is not without significant irony that Ross and Spellings, brought together by Gov. Roy Cooper, will lead a commission tasked with developing policies and procedures to make the UNC Board of Governors and the trustees of the 16 campuses in the system more diverse and less vulnerable to the whims of partisan politics.

Cooper’s effort is much-needed, timely and important. Whether it is the needless and costly move of the UNC system headquarters from Chapel Hill to Raleigh or appointments of trustees or campus chancellors, politics and ideology have become the priority – not quality education. The complaints of over-the-top political meddling come from some unusual sources – people otherwise noted for their partisanship including former GOP state legislator Leo Daughtry and longtime Republican mega-donor, ex-legislator and state budget director Art Pope.

Ross made his mark as a steady professional, running the system in a business-like manner that appropriately prioritized the missions of education and research. He was much in the mold of one of his predecessors, C.D. Spangler.

Spellings, certainly no liberal, also made education, not politics, her priority. The obvious friction with legislative leaders led to her early resignation.

Cooper, a Democrat, has skillfully timed the work of the commission and its recommendations in a way that he won’t gain any political benefit. His term ends in two years — when the recommendations are due — and state law prohibits him from seeking re-election to a third consecutive term.

Two years ago the Chronicle of Higher Education took an in-depth look at how members of the UNC Board were selected and the impact on operation of the individual campuses. The Chronicle’s investigation detailed how the appointment process left the UNC system “vulnerable to an ideologically-driven and politically motivated form of college governance,” according to the Chronicle’s findings.

A lot of the blame for the current situation falls to powerful state Senate leader Phil Berger. His reaction to Cooper’s proposal was predictably partisan and inaccurate.

He wrongly portrayed Cooper’s effort as partisan, self-serving and “anything other than an effort by governor to “obtain partisan appointments to university boards,” Berger said. He added it was merely an “attempt to enlarge his power and expand executive control … considering his relentless assault on the separation of powers.”

That from a legislative leader who has relentlessly pushed legislation — regularly rejected as unconstitutional by state and federal courts — to usurp the appointment and executive authority of the governor. For starters Berger and state House Speaker Tim Moore even want to bar the courts from reviewing legislative actions — as per the much-watched case concerning the legislature’s gerrymandering now before the U.S. Supreme Court as well as its unsuccessful challenges to the Leandro education case. They are the cases demanding the state provide, as is a right in the State Constitution, every child with access to a quality education.

At one time, there was a process to “elect” members of the UNC Board — with specific slots for women, minorities and even those of the political party that didn’t hold a majority in the legislature. Appointments to the individual campus trustees were, by law, shared with the governor. By no means perfect, but at least a step in an effort to observe the state’s constitutional separation powers doctrine and broaden opportunities for representation on these important education oversight boards.

Berger and his fellow legislative leaders have consolidated that authority unto themselves. Getting appointments to the UNC system or campus oversight boards is more about partisan obedience.

Other members of Cooper’s commission who will join Ross and Spellings have yet to be named.

But in appointing two who understand, as well as anyone both the mission and challenges of a world-class system of higher education and its vulnerability to partisan and ideological forces, Cooper has given his commission critical credibility that places quality education ahead of political patronage.

Coming up with ways to make those who lead the system and its campuses more representative of the state and its needs is an important and timely mission. Rather than seeing it as a threat to legislative leaders’ power, Berger and others should embrace Cooper’s proposal.

It will work to help assure North Carolina can maintain a top-notch system of public higher education that both serves the state and is led by people who reflect its critical mission.

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