CHAPEL HILL (May 20, 2020) – After scandals involving trustees who tried to influence a student election and a member who conducted his own investigations of a job candidate and an interim chancellor, a committee of the UNC System’s governing board discussed new rules this week for policing its own.

As if to punctuate the discussion, board member Tom Fetzer announced his resignation from the UNC Board of Governors at the end of the board’s meeting Wednesday.

On Tuesday, the Board’s Governance Committee discussed revisions to its policy on ethics and responsibilities of board members, including both the System’s Board of Governors and Boards of Trustees at each of its 17 campuses.

The review follows a series of controversies where: 

• Fetzer used a private attorney to conduct his own investigation in 2018 of a candidate for chancellor of Western Carolina University, prompting the candidate to withdraw and derailing the search process;
  
  
• Fetzer used the same attorney last fall to investigate East Carolina University Interim Chancellor Dan Gerlach, even though the System had hired an international law firm to conduct the investigation;¹
  
  
• And most recently, two ECU trustees tried to influence a student government election, offering to contribute to a candidate’s campaign.²

In November, Board of Governors Chair Randy Ramsey said there should be “consequences” for Fetzer’s actions and asked the committee to consider revisions to sanctions for board members.³

“I certainly support it,” Ramsey told the committee Tuesday.

Among provisions in the draft policy:

• Board members have no authority as an individual. “Board members’ authority is collective, not individual, and only arises from their participation with other members of the Board when officially convened,” the policy reads. Individual members have no authority to conduct administrative or executive functions, and they should only communicate with institutions through their executive leaders.
  
  
• In an apparent response to Fetzer’s independent inquiries, members can’t “undertake reviews, background checks, investigations of University employees or candidates for University employment” unless directed by the President, the chief executive of the institution or the Board of Governors.
  
  
• The policy is silent on appointment of lobbyists to the board, since board members are appointed by the General Assembly. But members who are lobbyists would be prohibited from representing a client on any issue that is “adverse to the interests of the UNC System” or one of its institutions. Lawyers would face a similar restriction.
  
  
• The Board of Governors could only remove members it appoints to Boards of Trustees at UNC institutions. It could only recommend removal of Board of Governors members or campus trustees who are appointed by the General Assembly.
  
  
• New sanctions short of removal would be created, such as public censure, suspension of voting rights or removal from committee assignments. Any sanction would require approval by two-thirds of the board’s voting members.⁴

When committee member Jim Holmes asked whether the board could temporarily remove a member who is subject to a complaint under investigation, UNC System General Counsel Tom Shanahan said those lesser sanctions could be used.

FETZER ANNOUNCED his resignation at the end of the full board meeting Wednesday, saying he and his wife are home-schooling five children during the shutdown of schools during the coronavirus pandemic.

“Consequently, my attention and energy … will shift from higher education to elementary education,” he said.

Asked later about Fetzer’s involvement in board infighting, Ramsey said he thinks Fetzer has his hands full homeschooling five children, but added: “Gov. Fetzer has always been a very spirited member of our board.”

Committee Chair David Powers said a separate group of board members is working on rules to “insulate” student elections from interference by board members, as occurred in the ECU case.

Powers said he hopes the committee can vote on the ethics-policy revisions at its next meeting in July.

---

¹ http://pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/2019/10/29/two-chancellor-searches-two-controversies-one-interesting-concidence/.
² https://www.wral.com/one-ecu-trustee-resigns-another-censured-for-meddling-in-student-election/18938046/; https://hew.aveltsagency.com/2020/02/bog-governance-committee/.
³ https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/education/article237362234.html. 
⁴https://www.northcarolina.edu/apps/bog/doc.php?id=64081&code=bog, pp. 5-19.