RALEIGH (Feb. 17, 2021) – As state legislators begin to consider their 2021 appointments to the UNC System Board of Governors, we revisit the series Making Governance Work that we shared last year before the coronavirus pandemic took hold.
A Higher Ed Works webinar Feb. 11 featured Belle Wheelan, President of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC), which accredits colleges and universities in 11 Southern states; and Lou Bissette, former Chair of the UNC System Board of Governors.
In response to a viewer’s question about the composition of the UNC System board, in the accompanying video Wheelan and Bissette address the need for diversity on the board – diversity of all kinds.
“In my opinion, the UNC Board of Governors needs to look like the state of North Carolina to some extent,” says Bissette.
He discusses the lack of gender, racial, geographic and partisan representation on the board, and adds that lobbyists don’t belong on the board because they have built-in conflicts of interest.
“It is difficult – but not impossible – to accomplish all those goals,” Wheelan responds. “There just has to be that intentionality built into the process.”
Asked what legislators should focus on if they could do just one thing to make UNC System governance work, Wheelan said they should develop a list of criteria for Board of Governors appointees.
Bissette agreed. “It is crucial who you put on these boards and what their backgrounds are and … when you step back and look at that board in the end, whether it generally looks like your state or not. If it doesn’t, you’ve got some problems that you need to address.”
IN ANOTHER EXCERPT, Bissette discusses how North Carolinians have an unusually strong attachment to their University System.
Bissette notes that the NC General Assembly provides more than $2.5 billion a year to the 17-campus UNC System. Partly as a result and partly because North Carolina has historically had a strong legislature and weak governor, legislators control appointments to the UNC Board of Governors.
“Our appointment system for the governing body of the (UNC) System is centralized with the legislature,” Bissette says.
Wheelan adds that in Virginia, the governor named a panel to recommend university board appointees for the General Assembly to consider, keeping in mind varied skills as well as gender and racial diversity.
“It’s made a difference,” she says.
Pedro valdez says
People should be chosen for their skill level not skin color, sex or political affiliation. Remember what MLK said.