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Campus construction and employee compensation were among the top topics
addressed by Chancellor James Moeser and Carolina administrators at an Oct. 26
Employee Forum Community Meeting.
The forum was a freewheeling discussion in which faculty, staff and students
could pose whatever questions they wished to Moeser and his top staff.
Much of the discussion centered on what it would mean for campus to have $499
million in construction projects coming to Carolina as a result of the Nov. 7
bond referendum for the state's higher education facilities needs. (The
referendum passed.)
Moeser started out by noting that the site of the forum -- Gerrard Hall -- is
one of the buildings scheduled for renovations under the bonds. He also noted
that Gerrard, which is used as a teaching space, has no air conditioning system
other than to raise and lower windows.
In fact, he had to pause on occasion and wait for trucks on Cameron Avenue to
pass because otherwise his words would have been drowned out by the noise
pouring in through the open windows.
"This is one of the physical poster children for the bond referendum," Moeser
said.
The bonds will bring $60 million to $120 million in campus construction
projects each year to be phased in over the next five years, said Gordon
Rutherford, director of Facilities Planning.
He called that construction a "jump-start" to the campus master plan, which is
scheduled to go before the University Board of Trustees for approval in
January. The plan would be built out over the next 50 years, and a driving
thrust behind it is making south campus look and feel more like north campus,
with better pedestrian accommodations and more green spaces.
The plan would eliminate 20 acres of asphalt and add 10 acres of green space.
New parking decks would increase the number of spaces on campus. But because
that increase wouldn't keep pace with growth in students and employees,
planners said remote parking and main campus transit would be critical to the
plan's success.
One employee asked whether the bonds will improve working conditions for
current staff. While the bond money only will go to facilities, Moeser said,
the state will fund additional positions to cover enrollment growth, and
research grants attracted by better facilities will include funds to hire
workers.
Jack Evans, interim vice chancellor for finance and administration, said
discretionary state money can be used to add employees in areas most affected
by the bonds.
With so much construction on the horizon, Moeser said the campus will need to
do a good job of communicating with employees about how projects will affect
their daily work. But the campus shouldn't lose sight of what passage of the
bonds means to Carolina on the whole.
"We're in the process of really transforming this campus," said Moeser, who
also plans to triple the bond money through private dollars.
Sue Estroff, faculty chair, said employees will need to be involved in any
committee structure planning how projects are carried out so that they will
have input on logistical impact.
As for how construction will affect campus aesthetics, Moeser said it would be
helpful to have someone provide advice on preserving the campus's historic
integrity but added that he would not favor keeping things just because they
were old. He also said that although the master plan is a long-range blueprint,
the campus should not resemble a "strip mine" in the next 10 years.
Jonathan Howes, chair of the master plan's Executive Steering Committee, said
the master plan tries to respect historic preservation but added that people
must recognize that even on north campus much of the beauty resulted from
landscaping rather than natural growth.
On the topic of pay and benefits, Moeser said they have "to be competitive with
the market."
"We have some serious work to do with the General Assembly to improve benefits,
and we're dedicated to doing that," he said.
Laurie Charest, vice chancellor for Human Resources, said administrators need
to work with the General Assembly to get dollars to fund in-range salary
increases, which help alleviate salary compression.
Evans said the University plans to work with N.C. State and N.C. Central
universities to gather data that show the stiffer competition for employees in
the Triangle. That data will be taken to UNC General Administration, he said.
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