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James Moeser has made no secret that helping to pass the $3.1 billion bond
issue is at the top of his to-do list and will continue to be until Nov. 7 when
people go to the polls and vote.
If passed, the bond issue would bring Carolina nearly $500 million to tend to
long-neglected maintenance needs and to accommodate combined growth in student
enrollment and programs through the end of the decade.
But during his first appearance before the University Board of Trustees on
Sept. 28, Moeser explained how the bonds could fit into the bigger goal of
making Carolina the best public university in the country.
And, he said, you cannot begin to talk about that goal without also discussing
the importance of the new campus master plan and the University's seven-year
fund-raising campaign.
For months, University officials have been working to finish a far-reaching
master plan, and at the same time, preparing to start the campaign. Originally,
the campaign was set to raise $1 billion. The bar has since been raised to $1.5
billion. The upcoming year will mark what Moeser called the "quiet phase" of
the drive. Even without a public campaign, annual giving to Carolina has been
doubling, Moeser said.
Moeser said success for the bonds, the master plan and the fund-raising effort
are all pivotal if the next few years are to mark what he described as a "21st
century renaissance at Carolina."
The bond issue, by itself, would provide money but not a plan guiding how it
should be spent.
The master plan, without bond money, is just a blueprint sitting on a shelf.
The campaign will provide the additional money needed for a host of campus
needs, including picking up where the bond money leaves off for capital
projects.
The bond money is needed to accommodate growth. Moeser estimated that some 75
percent of the growth on this campus will be driven, not by rising enrollment,
but by an explosion of research in areas such as genomics, bio-engineering and
environmental science.
"Research is going to drive the growth in the University," Moeser said.
And that research will continue to be the powerful economic engine for this
state. The presence of strong research universities in the Triangle, he said,
"is the secret to the prosperity of the state. Look at the states that don't
have quality research universities and draw your own conclusions."
Moeser told trustees that the goal should be not just to pass the bond
referendum but to pass it decisively. He said that would mobilize even greater
support in the future.
If 75 percent or more of voters favor the bonds, it would send a message to
legislators that the people of this state value higher education. That message
would resound in the next session and the session after that.
Moeser described the master plan as a thoughtful, environmentally sound and
responsible plan that will serve as a guide for development for the next 50
years.
It seeks to create at the southern end of campus that same positive ambience of
the north end.
All of these things are important but ancillary issues, Moeser said.
More than anything else, the master plan is about preserving and enhancing the
"quality academic environment" on this campus. This master plan, "if we are
faithful to it and our successors are faithful to it," can do that, he said.
Interim Provost Richard "Dick" Edwards gave an update on enrollment that
projects the student body will increase from 24,972 to 27,500 over eight years,
with a blend of undergraduate and graduate students.
Moeser told trustees they need not worry about this. The goal, he said, is to
grow in stature, not size.
"We are never going to be the largest university," Moeser said. "We want to be
the best."
Moeser said the greatness of the University will be measured ultimately by two
things: the quality of the faculty and the quality of students.
And on the latter score, the trustees were treated to an encouraging progress
report by Jerry Lucido, associate vice provost and director of undergraduate
admissions.
For the fall semester, 17,571 high school students applied for admission,
including some 10,200 students from other states.
Only 3,420, or 34.7 percent of applicants, were admitted. That percentage gave
the University its strongest selectivity rate in its history, Lucido said.
Average Scholastic Achievement Test scores rose from 1,246 to 1,261, a
five-point gain from 1991 and part of a 30-point increase over the past three
years.
Lucido said the increase in the caliber of students was accomplished while
increasing both racial diversity and the percentage of in-state students.
The number of African-American students increased from 393 to 411, an increase
of 4.6 percent. At the same time, African-American students posted an increase
of 12 points on the SAT compared to 1999 scores.
There were 137 National Merit winners and 14 National Achievement Scholars in
the freshman class, and nearly 10 percent of the class was a high school
valedictorian or salutatorian.
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