Votes cap months of wrangling over studies mandated by legislature
The UNC system's Board of Governors on Friday approved a half-dozen reports that chart a course of change for the state's public universities.
Formal adoption of the reports was accompanied by scarcely a word of debate.
But the votes capped months of wrangling by General Administration officials and members of the board over basic questions of university governance such as how to define teaching, what is a fair level of funding and whether more campus services should be performed by private companies.
The studies--totaling about 650 pages--were completed three days ahead of a deadline set by the General Assembly, which has pressed UNC system officials to examine some of the premises of the 16-campus institution.
As a result of the votes, UNC system professors will have their workloads compared to departmental-level standards and some university functions will be scrutinized as prospects for possible privatization. A new procedure for setting construction priorities will be used beginning with the next budget cycle and universities will begin planning for enrollment increases during the next decade.
A proposed accountability system by which a portion of university funding would be tied to performance was put off by the board to allow another year of study. (See related stories for more details on pages 4, 7)
In other action:
*Board Chairman Sam Neill appointed a committee to draft a plan for how the board would conduct a search for a new UNC system president. C.D. Spangler Jr., who has been president of the system for 10 years, has been reported as saying he would announce plans concerning his retirement in the near future. Neill will chair the search planning committee.
*The board approved a $31 increase in Carolina's student educational and technology fee. The money is to be used for a variety of technology items, including expanding the capacity of the campus e-mail system. A 90-cent food service fee increase for undergraduates and a $5 student transit fee increase also were approved.
*The board authorized creation of a new administrative unit within General Administration called the Program Assessment and Public Service Division. Gary Barnes, previously associate vice president for planning, was appointed as head of the division. The division will handle various assessment initiatives previously handled by the planning and academic affairs divisions. It also will coordinate and implement public-service goals for the UNC system.
*The board approved the transfer from Carolina to N.C. State of the coordinating office of the N.C. Model Clinical Teaching Network. The network is a collaboration among 10 UNC system schools and two private universities that promotes innovative teacher-education programs. Directors of the network have agreed to rotate the office, which had been located at Carolina since 1990, among the member institutions on three-year intervals. The office has a $120,000 annual budget.
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