Dear Commons Community,
On Friday, former U.S. secretary of education Margaret Spellings was selected as the new president of the University of North Carolina system. While some faculty members and students across the state expressed guarded hope for her leadership, many of them remained concerned over what had been a messy and divisive search process. As reported on by The Chronicle of Higher Education:
“Ms. Spellings will replace Thomas W. Ross, who was pushed out by the system’s Republican-led Board of Governors this year in what many observers called a politically motivated ouster. She will take office on March 1 and will be paid $775,000 annually — $175,000 more than Mr. Ross’s salary.
Ms. Spellings served as a secretary of education under President George W. Bush and is perhaps best known in higher-education circles for creating the Commission on the Future of Higher Education, which ushered in a new focus on college accountability. Her sudden emergence this month as the top contender to succeed Mr. Ross amplified criticisms many had aired about what was already a tumultuous search.
Many faculty-governance leaders were reserving comment on Ms. Spellings’ fitness for her new role, given that they had not yet been granted their request to meet with her. They had repeatedly asked the search committee for the opportunity to speak with presidential candidates before Mr. Ross’s successor was chosen. No such meetings were ever scheduled, though faculty members have not been closely involved in past presidential searches in the state.
But faculty leaders continued to be vocal in condemning the board’s handling of the search, which has been fraught with public criticism and sharp disagreements among board members. The system’s Faculty Assembly released a fiery statement on Thursday describing the board’s attitude toward faculty members as one of “ill-informed indifference.”
Several members of the assembly read out a statement after the announcement saying that the board had “yet to explain why it removed the current president” and had “yet to explain why students, staff, and faculty were precluded from the review process. We think most citizens would agree with us that this is probably not a good thing.”
I would agree that this is probably not a good thing. It appears that ideological not educational interests have driven the selection process. Regardless, we hope that for the sake of our UNC faculty colleagues and the students that her tenure as president is successful.
Tony
Follow-Up – As reported in The Chronicle of Higher Education
The chairman of the University of North Carolina system’s governing board, John C. Fennebresque, has resigned after leading a controversial search that picked Margaret Spellings, the former education secretary under George W. Bush, as the system’s next president. According to a news release on the system’s website, Mr. Fennebresque said his resignation was meant to give the system “a fresh start” and “to make way for and encourage new leadership” on the Board of Governors.
Mr. Fennebresque, a lawyer in Charlotte, N.C., has been a lightning rod of controversy ever since presiding over the ouster of the system’s current president, Thomas W. Ross, without giving an explicit reason. While conducting the search for Mr. Ross’s successor, Mr. Fennebresque was called on to resign by board members who said he had kept them out of the loop, and was assailed by legislators who said the search wasn’t transparent enough.