Gov. Cooper orders review of how UNC System leaders are appointed

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper signed an executive order Tuesday creating a commission to assess how leaders are appointed to public university governance boards in the state — and to offer potential reforms to the process, he said.

The Commission on the Future of Public Universities will evaluate the governance structure of the UNC System and each of the 17 public schools in the system, and make recommendations and proposals to the governor’s office “on how to improve existing governance,” including who should be tasked with appointing leaders.

The bipartisan commission will be co-chaired by Margaret Spellings, who served as U.S. secretary of education under President George W. Bush and was president of the UNC System from 2016 to 2019, and Tom Ross, a former N.C. Superior Court judge and president of Davidson College who served as president of the UNC System from 2011 to 2016.

In announcing the commission at a press conference Tuesday, Cooper cited “signs of trouble” with the current appointment and governance structure at both the UNC System and individual university levels, including “undue political influence and bureaucratic meddling.”

While the commission will make recommendations to Cooper about changing the current structure and process of appointments, for the changes to be cemented they would have to be passed by the General Assembly, which largely controls the appointment process now.

Leadership currently appointed by General Assembly

Currently, the 24-member UNC System Board of Governors is elected by the N.C. General Assembly. Boards of trustees at member universities of the system are elected in part by the Board of Governors and in part by the General Assembly. Though the state’s governor was previously able to make some university appointments, that power was stripped from the office in a 2016 law passed as former Gov. Pat McCrory left office and Cooper entered.

Since Republicans gained control of both the state House of Representatives and the Senate more than a decade ago, leaders at the system and university levels have generally become more partisan and conservative-leaning, and are generally seen as exerting more political influence on the universities, according to an April report by the American Association of University Professors, a national faculty group.

“In North Carolina, all university leadership appointment authority has been captured for the last six years by the Republican leadership and the General Assembly,” Cooper, a Democrat, said at Tuesday’s press conference. “If this continues much longer, it will not end well.”

At Tuesday’s press conference, Cooper suggested possible recommendations from the commission could include allocating some appointment power to members of the minority party in the General Assembly or adding additional “education leaders” to the boards. Other recommendations will detail how to ensure university leaders reflect the state’s diversity.

“In a state with many racial, ethnic, geographic, political, socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds, we have an appointed university leadership that doesn’t come close to reflecting our diversity,” Cooper said.

Cooper said if the commission recommends that appointment power be restored to the governor, he “will instruct them that it should be for whoever is governor post-January of 2025,” after his tenure as governor ends.

Cooper said Republican leadership in the General Assembly “knew about” and were aware of the executive order.

“I look forward to talking with them,” he said.

In an email to The News & Observer, Lauren Horsch, spokesperson for Senate leader Phil Berger, said the senator’s office “was not made aware of the announcement until the press conference began.”

Berger, in a statement provided by Horsch, said the commission is an attempt by Cooper to “obtain partisan appointments to university boards.”

“Gov. Cooper rightly describes the UNC System as ‘the state’s crown jewel.’ Our state’s constitution wisely places full responsibility for maintaining our ‘public system of higher education’ in the General Assembly,” Berger said. “Gov. Cooper’s latest autocratic attempt to enlarge his power and expand executive control is disappointing, but unsurprising considering his relentless assault on the separation of powers.”

The N&O also contacted Speaker of the House Tim Moore for comment, but has not heard back.

In an emailed statement about Cooper’s announcement, UNC System President Peter Hans said, “Disagreements over policy and governance are a fact of life, and we welcome public interest and accountability, as the University of North Carolina’s fundamentals have never been stronger.”

“We remain committed to our public mission, the University’s 17 unique institutions, our $1.8 billion research portfolio, and most importantly, the 240,000 students we serve,” Hans said.

Commission to report with recommendations by July

Spellings and Ross, co-chairs of the commission, are both former presidents of the UNC System.

Ross served as leader of the system for five years, overseeing it through “major challenges” such as budget cuts and the UNC-Chapel Hill athletics scandal. In 2015, he was pushed out by the system’s Board of Governors, which gave little explanation except that it was time for a “leadership transition,” The N&O reported. Some people, including political consultants and Democrats, at the time charged that the move was purely political.

After a search for a new president that The N&O described as “mired in controversy and infighting among members of the UNC system’s governing board,” Spellings was named as Ross’ successor in 2015. She assumed the position in March 2016 and met “challenges” early in her tenure, including student protests, The N&O reported.

Political controversies continued throughout Spellings’ three-year tenure as leader of the system, including the battle over UNC-CH’s Silent Sam Confederate statue. During that dispute, the Board of Governors criticized Spellings for communicating with Cooper without the board’s input, The N&O reported.

Also during her tenure, the board unsuccessfully proposed changes to the system, including reorganizing Spellings’ staff. Spellings eventually left the system presidency in 2019, about two years before her five-year contract expired.

Additional members of the commission will be announced in coming weeks, Cooper said at the press conference. The executive order says the commission should have at least 15 members who have experience with the UNC System, university governance or “other relevant experience.”

“The members of this group will be bipartisan, respected and diverse in every sense of the word,” Cooper said. “But they will be joined by a common denominator: love for the university system that has distinguished our state, and a desire to keep it strong for generations to come.”

Per the executive order, the commission is required to deliver a report with its recommendations to the governor no more than eight months from Tuesday, or July 1 — a timeline Cooper said would put the report in front of the General Assembly before the end of its next session.