For the first time ever, public comment was taken at the conclusion of the UNC Board of Governors meeting just before the Memorial Day Weekend.

About 30 minutes after the regular meeting wrapped up on Friday, several members of the board migrated to another room at the Center for School Leadership Development at the Friday Center to hear from members of the public.

Over the last 18 months, the board has come under increased scrutiny following the removal of Tom Ross as System President, the subsequent search for his replacement that led to Margaret Spellings and controversial pieces of legislation from the General Assembly that some feel has targeted the HBCUs across the 17-campus system.

The first person to speak was no surprise to those who have been following the contentious board meetings in recent months – Altha Cravey, a professor at UNC – Chapel Hill.

Cravey has been a constant face at board meetings and rallies on the UNC campus to voice opposition to the newly installed President Spellings.

“I want to thank the board,” Cravey began, “and I want to thank the individual members here today, each of you, for being here with us and for listening to public comments.

“I think this is a really important step.”

Cravey asked the board to move at a slower pace when making changes to the system. Cravey was also critical of laws that were recently passed or are currently being considered by the North Carolina General Assembly.

“They are a thinly veiled attack on our historically black universities,” Cravey said. “And we will defend them; the public will defend will defend them and professors and students will defend them.”

Cravey also asked the board not to hire outside legal counsel to fight HB2, which the board announced just moments before that they had done, but instead to ignore the state law and follow federal guidelines.

Public comment period at UNC Board of Governors meeting. Photo via Blake Hodge.

Public comment period at UNC Board of Governors meeting. Photo via Blake Hodge.

Several themes developed among the nine speakers. Many said thank you to the board for installing the public comment sessions before voicing grievances over legislation and what some view as the “corporatization” of the University System.

Spellings told reporters that there is a policy in place to get the comments in front of the entire board for future consideration.

“Our plan is for a readout of the public comment period to be presented to the board at the subsequent meeting,” Spellings said. She added there are “boundaries” to the public comments being allowed, saying it would not focus on “grade assignments or anything like that” but rather “public policy that we can deal in.”

Board chair Lou Bissette said these sessions will be a mainstay going forward.

“We’re going to do this at every regular meeting,” he said. “And I think it’s going to be great for us and for people who want to come in and give us their thoughts.”

Nine speakers signed up for the public comment session on Friday, but that number is likely to grow as the fall approaches and students are back on campuses across the state.