NAACP Requests Records Over Hiring of Margaret Spellings as UNC System President

A group delivered a public records request to the UNC System General Administration offices on Tuesday regarding the firing of Tom Ross as System President and the subsequent hiring of Margaret Spellings.

Members of the North Carolina NAACP Youth and College Division along with members of Faculty Forward gathered at the C.D. Spangler Building on Tuesday morning asking for information about the hiring of Spellings to lead the 17-campus UNC System.

Longtime Chapel Hill civil rights attorney Al McSurely said that the group felt the board violated the state’s open meetings laws when hiring Spellings, the former U.S. Secretary of Education under George W. Bush.

“We believe this caucus secretly met in person, electronically and by phone to make decisions in an effort to avoid the strict sanctions of the open meetings law,” McSurely said.

McSurely said that he expected a response that some of the records requested are personnel files and therefore not subject to open records laws. He countered that they are “more than personnel matters, this goes right to the heart and soul of this university.”

McSurely added that the power the Board of Governors holds is given to them by the residents of North Carolina and the board members should be held accountable for their actions.

“We also pass laws – that’s the people, over at the people’s house – to prevent a small band of ideologues, bent on stealing rather than guarding our state treasure, to at least conduct their thefts in broad daylight,” McSurely said.

The group was protesting the 2015 firing of Ross that led to a much-criticized search process culminating in the hiring of Spellings. Kierra Campbell is a senior at UNC. Campbell said she was speaking out against Spellings for the President-elect’s connection with for-profit higher education.

“I came to UNC to get an education,” Campbell said. “I came to UNC to get a liberal-arts degree, and I’ve grown as a holistic person because of my education at UNC.

“And I believe any privatization of any type of education system is not going to allow other students to get the same opportunity.”

Altha Cravey is an associate professor at UNC and a member of the group of faculty speaking out against Spellings known as Faculty Forward. Cravey said she believes Spellings’ attitude toward students and faculty will be a detriment to the University System and the state.

“Margaret Spellings talks about students as customers,” Cravey said. “She does this repeatedly, and this is indicative of the ideology she holds that education is a private thing and not a public thing.”

Campbell said that she takes issue with Spellings and the process which resulted in her election as President.

“You’re hiring someone to represent us, to represent our needs, to fight for us and this woman doesn’t know us,” Campbell said. “She doesn’t know what students need. She doesn’t know what it’s like being on a campus. She’s not even a previous educator.”

Campbell added, “[Spellings] cares about the interest who put her in that power. She cares about corporate interest, and she cares about making money. And that’s what she’s good at, and that’s what she knows how to do. She doesn’t know how to take care of me.”

McSurely said the group was hopeful that the information would be delivered before the March 15 primary election is held in North Carolina.

Spellings’ first day as System President is set for Tuesday, March 1. The first BOG meeting under Spellings’ leadership is slated for March 4 at Fayetteville State University.