UNC Board of Governors Anticipate Future Challenges

Protesters have been asking for changes with the Board of Governors, but apparently the board is also interested in making some changes themselves.

The Board of Governors discussed some of the key challenges the UNC system will face in the future at their meeting last Thursday.

The Board heard three presentations, including one from Andrew Kelly the newly named Senior Vice President for Strategy and Policy for the UNC system.

The presentations focused on broad changing trends in higher education, like student debt and evolving demographics.

Jay Puckett from the Boston Consulting Group, presented findings from a survey of the Board of Governors themselves.

“As we dug into that more and more with the board members, it was clear that there was an appetite to spend more time on matters that you though were most important, what President Spellings has described as majoring in the majors,” said Puckett.

UNC System President Margaret Spellings said she wanted the Board of Governors meetings to focus more on policy as well.

“From my earliest days on the job, you’ve heard me talk about the need for more policy and strategy discussions during these board meetings, enabling us to use our time together and the presence of the chancellors more effectively to tackle high level top priority concerns,” said Spellings.

Andrew Kelly was introduced as the new Vice President for Strategy and Policy.

He is currently a resident scholar of higher education policy at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank based in Washington DC. He will begin working for the UNC System this summer.

Kelly spoke about some nationally challenges for higher education like lower degree completion and most importantly, rising tuition and student debt.

“What we’ve seen in Washington are two narratives, one of which is much louder than the other,” said Kelly.

According to Kelly, that louder voice is the one calling for subsidies for college education. Kelly said his approach would focus on fixing the issues that make a college education expensive in the first place.

James Johnson, a UNC professor, gave a presentation about demographic changes in the US and how they will affect the UNC system.

Johnson said dealing with aging population, a changing racial makeup and growing inequality will be the biggest challenges to access in the UNC system.

“The kinds of changes we find ourselves in the midst of, you’re going to have to buckle your seatbelt to deal with them and if you ignore them you ignore them at your own peril,” said Johnson.

While the this strategic meeting was broad in scope, if it is any indication, affordability and student success should be the focus of this board for some time to come.