In an effort to increase transparency and give protesters an outlet for their frustration, the UNC Board of Governors is instituting a new policy and will take public comment in their meeting Friday, something organizations across the state are preparing for.

“We will have members of Youth and College, I’m sure Faculty Forward will have folks there,” said Tyler Swanson from the NAACP. “We’ll make sure the same thing we’re speaking to all day is the same thing Ms. Spellings will hear, if they give us the opportunity to speak.”

Since the announcement of Margaret Spellings as the new UNC System president, hardly a board has gone by without student or faculty protest.

These protests have included chants and demonstrations and some have ended in arrests. Multiple groups, including Faculty Forward and the NAACP, have questioned the hiring of Spellings, due in part to her role as Secretary of Education during the implementation of No Child Left Behind.

The plan to take public comment was initially discussed in the board meeting March 4.

“(Spellings) stated there is going to be opportunities for the community, students, faculty to address the Board of Governors,” Swanson said. “Well they’ve had two, three meetings and that hasn’t happened.”

The public comment session will begin at 1:00 p.m. or 30 minutes after the board adjourns its Friday meeting, whichever is later.

Each speaker will have three minutes to address the board and it is estimated that 15 people will be able to speak in the time allotted for public comment. Attorney Al McSurely said if the board doesn’t listen, they have a backup plan.

“We don’t come to UNC for two damn chairs,” he said. “We come to UNC to express our feelings. If they won’t meet with us, if they won’t listen to us, then of course some of our people are going to go into civil disobedience.”

Public comment will take place in Room 128 of the UNC Center for School Leadership Development.

Sign-up for speakers will begin approximately 20 minutes prior to the start of the public comment session. Slots will be designated on a first come, first served basis.

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