The UNC System Board of Governors met for their final full meeting before the 2020-2021 academic year, as well as the final meeting under the leadership of Interim System President Dr. Bill Roper.
Thursday was Roper’s final regularly-scheduled meeting with the board, as the incoming permanent president Peter Hans is slated to assume the role on August 1. He leaves the UNC System leadership role after a 19 months in the interim role, which he began following the resignation of Margaret Spellings as president.
Since then, Roper led the system through numerous chancellor searches, controversy regarding the Confederate monument known as Silent Sam and most recently, the initial responses to COVID-19. According to the governors, the UNC System met or exceeded 10 of 12 points laid out in its five-year strategic plan under Roper’s guidance.
To honor Roper, the Board of Governors passed a resolution praising his work for the system and presented him with a framed copy. Chair Randy Ramsey said UNC Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz and Chair of the Board of Trustees Richard Stevens have agreed to name a campus building in Roper’s honor in the near future. Earlier in the week, Roper was given the Order of the Long Leaf Pine award, the highest civilian honor in North Carolina.
During Roper’s final meeting with the board, the governors took much action as the system made preparations for the upcoming academic year, one with much uncertainty as some students prepare to return to campuses.
One action was the approval of budget and capital improvement allocations for the upcoming academic year. Part of the discussion for these allocations included whether to change or refund tuition and fees of UNC System students taking entirely remote courses this year.
Some governors spoke out against maintaining these same levels of tuition and fees amid the COVID-19 pandemic, saying the costs account for more of the college experience than course credits. Governor Thomas Goolsby described it as the board “digging our own graves” when considering how students could pivot to more cost-effective remote options.
“When it comes to the digital environment,” he said over a Zoom call, “we need to deal with that [manageable of fees] effectively or the competitive environment will do it for us.”
Other governors in support of maintaining the same rate of tuition and fees cited the importance of those fees to retaining faculty, providing resources, development projects and other amenities.
The budget and capital improvement allocation plans passed with 18-6 vote with no changes to tuitions and fees.
The governors also announced the establishment of an upcoming committee to study and provide a comprehensive review of its student fees, with the goal of changing. The committee will be made up of members from the budget and finance committee and other governors.
Among other actions the board took on Thursday, it waived the requirement for standardized testing scores for students applying for admission during the spring, summer and fall of 2021. An amendment for students to choose to still submit test scores failed to pass a vote.
Prior to serving as interim president, Roper was the dean of UNC’s School of Public Health, dean of the UNC School of Medicine and UNC’s Vice Chancellor of Medical Affairs. He also worked as the CEO of the UNC Health Care system.
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