Plates were full for administrators, faculty, and students at UNC this holiday season, with commencement, final exams, and reviews from the UNC System Board of Governors.

There was certainly a lot to cover on Friday, and Chancellor Folt made an effort to touch on everything in front of the Faculty Council. She encouraged as many as she could to come to commencement on Sunday, and celebrate the hard work of the approximately 2,100 students who will be graduating.

Chancellor Folt also took a moment to praise the faculty for their presentations to the UNC System Board of Governors – who were conducting reviews of different departments in universities across the state.

“The people that gave the presentations were just tremendous,” she said. “And the reason I mention this is to let you know that every single person here takes this extremely seriously.”

Chancellor Folt also mentioned how proud she was of the UNC students, who were showing great passion for their departments amidst everything else going on right now, from final exams to taking part in nationwide protest over injustices they feel have been handed down in recent weeks.

“I was also concerned on the other end that for many students they were studying for their finals,” she added. “There are so many things going on, on our campus, which carry anxiety and concern.”

The main focus of the meeting was a presentation by the Faculty Athletics Committee. Chair Joy Renner introduced a draft program that would allow faculty members to voice any concerns over actions involving academic choices of student athletes at UNC.

A draft process is now in place for faculty members to voice concerns over any academic irregularities that involve student athletes. This process will bring any complaints through a vetting process to involve several departments that collaboratively look into each case.

One faculty member asked if the athletics committee was the appropriate branch to handle this enforcement. Chancellor Folt said this is a temporary fix and a bigger solution is in the works.

“This is much bigger than just faculty issues, or athletic issues,” Folt said. “We’re trying to do an audit of where people go when they have concerns when they want to bring forward.

“Once we do that audit, then we can start looking for the best process to build the equivalent of an ombudsperson. But it’s going to take time to get that right.”

The goal of Chancellor Folt and Committee Chair Renner is for the process to be completely transparent – and available to the public – once the final order of directives is in place.

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