UNC Chancellor Carol Folt took some tough questions Tuesday at the National Press Club luncheon.

Chancellor Folt’s prepared speech highlighted UNC’s efforts to bring in more low-income students and support them through graduation. The university has been nationally recognized for its affordability and its Carolina Covenant Scholars program, which allows some low-income students to graduate debt-free.

“The tuition at UNC Chapel Hill is about 8,300 dollars,” Folt noted. “It is among the lowest tuitions in the country, and among the top pier institutions—our peers in public universities—it’s at the bottom. We have very low tuition. The debt for students at North Carolina has not changed in inflation scaled dollars for more than 15 years.”

While UNC’s in-state tuition keeps college within reach for many North Carolina students, the school’s out-of-state tuition is more than $33,000. That is also the rate undocumented students have to pay to attend UNC, even if they’ve lived in the state most of their lives.

National Press Club Vice President Thomas Burr moderated the event. He asked Folt what public universities can do to help undocumented students who struggle to pay high out-of-state rates.

“We are not one of the states that forgives out-of-state tuition for undocumented students,” Folt said. “So in that population…we use philanthropy to help students get and be able to cover out-of-state rates. But it’s a huge disadvantage.

“What we have to do right now is continue to find resources that can be used in the areas of most critical need…If you can forgive it…at the state level, it would really help.”

Burr had other hard-hitting questions for Folt, including how she would respond to legislators who are opposed to tenure for college professors and say they want more accountability in higher education. Folt said she believes there’s a lot of confusion about what academic freedom and tenure mean.

“I think you would destroy America if you destroyed American universities by eliminating academic freedom,” the chancellor said.  “I think that is at the core. What it is exactly might be misunderstood, and it may be abused, and there may be things like that. But in general the idea that what people study and the work they do has to be held to a standard that is not bound by the mores of the day is really important.

“And I think tenure still serves a very useful purpose. I don’t think tenure means ‘no accountability.’ And I think that’s another mistake. Even tenured professors go through post-tenure review. They have to still achieve levels of accountability and performance. So in part, I think we need to make those things understood.”

Folt avoided giving a personal opinion on whether she believes the university should take down or alter the Silent Sam memorial to UNC students who served in the Confederacy. But she did say the university is thinking about how to put reminders of the past into better context.

“How do we actually honor the past, learn from the past and then respect the dialogue that shapes today? So I can’t give you the answer, but that is probably one of our top priorities going forward this year,” Folt said.

Folt also addressed questions about campus policing, the February shooting of three young students in Chapel Hill, common core, and of course, the academic fraud scandal. You can hear the full question and answer session below.

Part One

Part Two