Kevin Guskiewicz will officially be installed on Sunday as the 12th chancellor of UNC, a formal ceremony to establish him in the position amid a tumultuous chapter for the university that’s continued since the resignation of his predecessor.

Guskiewicz will be sworn into the chancellorship as part of a two-day celebration of University Day, which is on Monday and honors UNC’s founding in 1793. A live ceremony, which will feature just six people in-person, will be streamed virtually through the university’s website and YouTube channel starting at 3 p.m.

The university says many traditions of the installation will be altered, yet present in Sunday’s ceremony. Guskiewicz will be sworn in with his hand on the Durant Bible, North Carolina’s oldest family bible, but the book will be held by his wife, Amy, during the entire ceremony to limit contact with others. The use of the Chancellor’s Medallion will be different as well, with UNC System President Peter Hans simply presenting the medallion instead of placing it onto Guskiewicz’s neck, which Amy will do instead.

Guskiewicz has been part of UNC’s faculty since 1995, completing nationally-recognized research in sports-related injuries like concussions before being named the dean of the university’s College of Arts and Sciences in 2016.

Guskiewicz took over the chancellorship on a permanent basis in December 2019, after being named interim chancellor in February. When announced to the interim role, the university was amid a period of turmoil over the Confederate monument known as Silent Sam, which had been partially toppled the previous August during a protest. Then-Chancellor Carol Folt and the university Board of Trustees debated for months whether to return the statue to its pedestal or remove the base. In January 2019, Folt announced her resignation following the decision to remove the rest of the statue from campus, citing public safety risks it presented to the UNC community.

The future of Silent Sam continued to present challenges during Guskiewicz’s months as interim chancellor. In November 2019, the North Carolina Division Sons of Confederate Veterans filed a lawsuit against the UNC System and its Board of Governors over the monument’s removal. The system settled with the pro-Confederate group, giving possession of the monument and $2.5 million for its upkeep to the SCV. Documents later revealed the settlement was determined before the initial lawsuit was filed, but a district court judge later overturned the settlement and returned the statue back to the university’s possession. The monument remains off of UNC’s campus.

UNC Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz receives a standing ovation after being introduced as the permanent selection for the university’s chancellor in December 2019.

In addition to these events, Guskiewicz has faced other challenges presented by the university’s ties to racial injustice and white supremacy. The day after taking over as interim chancellor, he had to address racist photos from an old fraternity yearbook, depicting members dressed up in blackface and others wearing robes imitation the Klu Klux Klan. Since then, UNC’s past has fallen under additional scrutiny amid the national grappling of racial injustice sparked this summer by deaths of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd.

To address some of these concerns, Guskiewicz launched the Commission on History, Race and A Way Forward, which he announced the day he was named as the permanent replacement for Folt. The group, whose work has led to the renaming of residence halls of UNC’s campus due to their namesakes’ backgrounds in white supremacy, is supported by a Build Our Community Together Fund Guskiewicz established with a $5 million sum in January. The fund goes toward similar initiatives examining the university’s history in order to better contextualize it.

Although not initiated during his tenure leading UNC, the university has also seen external reviews of past violations completed since Guskiewicz took charge in February 2019. In November 2019, a review of the UNC Police Department’s handling of incidents related to Silent Sam found missteps in enforcing firearms laws. That same month, the U.S. Department of Education completed its review of the university’s compliance to the Clery Act, which found UNC violated campus safety laws in its handling of sexual assault cases and reporting of crimes on campus. The university settled with the Department of Education for $1.5 million in June.

UNC faced a new challenge with the spread of COVID-19 in early 2020. Under Guskiewicz’s leadership, the university moved to remote learning for the spring 2020 semester before attempting to conduct in-person classes throughout the fall. Several clusters of positive cases among the campus community led to  Guskiewicz’s team to trigger a shift to remote learning again after suspending in-person instruction.

Despite the ongoing financial challenges presented by the pandemic, UNC’s fundraising efforts under Guskiewicz continue to bring the university significant cash flow. While the Campaign for Carolina fundraiser was launched with Folt in charge, UNC has continued to raise millions of dollars under Guskiewicz’s watch, including more than $564 million for the campaign in the 2020 fiscal year.

On Thursday, Guskiewicz alerted the campus community of the calendar for the spring 2021 semester, which is still largely expected to be affected by COVID-19. No plans for whether the semester will have in-person instruction have been announced yet.

Photo via Robert Willett.

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