For the second time in less than a week, the UNC System Board of Governors is set to meet in emergency session on Thursday morning to discuss an executive personnel matter.

When the board met on Friday for a similar agenda item, Margaret Spellings announced her intention to step down from her post as president of the UNC System effective March 1, 2019, which would mark her third anniversary of taking the helm of the 17-campus system. The Carolina Journal is now reporting that Thursday’s session is being held to name Dr. Bill Roper the interim president effective January 1, 2019. WRAL later reported that Roper was to be named interim president.

Spellings said on Friday after announcing her intention to step down that “all leaders are for a time,” adding that the time was right for her to move on from the job.

The appointment of Spellings drew protest after the ousting of former president Tom Ross, a Democrat, by the Board of Governors made up almost entirely of Republicans. The board has fractured in recent years. Some board members seem to prefer a more traditional approach to the board handling policy discussions while the president and chancellors at each campus run the day-to-day operations. Others, meanwhile, appear to want to have a more active hand in the system’s operations.

Task forces were formed to study the president’s staff and whether the system should be moved from its Chapel Hill offices. Neither task force brought forward recommendations for changes.

“I came into the position intent on creating a culture of higher expectations and that shift is underway,” Spellings said Friday. “But times change, and those changes demand new leaders and new approaches.”

Roper has served as the dean of the UNC School of Medicine and CEO of UNC Health Care since 2004. He announced in May that he planned to retire from that position in May 2019.

A UNC Health Care spokesperson directed requests for comment from Roper to the UNC System. A system spokesperson has not responded to a similar request as of this posting.

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