“All leaders are for a time.”
That’s how UNC System president Margaret Spellings began her remarks to the press Friday after announcing she would be stepping down from that role. She is leaving the position effective March 1, 2019, which marks three years to the day since she began as president of the UNC System.
The system’s Board of Governors met in emergency session on Friday morning and quickly moved into closed session. The meeting came less than 24 hours after the News & Observer reported Spellings would be stepping down.
Spellings focused on efforts to keep higher education affordable during her tenure leading the 17-campus system.
“Together we put a lid on tuition,” she said, “implementing NC Promise, implementing fixed-tuition for students who are continuously enrolled and passing two years of no tuition hikes for resident students.”
Spellings took over the role in March 2016 after the board removed Tom Ross from the post. Spellings told reporters following the October 10 meeting of the Board of Governors that she “absolutely” intended to remain on as the system president.
“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.”
Spellings will receive her full salary and benefits, including retirement contributions of $77,500, as part of the terms of separation. The board voted Friday to approve of the board chair executing the terms of the agreement. There were at least two board members who voted against the proposal, but it was passed on a voice vote. Spellings will also receive $500,000 “reflecting acceleration of research leave provided in the existing employment contract and projected performance bonus.”
Spellings can begin service on an outside board effective January 1, 2019.
Spellings said she initiated the conversation leading to her stepping down.
“We all reflect on our professional and personal lives and the discernment of all of that,” she said. “And I’ve just concluded that my three-year anniversary in March was really the right time for me.”
Spellings said she didn’t have any specific details of what she would be doing next but said she expected it to involve returning to Texas.
“I like to think that I’m young enough to have a few more good licks in me,” she said.
Protests were regular occurrences at Board of Governors meetings after Ross was pushed out by the board and Spellings was hired. Those protests were less frequent over her tenure, but there were several controversial events dotting her time leading the system.
Less than a month after Spellings took the helm, the Republican-controlled North Carolina General Assembly passed House Bill 2, commonly referred to as the “Bathroom Bill,” which brought a lawsuit against the university and national backlash against the state.
A replacement bill was eventually passed and signed into law walking back some of the provisions in the original legislation.
Focus in recent months has centered on the Confederate monument on the UNC campus known as Silent Sam. The statue was pulled down by protesters at a rally on August 20.
But Spellings said she was proud of the work done by the university during her tenure.
“I think we’ve done a lot of good, notwithstanding the hurricanes of all kinds,” she said.
A key accomplishment, Spellings said, was the adoption of a system-wide strategic plan, including each individual campus approving a strategic plan of their own.
Board chair Harry Smith praised Spellings for her work and said the board would take its time finding a successor.
“We’re going to not be in a rush,” Smith said. “Our focus will be to get it right. And so we’ll move to an interim that we feel like can help us be not in that rush. And then work to put a structure and a process together that has key and critical constituent stakeholder buy in and move forward in a methodical and organized manner.”
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