The end of the 2024-25 school year was a time of celebration for UNC, as more than 6,000 students received their diplomas – and the Tar Heel women’s lacrosse team brought home an NCAA championship for good measure. University officials say they’re excited about the future as well, with more students arriving in the fall and a brand-new dorm slated to be built to accommodate them – not to mention all the buzz around Tar Heel football as the Bill Belichick era officially begins.
But it’s also a time of great tension and uncertainty on campus, not just in Chapel Hill but at colleges and universities nationwide. The Trump administration has attempted to slash and rescind federal funds for research, with potentially major negative impacts not only on scientific and technological advancements, but also on the financial models of universities themselves. Academic freedom is also under fire, with professors feeling targeted not just for their research but also for what they choose to teach in the classroom. And international students are being targeted even more directly, with federal officials attempting to revoke student visas, often without any explanation – as in Chapel Hill in April, when six students had their visas abruptly revoked before they were restored three weeks later amidst a public outcry.
With all of that (and more) in mind, 97.9 The Hill’s Aaron Keck sat down with UNC Chancellor Lee Roberts for a wide-ranging conversation about many of the critical issues facing UNC in particular and higher education in general.
Click here to listen to their conversation in full. What follows is an edited transcript of Part 2 of that conversation.
Tenure Delays
Aaron Keck: The (UNC) Board of Trustees met last week and took a number of actions. One thing they didn’t do – and you’ve gotten a letter about this from faculty chair Beth Moracco – is vote on tenure approvals for anyone outside of health and medicine. Beth Moracco’s letter points out that this has been the case since November, that’s not typical behavior for the board, and there are now some faculty members who have been waiting on those decisions for a while. What are your thoughts about that delay? What are you doing to nudge the board to get those decisions made?
Lee Roberts: I can’t really talk about specific personnel matters, but I can tell you that our tenure policies and procedures have not changed in any way whatsoever.
Keck: Some faculty members are concerned – and this is specific to this (situation), but also in general – that the Board of Governors is moving towards eliminating tenure. They should not be concerned about that?
Roberts: I certainly haven’t heard anyone on the Board of Governors or Board of Trustees talk about eliminating tenure at Carolina. Again, nothing has changed about our tenure policies.
image via Michael Koh
Bill Belichick and the Smith Center
Keck: I was speaking with someone the other day who said, “You know, Lee Roberts is chancellor at Carolina, which is an extremely important and high profile position, at an extremely pivotal time in American history – and at the end of the day, the thing he’s ultimately going to be judged on is Bill Belichick’s winning percentage and where the Smith Center ends up.”
So, on Bill Belichick: we talked about him last time you were in, but thoughts about that hire now, versus six months ago when it was first made?
Roberts: I feel great about it. He’s been awfully busy. He’s done a terrific job recruiting, terrific job hiring. We’ve (exceeded) our projections for season ticket sales, for sponsorships, for marketing. We sold out our season tickets in Kenan Stadium. And we couldn’t be more excited for the season. Obviously that’s where the rubber hits the road, the actual win-loss record, but we’re off to a terrific start in football – and our intention was to raise the profile of Carolina football and to generate excitement around our program, and I think anyone can agree that’s certainly been achieved.
Keck: As the spokesperson for a statewide award-winning local news station that’s committed to the important issues that affect our community, I’d be negligent if I didn’t ask “what’s Jordon Hudson really like?”
Roberts: <laugh> I’ve spent a little bit of time with her, I’ve enjoyed the time that I’ve spent with her. But really, I’d encourage us to focus on football. I don’t spend a lot of time worrying about the personal lives of our employees.
Keck: On the Smith Center, what’s the latest on the discussion of where that’s ultimately going to get moved?
Roberts: I’m not sure I have anything new for you on that. Sometimes people ask me, “why are you even talking about this? Why, why mess with the Smith Center?” And we wouldn’t if it didn’t need a new roof, but it does. And that’s $80-100 million, just to fix the roof. That’s more than it cost (in the 1980s) to build the entire Smith Center. That’s what gets you thinking about whether it makes sense to spend that much money on the existing facility. Should we do a comprehensive renovation? Should we build something new? So we’re still working on that.
Keck: I have to say, I do love the idea of putting it in Carolina North – but only if we (also) do the work of connecting the two campuses with each other. That’s got to be part of that plan.
Roberts: Couldn’t agree more. And we’re going to build out Carolina North regardless. We’ve had terrific conversations with (Chapel Hill Mayor) Jess Anderson and others about that. It’s an important component to addressing the affordable housing challenge here in Chapel Hill. We’re going to start with a graduate student housing project there. We don’t have housing for our grad students currently, and it’s a real challenge for them to find affordable places to live near campus. We can help address that with our land at Carolina North…
And I couldn’t agree with you more about the transit connectivity. There’s good automobile connectivity up and down MLK, (and) the town intends to build bus rapid transit (along) MLK. That’s an exciting project. They have the initial funding underway, and that’s going to be important to the success of Carolina North and that whole corridor. You know, a lot of our students, half of our students live off campus, and a lot of them live up MLK, all of that private sector apartment development that you see going, going up MLK towards I-40. So there’s already more density being created there, and we can add to that with Carolina North.
Protecting International Students
Keck: One more question: the Trump administration is currently trying to block Harvard’s ability to accept international students. There was the issue back in April where six international students at UNC had their visas canceled and then reinstated, and all of that happened behind the scenes. What can you tell us about the conversations you’re having with international students, and with other officials, to make sure (international students) are safe on campus?
Roberts: International students are crucial to the health and life of our campus and our community. It’s about 10 percent of our student body, 3,000 international students. They tend to be more weighted towards the graduate students. The same day as our big commencement, we also had the hooding ceremony, which is where the PhD students receive their doctorates. That was tremendously rewarding and fun. And you see students from all over the world there with their families, and just the pride and joy that they have upon completing their PhDs. I hate to see the anxiety and uncertainty that our international students are, are experiencing. My heart goes out to them. We’re delighted that, as you mentioned, the six students who did have their status threatened, that’s been restored, thank goodness. But there is a considerable level of anxiety among the international students. And that’s too bad. We want them to feel welcomed here in our community, here in our campus, here in Chapel Hill, and (to) feel as though they’re integral to our student body, which they are.
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