Spellings borders on the unfamiliar

CLARIFICATION: The original version of this story was not clear enough in expressing David Belcher's thoughts on the circumstances of Tom Ross' forced resignation. Belcher said he did not know if politics played a role in Ross' resignation. The story has been updated to reflect these changes.

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UNC-system President-elect Margaret Spellings has a lot of ground to cover before she takes her post March 1.

Spellings, who was voted in unanimously by the UNC-system Board of Governors Friday, is the second system president from outside North Carolina with no apparent ties to the state.

She also comes to the board on the heels of a controversial, 10-month-long closed-door search process following current system president Tom Ross’ forced resignation in January.

David Belcher, chancellor of Western Carolina University, said he does not know if politics played a role in the ousting of Ross — but he doubts they will contribute to the transition.

“As you look at the UNC-system in this whole last year, it is clear that this transition is playing out within a political environment, it always has,” he said. “What you have here is two leaders, President Ross and President-elect Spellings, both of whom are focused on the best UNC-system. The transition needs to be smooth, and I’m sure they’ll be working hand in glove to make sure that it is.”

He said Spellings reached out to him Saturday afternoon about visiting the campuses.

“I was pleased to hear that she was reaching out to faculty, explicitly acknowledging their importance,” Belcher said. “I think she’ll be reaching out as fast as she can, realizing it’ll take all of us together to do what we do as a system for North Carolina.”

Ross is also working hard to prepare the state for the transition, he said.

“He believes in the UNC-system and is working as hard as he can to hand off the system in good shape,” he said.

Belcher said he thinks Spellings will continue to work on Ross’ priorities, like aiding the system’s infrastructure and improving the system’s relationship with the Board of Governors.

He also said Spellings will be committed to the University’s long-established priorities.

“She’s been a champion in focusing on higher education students for low-income and minority students,” Belcher said. “That focus is going to be particularly important for North Carolina going forward because our state, like many others, is looking at a pretty dramatic demographic shift in the coming years.”

J. Todd Roberts, chancellor of the N.C. School of Science and Mathematics, said it will be important for Spellings to understand the system’s diversity.

"(The 17 campuses) all have their own unique missions and the only way to really understand them is talking to the people,” he said.

Peter Mucha, UNC’s interim chair of the faculty assembly, said while faculty had concerns with the selection process, many are now congratulating Spellings’ selection.

“We look forward to sharing with her the many great things our students, staff and faculty do here every day,” he said.

But Mucha emphasized the faculty and higher education overall still face obstacles.

“Certainly, the UNC-system and its individual campuses have challenges ahead with regards to affordability and accessibility, in all of its forms including admissions process, tuition, financial aid, state support,” he said. “There are a lot of things looking forward in terms of best practices and curricular design; the research we do and the freedom of inquiry is essential to the identity of the faculty.”

He said Spellings will have to work to gain the faculty’s trust.

“That trust is like any relationship — if you want to build trust you have to put time into that relationship,” he said.

Roberts said faculty members hope the Spellings administration continues to support student instruction and research interests.

“One of the big things is everybody hopes that there’ll be a collaborative working relationship between all parties of the University.”

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