Groups Still Want BOT Seats

The BOT rejected Thursday both a Faculty Council resolution calling for nonvoting representation on the BOT for the elected faculty chairman, as well as a similar Employee Forum resolution.

"We knew we could not have a voting seat, but we wanted a seat of voice," Employee Forum Chairman Tommy Griffin said. "It would have been a chance to boost the morale of the entire campus, making us feel like we really belong and are part of the decisions."

After the council and the forum submitted separate requests to the BOT for seats on the board, trustees decided to consider the two as one resolution at Thursday's meeting.

The board unanimously voted down the resolution.

Faculty Council Chairwoman Sue Estroff said the BOT should have reviewed the resolutions separately. "All of us value the staff hugely," she said. "But that's not the issue. The board should have considered the resolutions differently because we represent different constituencies and places."

Griffin said he has no control over how the board looks at the resolutions.

"It was up to the board to look at them together," Griffin said. "But I would have liked to see them look at the resolutions longer and more closely. It did not seem like they discussed the resolutions at last week's meeting."

Both Estroff and Griffin said there are other schools in the UNC system that have faculty and employee representation on their boards.

Appalachian State University has several "invited participants" who sit in on the governing board's meetings, including the Faculty Senate chairman and the Staff Council president.

"Although we participate in the discussion, we are not members and we do not vote," said Paul Gates, the Faculty Senate chairman at ASU. "I think our board is interested in getting the faculty perspective."

Estroff said faculty representation on UNC-Chapel Hill's board would be beneficial to the University.

"The interests of the campus would be better served by a board that included the elected faculty leadership in a nonvoting, consultative and advising role," she said.

Trustee Jim Hynes said the board is not trying to create tension with the faculty.

"All we are trying to do is what is in the best interest of the University," he said. "We hold the faculty in the highest regard. But this has nothing to do with our opinion of the faculty. It has to do with the general statute that was written by the legislature."

The state's statute prohibits state employees from serving on a school's governing body.

Hynes said the board is not hiding behind the general statute but that members agree with it.

"Our subcommittee agreed with what the legislature did because of the separation of powers," he said. "The general trend is to have outsiders serve on the board, not insiders."

BOT Vice Chairman Stick Williams echoed Hynes' statement. "We think it is appropriate to have the board principally made up of people not on campus," he said.

Although Estroff still believes in the need for faculty representation on the BOT, the Faculty Council has no plans to continue pursuing the issue. Griffin said the Employee Forum will not abandon its resolution.

"We are going to keep lobbying and lobbying until someone listens to us."

The University Editor can be reached at udesk@unc.edu.