When the chancellor search committee meets today the 21 members will walk into a room and sit down. Shortly thereafter those doors will close to the rest of the community.
Behind those doors they probably will discuss candidates for the position consider qualities they want to see and maybe even weed out a few applicants.
But until July 1 no one else will know exactly what goes on in that room.
And while several say it's important that those doors remain closed the community is forming its own opinion.
Several opinions in fact. And they range from wanting the next chancellor to come from within the University to suggesting a leader with business experience.
So until those doors fully open" the community's role will remain one of advice only.
Daniel Gittermanprofessor of public policy""(The committee is) probably a little short on students. I also have concerns that it was short on assistant and associate professor representation. There is a huge wave of retirements predicted" and I think there's a newer generation I include myself in" and we are not participating in the search.""
Cindy Spurlockpresident-elect of the Graduate and Professional Student Federation""I want someone who is open to new ideas and who listens to some people who aren't administrators. I think our administrators have good ideas"" but the students are the ones who are in the trenches sometimes.""
Jack Evansexecutive director of Carolina North""Any individual who wants to can write to the head of the search committee. I can't say for sure" but based on what I know of him as a person" I think he would take any input like that seriously.""
Brenda Denzlerprofessor of public policy""The truth of the matter is that the kinds of people that you get to serve on a committee and the background and the skills that they bring do shape the direction that that committee is going to take" whatever it's doing. So if you get a dozen captains of industry two faculty and two staff people" which direction do you think the committee is ultimately going to go?""
Virginia Carsondirector of the Campus Y"" UNC alumna and board member of the Association for Women Faculty and Professionals""(The AWFP is) strongly urging the committee to look at women and minority candidates who have been historically underrepresented from the top positions of leadership at the University. We think it's a really good time to look a little broader and to take a look at some folks who might not have been considered in the past.""
Bill Funkhead consultant of R. William Funk & Associates"" which is helping UNC's chancellor search committee ""The candidates that seem to be getting the most attention from the committee are individuals who ... have been in significant leadership roles"" managed significant budgets or numbers of faculty or staff or departments. They're pretty senior level administrators in academia - sterling academic credentials.""
Steve Allredexecutive associate provost""It's not so much where the person comes from as it is that they get this place" that they understand it" that they understand the relationship of this University to the state of North Carolina.""
Marjorie Crowellassistant provost for international programs UNC alumna""The days are gone when leadership of higher education cannot include a focus on internationalization.""
Jeff Chen incoming co-president of the Campus Y""I would like to see a chancellor who continues to uphold the long-standing traditions of public service and diversity at Carolina and to also realize that there are still some improvements that can be made and to facilitate those improvements in a positive way.""
Doug Crawford-Browndirector of the Institute for the Environment""I'm always one for a very"" very open process where anybody gets to see what's going on. But these are sort of touchy positions in the sense that the chancellor that we'll get at UNC probably has been a chancellor somewhere else or is at the next level down - a provost or something else.""
Hanna SamadUNC freshman""I don't really get what the chancellor has to do with us on a daily basis. Students probably should be more informed. If I knew more I could probably have more of an opinion"" but I don't think students really know why they should care.""
Emil KangUNC executive director for the arts""It's not something one can conduct in an open manner. ... UNC is a different animal: It's a state institution"" so there' a lot of pressure for freedom of information. ... I've been amazed at the transparency of everything.""
Katrina Ryanowner of Sugarland on Franklin Street and former candidate for the Carrboro Board of Aldermen ""UNC owns a lot of land around here" and it has a lot of money to spend. ... There are going to be a lot of changes on Franklin Street in the next five years" and a lot of it is University-driven rather than town-driven.""
Judith Wegnerprofessor in the School of Law""It really doesn't do us well to pretend we're a business when we're an institution for higher education. ... The chancellor isn't running a bank or a business of that type. It really is an educational undertaking.""
Bill Barneyprofessor of history""I think they have certain parameters in mind that by definition exclude some sorts of people"" but that's just a hunch of mine. There's probably a bias toward wealth and a business background and focus on fundraising. I would like them to stress creativity and vision more.""
Ted Zollerexecutive director of UNC's Center for Entrepreneurial Studies""No matter what the background of the chancellor is"" there needs to be a person in the administration representing the needs of the faculty. The chancellor doesn't necessarily need to come from that background to be successful as long as they've included the faculty in a senior role.""
Erica Raffertyvice president of the Out-of-State Student Association""We want a chancellor that will work with out-of-staters and wants to make sure that out-of-state students get the same treatment as everyone else when it comes to tuition.""
Holden Thorpdean of College of Arts and Sciences""I trust whatever they come to.""
Contact the Investigative Editor at iteam@unc.edu.
