The strength of our recruiting efforts is a direct reflection on UNC’s priorities. So UNC can actively choose from the top tier of incoming freshmen, instead of students actively choosing UNC, resources should never be denied to recruiting.
Gov. Bev Perdue’s traveling and hiring freezes that were imposed last year greatly inhibited UNC’s ability to recruit students, understandably.
Stephen Farmer, associate provost and director of undergraduate admissions, said that most student recruiting happens through traveling to other areas of the state and nation. As a result of the freeze, these efforts were severely compromised, and recruitment virtually never made it out of state boundaries last year.
Farmer also cited the hiring freeze for deterring the Office of Undergraduate Admissions from filling two open recruitment positions.
Since the hiring freeze was lifted, the two positions have been filled, but the lack of staff limited the Office of Undergraduate Admissions from recruiting at its full potential for this year’s freshman class.
To be clear, University budget cuts are not responsible for limited recruiting. Farmer insisted that the provost and budget committees have been generous in funding recruitment efforts. Rather, it was Perdue’s freezes that have hampered efforts.
Still, the success of our student body depends on what talent UNC can find through recruiting. “Everything we do requires that we have a really talented and diverse student body,” Farmer said.
It is understandable that state requirements limited UNC from recruiting the best and brightest freshman class last year, but the adequate tools to recruit the best and brightest should never be denied to the admissions office — not with so much riding on the success of their mission.
The office should get creative when facing freezes. For example, they could have called upon alumni in other towns and states to recruit their local prospective students.
