Board of Governors aims to avoid partisan divide

The partisan gridlock at the national and state level will not be trickling down to the university level.

After its first official meeting of the academic year earlier this month, members of the UNC-system Board of Governors say meetings will not be divided along partisan lines despite the politically contentious appointments of new members in March.

Prior to the meeting, many Democratic legislators in the N.C. General Assembly were upset, claiming the Republican majority had stacked the board with white conservative males.

In protest, some Democrats in the House and the Senate submitted empty ballots when voting on the appointments.

But board Chairwoman Hannah Gage, a registered Democrat, said partisanship is not going to be an issue between members of the board this year.

“(The board) has never been defined by partisan politics,” Gage said. “It’s the process of getting appointed to the board that is always very political.”

Prior to the new appointments, the board had long been perceived to have a majority of members with Democratic leanings.

The board is the overarching policy-making and tuition-setting body for the UNC system, which consists of 17 institutions.

One of the 16 newly appointed board member, David Powers, a registered Republican and resident of Winston-Salem, acknowledged the political differences of the members but didn’t believe it would hinder the progress of the group.

“Although they did not surface in the first meeting, I am sure that issues will arise in which there will be basic philosophical differences,” Powers wrote in an email.

“Arriving at sound decisions through these tense situations will be the key. I am confident that we will all pull in the same direction.”

Phil Dixon, a returning board member from Greenville and a registered Democrat, said division among board members has previously arisen from issues such as where board members attended school or geographical differences, rather than political disparities.

“I can honestly say that I didn’t know the party affiliations of at least six on the board,” Dixon said.

“Some were obvious, but overall it just has never been something people wore on their sleeve.”

Hari Nath, a new board member from Cary and a registered Republican, said he felt the voices of each member, whether new or old, would be heard equally and that Gage appointed new members to all of the board’s “important committees.”

“It does not appear that policy-making decisions will be made based on the party affiliations or ideology,” Nath said. “All members want to have the best public higher education system in North Carolina.”

Gage said the fact that legislators chose to appoint all Republicans during the past election in a highly partisan process hasn’t changed the principles of the board.

“There are two overarching qualities that play a larger role than political affiliation,” Gage said. “(They) need to care deeply about North Carolina and they need to care deeply about the university.”

Peter Hans, a re-elected member and vice chairman of the board as well as a registered Republican, said the board’s main focus is to serve the UNC system.

“We’ll leave the arguing to the guys in Washington,” he wrote in an email.

Contact the State & National Editor at state@dailytarheel.com.