The UNC-system strategic planning committee, the body responsible for mapping out the system’s development during the next five years, should work to further include student and faculty opinions from across the state.
In particular, the committee needs to organize structured forums where faculty, students and other community members can give their feedback.
The group has said it is open to hearing these concerns, yet it has not made any immediate effort to provide a forum where people can do just that.
Students and faculty met Oct. 1 to discuss the plan and their hopes that the committee will hold forums for discussion that they could attend.
The members of the committee should engage those who are interested in the same way as the UNC Tomorrow initiative — which organized surveys and forums all across the state, reaching more than 10,000 people for input.
This is the same strategy the system’s previous five-year committee used. These forums benefit both the members of the committee and students and faculty by helping identify ways the system can be improved.
A rushed process is another reason for concern, and even more so why student and faculty input is needed. Rushing the process to design the five-year plan poses risks and necessarily means less opportunities to hear from stakeholders.
As this University faces scrutiny with leadership transitions and academic and athletic scandals, input from UNC-CH stakeholders in the system’s vision for the next five years becomes all the more important.
If the UNC system wants to remain one of the best systems in the country, the planning committee must follow through with its commitment to direct student and faculty involvement.
