Board of Trustees hears testimonials on academic programs and campus issues

At their Thursday meeting, the Board of Trustees discussed issues facing the state and the University, heard presentations on academic programs and summarized the reports of the committees that met Wednesday.

Sam Green, student body vice president, spoke on the importance of voting in the context of the impending presidential election.

Green said student government teams are collaborating with organizations to create a concert to promote voter registration.

“Later today, I’ll be dropping off a letter addressed to Chancellor Folt to ask her to use her voice to invite Chance the Rapper, a well-known artist that is known for his call to action on civic engagement, to headline this concert,” he said.

Green said student government felt they had an obligation to trust the administration while balancing the needs of the student body in the wake of recent sexual assault allegations.

“We will be delving deeper into this issue and making sure that every student feels comfortable on this campus,” he said.

Chancellor Carol Folt echoed Green’s wish to ensure students’ safety.

“While it would be irresponsible for me to ever try to take sides and discuss specific issues that are taking place in the present, I think it’s very important that I do continue to say that getting this right ... is absolutely critical and we will work with everyone on campus to continue to address those issues and spread that word,” Folt said.

She extended her support for campus community members who have been affected by the recent shooting and protests in Charlotte.

“Our hearts go out to everyone and this is a very difficult and tragic set of events,” she said. “Most important to us is to continue to reassure our own community and we will do things that will help people feel safe and so that’s something we are thinking about all of the time.”

After a controversial change in ownership of the UNC Student Stores this year, Folt said the new leadership is encouraging increased sales at lower prices and they plan to track the profits of the store.

“You know we believe that we are going to save students more than a million dollars on their textbooks this year,” she said.

Morgan Howell and Allie Polk, two students who received the four-year Morehead-Cain merit scholarship, spoke about opportunities the scholarship granted that expanded their UNC experiences.

The members then heard about the Robertson Scholars Leadership Program, which focuses on providing students with leadership and professional development opportunities.

“There’s life beyond college and we want them to understand that,” Allen Chan, the executive director of the Robertson Scholars Leadership Program, said.

Angela Bond, the senior associate director of the Undergraduate Business Global Programs in the Kenan-Flagler Business School, spoke about the evolution of the Global Learning Opportunities in Business Education (GLOBE) program. The GLOBE program allows students to study at three universities in their undergraduate careers while exploring the world of business.

During her time with GLOBE, Bond said she has seen the percentage of business majors and minors who study abroad rise to 74 percent as of May 2016.

Bond said this increase was important, because students need to be experiencing the world outside of UNC.

“Students learn just as much outside of the classroom walls as they do within classroom walls,” Bond said.

The board met in closed session for two hours and forty-seven minutes and adjourned shortly after.

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