After five months of intensive review of all 240 centers and institutes in the UNC System, the Board of Governors unanimously recommended three centers for discontinuation, including the UNC-Chapel Hill Law School’s Center on Work, Poverty and Opportunity, NC Central University’s Institute for Civic Engagement and East Carolina University’s Center for Biodiversity.
Protesters met the Board at its meeting in UNC-Charlotte Friday morning, at one point chanting and cheering so loud the meeting was called to recess and moved to a private room. No members of the public were allowed inside.
The NC General Assembly requested the Board of Governors requested make recommendations for $15 million in cuts to centers and institutes to free up funding for securing faculty.
The three slated for closure will save the UNC System a total of $0, as none of them are currently receiving any direct government funding.
Non-compulsory recommendations to close the centers will be sent to the chancellors of ECU, UNC-Chapel Hill, and NCCU.
Board member James Holmes, who led the working group that decided which centers to recommend, said the group did not take politics into account when choosing and reviewing the centers, and the centers were flagged individually and objectively without any prejudice to any center or institute.
However, the Board meeting in UNC-Charlotte Friday morning was met by hundreds of protesters who were upset the working group by seemingly doing just that. Protesters claimed the Board targeted centers and institutes with vocal directors whose ideology opposed that of the Board.
Protestors in the meeting stood up one by one, reciting prepared speeches urging the board not to cut the centers until they were individually escorted out of the building. Protesters later began to cheer and chant, getting so loud at one point the board members could not be heard through microphones.
The Board called a recess and moved the meeting into a much smaller room. No members of the public were allowed in.
Mark Dorosin, managing attorney of the UNC Civil Rights Center, which was under review, said that the Board was breaking the Open Meeting Law.
In 2010, Dorosin won a case against the Wake County Board of Education in a similar lawsuit against a closed public meeting.
During third phase of the review interview, the board singled out UNC-Chapel Hill’s Women’s Center for being in need of additional funding to adequately meet the needs of students rather than recording it for funding cuts.
The working group found that review methods within the centers were inconsistent across the campuses. The working group recommend all centers and institutes within the UNC System undergo an annual review in addition to a comprehensive review every five years.
The recommendations include a request to chancellors to follow more rigorous guidelines when reviewing their own centers, including tasking them with identifying centers that should find outside funding. The board is asking chancellors to reduce state funding within their own centers by 35 percent over three years.
Eight campuses opted to discontinue their own centers and institutes during the review process, according to Holmes. Nine aquatic and maritime centers have yet to be reviewed, as the board is planning to consolidate these nine centers into one.
Chancellor Randy Woodson and Vice Provost Warwick Arden left the meeting early. UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor Carol Folt stayed to advocate for the centers. Folt spoke to the students protesting outside protesting.
“We actually really appreciate the students and the faculty that are outside,” Folt said “We’re all here because we believe in higher education and we know that democracy is messy and it’s loud and that’s what we’re trying to exercise here.”