Editor’s Note: The Technician stated that the Governor is responsible for appointing members to the Board of Governors. This is incorrect, as half the members are appointed by the State Senate and half by the State House of Representatives. 

Last Friday, the UNC System Board of Governors announced that it voted to remove system President Tom Ross from his position, though he will continue to serve one more year in his term.

Ross has been an ardent supporter of the universities, and when faced with Republican opposition in the Governor’s Mansion and both houses of state legislature, he has been a leader in pitching the worth of public higher education to North Carolina’s governing bodies.

While the Board of Governors has yet to produce a reason for Ross’ dismissal, John Fennebresque, the Board of Governors chairman, offered press conference attendees several reasons for which he was not fired, including Ross’ age and performance. Which leads us to ask, why then remove a respected, effective leader from office? 

The Board of Governors’ has not put forth a timeline for the future, nor any explanation of what kind of irreconcilable differences must have pushed it to this decision. Fennebresque’s statement that the move was “absolutely not” politically motivated was not convincing at all in the absence of a real reason for the removal, and it’s hard to imagine what other force would lead to such an unwarranted move

In the opinion of this editorial board, this is yet another example of politicians playing puppet master with our universities.

This isn’t surprising, considering the majority of the Board has been appointed by both houses of the Republican legislature. 

It would be naive to make claims that politics have never played a role in higher education, but such a blatant, unnecessary and ill-justified decision deserves to be questioned by UNC-system students and faculty members until valid justification is provided.  The board owes the public a real explanation.

And what may lie in the future?

In the 22-minute press conference featuring Fennebresque and Ross, Fennebresque said Ross was let go as part of a time of “transition to a new direction” but failed to articulate anything specific about what that direction was, leaving the rest of us scratching our heads.

For now, we can only lament the warrantless dismissal of an ardent defender of the UNC System.