ERSKINE BOWLES: Keep politics, left or right, out of UNC management

The 17 public universities that make up The University of North Carolina were created over decades of positive, aspirational leadership – typified by that of the legendary Bill Friday and the successful business and education leader Dick Spangler. Their kind of leadership allowed our public universities to serve their respective student populations and equip those students with the education and skills they need to thrive and add great value to our communities, state and nation.

This is not to say the university is perfect; it can always improve. As our legislative leaders, UNC Board of Governors and President Margaret Spellings have all pointed out, it surely can and must be operated in a more fiscally effective manner if we are to continue to offer a high quality education and keep tuition as low as practicable, as the North Carolina Constitution requires.

President Spellings and her team shaped that plan.

That’s just three years from now. Clearly it is vitally important to our students that we equip them to succeed. It’s also vital to our state’s future economy.

I am heartened by the positive outlook Margaret Spellings has brought to the role of president – she is smart, experienced, works hard, has strong values and leads from the front. She is determined to lead our university in a manner that not only provides our students with the highest possible quality education but does so in a fiscally responsible manner. In this effort, she has the support of our 17 chancellors who lead each of the universities that make up our system of higher education.

Historically, each legislature, whether ruled by Republicans or Democrats, has realized that investment in higher education drives economic growth in our state. Compared with other states, North Carolina’s legislature has generously supported higher education. All of our citizens have benefitted from that support. It is critical that our elected leaders continue that support if North Carolina is going to compete and compete successfully for the good jobs being created in today’s knowledge-based global economy.

Similarly, each president has had a Board of Governors that carefully set the policy that the president of the university and through him or her the chancellors of each campus held the responsibility to execute. That responsibility has appropriately always come with real accountability to the board, but the execution of that responsibility has always rested squarely and appropriately on the shoulders of each of us who have held the job of UNC President.

My hope is that in the years ahead:

To say the future of our state and our children depend on this is no exaggeration.