UNC to review 34 centers and institutes

by Jane Stencil, News and Observer, December 7, 2014.

Thirty-four university-based centers and institutes will have the chance to make their case for continued support next week before a UNC Board of Governors panel reviewing them.

The 34 include some high-profile entities at the nexus of public discourse in North Carolina, such as N.C. State University’s Institute for Emerging Issues and UNC-Chapel Hill’s Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity. Some are focused on minority communities, such as UNC-CH’s Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Black Culture and History, and Western Carolina University’s Cherokee Center.

A board working group began the review in September, looking at all 240 research centers and policy institutes across the university system. The Republican-led legislature had told the board this year to consider redirecting money from such centers to other UNC priorities.

On Friday, the board work group narrowed the list of those for further review, ending up with 34. Individual board members spoke up if they wanted a center flagged, but did not provide reasons why. Of the 34, seven are already being re-evaluated by campuses and may already face discontinuation.

The session drew intense interest from leaders at UNC-CH, which had nine centers on the final review list. UNC-CH Chancellor Carol Folt pointed out that some centers provide valuable public service to the state. “They may be doing millions of dollars of pro bono service,” she said.

NCSU Chancellor Randy Woodson said such centers aren’t easily measured by research grants or bottom line productivity.

“A lot of service work that we do, we’re not compensated for that,” he said. “It’s not as easy to show the leveraging factor for many of these centers and institutes that have a fundamental mission of service.”

Some have suggested that centers are being targeted because of politics. For example, the poverty center, originally linked to former U.S. Sen. John Edwards, a Democrat, is led by law professor Gene Nichol, who has written opinion pieces critical of Republican Gov. Pat McCrory and the Republican-majority legislature.

But James Holmes Jr., the board member leading the group, said the process is like any other review of academic degree programs, which are created and discontinued regularly by the board.

“There has been no conversation about any specific center within this committee,” Holmes said. “There has been no predetermined outcome.”

The group will meet next Wednesday and Thursday to hear presentations from the center and institute leaders.

“We’ll be able to ask some questions,” Holmes said. “And from there we’ll be able to draw some conclusions. I can tell you that this group has spent an inordinate amount of time trying to be fair and objective in an area where we all know there’s a heightened sense of concern.”

The panel is expected to issue a report with recommendations in January, along with proposals for a systemwide policy for future creation and review of centers and institutes.

http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/12/05/4379846_unc-leaders-to-review-34-centers.html?rh=1