Margaret Spellings deserved better

Published November 8, 2018

By Tom Campbell

by Tom Campbell, Producer and Moderator of NC SPIN, November 8, 2018.

Bill Friday was right. Friday, the founding president of the 16 campus University of North Carolina System, fought with then-Governor Bob Scott in 1971 over the creation of the new system.

Friday recounted the fight in 2010, in an interview with me in front of an audience for NC SPIN’s 600thshow. Scott advocated for a 32-member governing board with strong centralized power. Friday agreed the board should have central power but insisted that existing university trustees and campuses have say-so as to how the board was constituted. Governor Scott, determined to have his way, gave the legislature a plum by telling them they could appoint the new 32-member board if they would pass his plan.  

Friday strongly opposed it, but this was one battle he lost. In 1971, and again in 2010, he was adamant this structure had huge disadvantages. He believed the legislature didn’t have the necessary expertise to appoint the board, that just gaining enough votes from the house or senate didn’t give anyone the qualifications needed to make policy decisions for a statewide university system and that the temptation of injecting politics into university policymaking was too great and certain to occur.

Friday’s prescient forecast has become reality. What we are now witnessing is embarrassing, distracting from the goals of our system and further proof that North Carolina’s governance of all levels of public education needs fixing.

Margaret Spellings was hired after a newly reconstituted Board of Governors (BOG) surreptitiously fired Tom Ross as President, explaining there was no problem with Ross’ performance, they just wanted a change. In other words, the firing was political. The search for a new president was equally controversial. Spellings, who had been George Bush’s Secretary of Education, came to Chapel Hill amidst this controversy. Legislative leaders didn’t want Spellings. The BOG, which has increasingly become a rubber stamp for the legislature, often exceeds its mandate of setting policy by attempting to run the system.  

As relationships grew more tense it was speculated Spellings would fulfill her five-year contract, then leave. The breaking point may have come in September, when Spellings and then-Board of Governors chair Lou Bissette wrote a letter to Governor Cooper, asking the state’s help with increased security because of a potentially dangerous confrontation at a protest planned for Silent Sam the next night. The letter further suggested that Cooper convene the NC Historical Commission to determine the future of the statue, as prescribed by law. 15 of the 28 members of the BOG lashed out in criticizing her. Subsequent events proved Spellings’ concerns were justified.

Margaret Spellings just couldn’t take it any longer.  BOG member Steve Long summed up the situation, “I do believe that the leadership of our board has gotten too involved in the management of the university in certain cases and that’s why Margaret Spellings is leaving. I feel like we’ve lost a great leader, and if she had been given greater authority, full authority to run the university, she would stay.”

President Spellings clearly articulated the goals for our universities and took positive steps to lower costs for a college education. She has done a commendable job. Margaret Spellings deserved better. So did Tom Ross. And so do the people of North Carolina.    

November 8, 2018 at 7:16 pm
Norm Kelly says:

In this case, as in so many others, libs deserve most of the credit for this situation.

From the beginning, libs despised Spellings for no reason other than she was NOT a lib, was in fact somewhat conservative. It's not that she is a baby-killer (that belongs to libs), it's that she is conservative. It's not that she ever killed anyone, it's that she's conservative. It's not that she planned to gut the system of qualified instructors, it's that she's conservative.

And we all know that only liberals are allowed anywhere near the liberal bastion of 'higher' education. They claim that 'higher' education is not ruled by liberals, then go out of their way to prove they are telling lies about this (also). If 'higher' education isn't ruled by libs, can ANYONE provide proof? Other than simply making the claim?

Isn't it interesting that those who claim to be open-minded, ready for a 'big tent', concerned about the welfare of others, are the ones whose minds are so closed they didn't even want to give Spellings a chance. Whenever a conservative is KNOWN to be approaching a college campus, the libs come out in protest, and shut down anything that might even smell of conservatism. And if libs need to resort to violence to prevent any view other than their own, they have proved TIME AND AGAIN that they are more than willing to be as violent as necessary. And then they don't want any one to be held responsible. But these same open-minded, kind, loving, people want to force conservatives and conservative organizations to pay for security to protect conservatives against the unruly mob of liberals bent on violence.

Aren't libs just the best people you know? Aren't they the most loving and friendly people you know? Except when you actually encounter them, then they will threaten you with violence if you choose to disagree with them. Gotta love them. Cuz otherwise they cause bodily harm, or public property destruction.

November 9, 2018 at 10:22 pm
Jeff Edwards says:

This comment is massively un-informed. This wasn't a liberal versus conservative issue. Margaret Spellings was forced out due to Conservatives versus Conservatives disputes. The BOG is filled with the legislatures hand picked, CONSERVATIVE members who have control. She was forced out by other Conservative factions that didn't feel that she was conservative enough.