Bi-Weekly Notebook

RALEIGH – University of North Carolina President Erskine Bowles maintained his image of business-like efficiency when he spoke before the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee on Nov. 15. Although his chief purpose was to describe the details of the 6.5 percent tuition cap, he made other points about the university administration’s commitment to efficiency, transparency, and accountability. For one, he said that the university has clarified its priorities. Budget requests for the upcoming year take up 32 pages, compared with 347 or 348 last year. Financial aid and faculty salaries top the priorities list.

He said that he is conducting “real discussion” with UNC-Chapel Hill over its teacher education program. If teacher education is “not a priority there,” he said, then the administration must ask, “Should we take the money away and reallocate it?” He also said that the university system is working on answering basic questions about the teachers in North Carolina. What schools do they come from, how long do the teachers from each campus teach (addressing the issue of teacher turnover), how many UNC graduates teach in high-need areas, what specific subjects do they teach, and how are their students doing?

On another subject related to efficiency, Bowles noted that the university administration is studying the “utilization of our fixed assets hour by hour” to find out if the system¹s assets are being used efficiently. (At an earlier public meeting, Bowles had suggested the possibility of Saturday classes rather than waste the university’s assets.)

UNC-Chapel Hill endowment at high levels

CHAPEL HILL – UNC-Chapel Hill’s endowment fund has escalated to $1.48 billion after receiving a $19.2 percent return on its investments in the stock market in the past year, according to Jon King, president of the UNC Management Company.

The 19.2 percent return is the third highest for the school in the past 20 years. The investments include stocks in non-traditional assets such as international equity, private equity, and private energy investments.

“UNC’s fund tends to do better in years when non-traditional asset classes outperform traditional U.S. stocks and bonds, as was the case in the most recent fiscal year,” King said during a meeting Thursday with the UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Trustees.

King said UNC-Chapel Hill’s performance in the stock market is among the best for public universities and ranks 10th overall among all universities, public or private. The school has a three-year growth rate of 16.9 percent, the highest in 20 years.

Bowles gets new authority

CHAPEL HILL – During the November meeting of the UNC Board of Governors, board members approved a new policy that would essentially make the Office of the President even stronger.
The administration changes, something Bowles had pushed for to allow board members to focus on policy issues instead of day-to-day issues, affects personnel, governance, reports and properties.

The president now has the authority to set salaries for senior academic and administrative officers and others exempt from the state personnel act within the UNC General Administration. It also allows the president the ability to set salary ranges for senior academic and administrative officers at the 16 campuses.

Also, the president can now initiate a lawsuit involving UNC for a suit less than $250,000 and settle cases that seeks relief for less than $250,000. He can also approve political activities of candidates who are employees of the system.

Any action taken by the president under this new authority would have to be reported to the Board of Governors and the appropriate committee, according to the new policy.