By Eric Johnson MORGANTON (April 16, 2026) – For North Carolina’s public universities, the balance between idealism and pragmatism was baked in from the beginning. The state’s original constitution calls for the promotion of “all useful learning,” and the University of North Carolina’s 1789 charter commends higher education to “consult the happiness of a rising… READ MORE
Still $159M short
MORGANTON (April 16, 2026) – At a time when enrollment is shrinking at colleges across the country due to demographic trends, the UNC System has an extraordinary story to tell – it’s growing. Yet North Carolina’s state legislature – particularly the state Senate – hasn’t recognized that growth. The state’s public universities increased enrollment by… READ MORE
General Assembly owes UNC System $158M
RALEIGH (February 26, 2026) – At a time when many universities across the country are shrinking, the University of North Carolina System is growing – it saw enrollment increase by 1.6% in 2024 and 3.7% last fall, to 256,530 students.1 Yet North Carolina’s General Assembly isn’t doing its part to support those students, to the… READ MORE
Former provost sues board at UNC-Chapel Hill
HILLSBOROUGH (September 22, 2025) – UNC-Chapel Hill’s former provost sued the university’s Board of Trustees Monday, saying the board repeatedly violated state open meetings and public records laws – and even used a platform that deletes texts after they’re read to evade the law. Chris Clemens, a respected astrophysicist and a recognized conservative, joined UNC’s… READ MORE
UNC System tries to create an accreditor it likes
RALEIGH (July 25, 2025) – UNC System President Peter Hans on Thursday defended the system’s efforts to create an accreditation agency it likes. For decades, the UNC System has had its 16 universities reviewed by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC), which accredits colleges in 11 Southern states. But after… READ MORE
Roberts: Making more room at Chapel Hill
RALEIGH (April 9, 2025) – It’s really tough to get into UNC-Chapel Hill. But Chancellor Lee Roberts says the University is trying to make room for more students. In a presentation to a UNC System Board of Governors committee, Roberts said applications to UNC have increased by 76%, from 48,000 in 2020 to 84,000 in… READ MORE
A sense of foreboding for UNC System
RALEIGH (April 10, 2025) – Tariffs are up, despite the president’s pause on them this week. The stock market is down – and extremely jittery. And so, it seems, are members of the UNC System’s Board of Governors. At a meeting of the Board’s Budget and Finance Committee Wednesday, several members voiced doubts about the… READ MORE
Squirrelly DEI logic
RALEIGH (March 6, 2025) – Call it the DEI squirrel. Wade Maki, a pony-tailed philosophy lecturer at UNC Greensboro and Chair of the UNC System Faculty Assembly, speaks at every meeting of the UNC System’s Board of Governors. And Maki has a unique way to underscore the absurdity of the current hysteria over diversity, equity… READ MORE
Tuition at UNC System schools stays flat for the 9th straight year
RALEIGH (February 27, 2025) – For the ninth straight year, the UNC Board of Governors voted today to hold tuition constant at all 16 UNC System universities. For in-state students. North Carolina’s state constitution includes a provision that says, “The General Assembly shall provide that the benefits of The University of North Carolina and other… READ MORE
UNC-CH trustees: More listening, less talking
RALEIGH (February 12, 2025) – UNC Chapel Hill’s trustees have been warned before. But they obviously didn’t listen. • After repeated bouts of micromanagement and two trustees appearing in pre-arranged interviews with Fox & Friends and The Wall Street Journal to claim credit for establishing the School of Civic Life and Leadership, UNC System President… READ MORE