The Dairy Tar Heel U Q new Friday. November 12. 1971, Sfirflfl 11 in nt.y. uu.. ,uljj uu i The new Consolidated University administration building may house the offices of the new University of North Carolina Centra Ihe new system of higher-education in North Carolina embodies a radical change in power distribution. l or the first time, a central hoard lias extensive budget and program powers to set anil carry out education priorities lor t he st lie. I lie so-called "line-item" budget practice had generated hitler competition for funds between the Consolidated University and the other state-supported universities. The legislature had to make signit icant decisions on complicated questions of educational priorities every two years. As a result, appropriations, especially these for new programs and new buildings, were the object of political deals haveing nothing to do with the ecuational values, needs and resources of the universities and the state. 1 he new hoard's budget powers lie to Students and faculty members at Chapel Hill are accustomed to confusing the Consolidated University administration and its big, 100-member trustee hoard with the UNC-CH administration. That will not be the case under the new higher education system. Although the ultimate make-up of the powerful board of governors will include 32 members, in the crucial planning and initiation stages its composition will be different . The initial board of governors, beginning Jan. 1 as a planning committee, will consist of lb persons chosen by and from the Consolidated University Board of Trustees, U persons chosen by and from the regional universities' trustees, two non-voting members from the N.C. Board of Higher Fducation and Gov. Boh Scott as chairman. The Consolidated Universitv The OW Wl Probably not What docs all the talk about power, structure and budget of the educational svstem mean to the students at Chapel liill today ? Probably not much at least for a number of months. In fact, the new structure could make very little difference in the educational opportunities offered at the University for the next several years. Interviews with members of the Consolidated University administration and the staff of the N.C. Board of Higher Education indicate the major thrust of the first six months and most likely the first year of the new system will simply be developing the procedures and limits of the system. In the interim, procedures and policies will continue without much change. Until the governing board or the new system. The 1 .4 b oar a great extent in its duty to prepare, after consultation with the individual institutions, a single, unified budget for all state-supported universities, and to present that budget to the Advisory Budget Commission and the Genral Assembly. The Advisory Budget Commission will review all requests and the legislature, in turn, will appropriate the money, but under a new scheme. The monies for continuing current programs ?t each school will still he appropriated to that school directly by the legislature on a line-item basis. But the all-important funds for new programs and capital improvements will be appropriated to the board in lump sum by the General Assembly. The governors will have provided the legislators with a priority list of new programs and rea representatives to the board will be selected in a special meeting of trustees Monday, Nov. 22, in Chapel Hill. . On July I, 1973, the terms of eight governors, chosen by lot, will expire. The terms of the two members chosen from the state higher education board and all governors who are state officials, legislators or their spouses will expire. The Cieneral Assembly will then elect successors to bring the board to the 32-man level. After that date, no state official, legislator or their spouses may serve or. the governing board. Among the original eight the legislature will elect will be at least one woman, one member of a minority race and one member of the minority party. Gov. Scott will leave the board when his term expires Dec. 1973, following It local boards of trustees make changes in policy, all rules, regulations and procedures will remain in effect, according to the new law. All appointments of personnel, except those of the Consolidated University staff and higher education board staff, will be unaffected by the changeover. The Consolidated University Board of Trustees will continue normal operations until July 1. including preparations for the U'73-75 budget, according to Friday. The Consolidated University trustees will most likely appoint a new chancellor for the Chapel Hill campus sometime in the next two months, since J. Carlyle Sitterson's retirement will be come effective Jan. 1 5. Friday emphasized in a recent interview the continuing work ot the trustees .md the Consolidated Universitv king million dollar structure opened last spring. has buildings, but without institutional identification. For example, the priority list might include as its eighth item ''three academic classroom buildings: S3 million each for a total of S9 million." The legislature might give the board enough money to completely fund the first seven items, hut it might allot only $6 million for the eighth, allowing only two classrooms to he built. The governing board would decide where to build the two classroom buildings; the legislature could not decide to allot money for one classroom building at Appalachia, one at UNC-W but none to East Carolina. Thus the new board would make judgements based on educational values and the politics which darkened previous legislative sessions would be eliminated. The new system aiso allows the board. down which the board will elect its own chairman. From that point on, no governor will serve on the governing board. In each succeeding session of the General Assembly, the legislature will elect eight members to the board for eight-year terms. Every two years these will include the specified minority representatives. By 1979, therefore, the board will have four women members, four minority race members and four minority party members. By July 1, 1972, the governing board will have selected a president for the new system. He will be the chief administrative officer, with the power to appoint the necessary staff, subject to the approval of the central board. The president under the new system will have new responsibilities and dutio-,, rJtect miiiclk staff and the lack of any immediate drastic changes. "I shouldn't think the restructuring will have a sharp impact on campus," he said. "I think the first interval will most probably bring adminstrative and procedural changes." J. P. Kennedy, assistant director of the state higher education board, said he felt no severe changes would be immediately forth coming, but innovations could be expected in the future. Dr. Cameron West. Sr.. director of the higher education board, also mentioned the possibilities for academic innovations under the new system. He pointed out the new system would allow for review and reform of academics on a statewide perspective, not simply in the requirements for one campus. Kennedy sees the new governing board's statf as a maior source of new d All 1 b state-supported sen. r institutions of learning w .;'; s.-.-n re merged into the new "UNC." East Carolina University . Appalachian State University. Elizabeth C;: Si-te University, Fayetteville State Un;veriy. North Carolina Agricultural a' J Technical University . Pembroke State University, Western Carolina U.nversm . Wir.ston-Salem State University . North Carolina Central University ar.d the N C. School of the Arts will join the preent members of the Consolidated Ur.ivenitv - UNC at Chapel Hill. Ra'.eigh. Charlotte. Greensboro. Asheviile and Wilmington in the new pant system. Each campus under the r.ew plan will have a chancellor as chief executive officer. The chancellor will be responsible to the president of the new system and to the campus" local board ot trustees. This local board, consisting of 12 members and the student body president e officio, will exercise delegated power granted by the central board. Between Jan. 1 and Ju! 1. 1972. the governing board will elect a president to head the new system. Consolidated University President William C. Friday i considered the most likely person to get the job. The new board must also select a headquarters for the system. This headquarters will most likely be in Chapel Hill, which has a new SI. 4 million extensive Bowers with the approval of the Advisory Budget Commission, to change priorities and to switch funds from school to school or category to category to meet pressing needs. The second most important power the new board will have is program authority. The new board has exclusive authority to approve new programs and to withdraw such approval from existing programs if they are "unproductive, excessively costly or unnecessarily duplicative." The East Carolina Medical School, approved by the 1971 General Assembly, could provide the first test of this section of the board's powers. If, as some observers predict, the board cancels the ECU med school program, ECU supporters, led by ECU President Leo Jenkins, might go to the 1973 legislature to attempt to rescue the different from any present president's, according to Consolidated University President William C. Friday, considered to be the leading contender for the post. Friday said in a recent interview no one has yet given any description of the duties for the new president and none will exist until the governing board decides the duties of the new officer. "It will certainly be different from what has been expected of this office in the Consolidated University for the past 40 years." he said. Friday declined comment on the possibility he may be offered the top spot, saying the board must be given a free hand to choose the top executive. The post of senior vice president was written into the statute at the insistence of Gov. Scott. The position is designed for Dr. Cameron West, director of the of he voui? . ye ideas, diversity and innovation for N.C. higher education. But when the 1974 General Assembly meets, the first test of the new system's power and effectiveness will be made. If the legislature chooses not to abide by the letter and the spirit of "An Act to Consolidate the Institutions of Higher Learning in North Carolina." the new board and all 16 institutions might find themselves back where they started - or worse. If. on the other hand, the legislature continues to see the widom ot staying out of educational decisions, the 32 men and women of the board of governors w ill hold the key to excellence or mediocrity in state higher education for years to come, both on the Chapel Hill campus and at the other 15 institutions - the r.ew "University of North Carolina."" r-..c;.-g -r.:r. present!) Consolidated Ur.Aersitv R-le:;. which ; -."J ;i'e TV.e r.verr..: the start's of the Consolidated Universitv and the C Board of H gher Education The higher education bo:d. now located in R.le-gh. gx o-t of existence on Julv 1. Stories by Evans Witt So there i mudi to be done before the govern ir.c b-.urd been official operation on Ju! I. H2. and tliere ate many questunN to be flowered. Tlie General Assembly Ita expressed its wishes tlirough the new law. but exact!' how those wishes will be transposed into a realistic, working system is et to be seen. What powers will the centra! board O ML new program. This would provide an indication of to what degree the legislators will meddle in the new system. The new hoard will also be charged with developing and updating a comprehensive long-range plan for state higher education, including both private and public institutions. This task has been handled in the past by the N.C. Board of Higher Education, hut the new board will have the power to implement any new plans, not just recommend them to the legislature. The central board will also give the local .boards whatever . powers are necessary to the operation of the individual school. Consolidated University President William C. Friday recently mentioned some areas in which he feels the local boards should have control. "Ihe delegation should pretty much state higher educaiton board, who supported Scott's proposals throughout the restructuring fight. West refused to comment in an interview on his prospects for the senior vice president post by saying the law gives the president of the system the authority to appoint the staff. The Consolidated University and the state higher education board must be merged to form the new UNC staff under the terms of the statute. Exactly how this is to be accomplished and who will fill what posts will be decided in the coming months. The local boards of trustees, which will concentrate on individual campus problems and policies, will also go through initial and final stages of composition. The ten recional universities will retain 1 6? XT "A f v . fN- Consolidated University President William C. Friday is the leading contender to head the new University of North Carolina system. The new president of the 16-cumpus system will be chosen next ear. ielegate to the Lval boards of trustees'1 W ill the cr.etral board have the courace to divontm rrocrams. eve1 COStiV ur. productive ,icir. have stro' pohuc iiitcx the hoad tunct: decision What effect w.ll the re system have on the University at (hapet Hill. ; students and fuculty ' These and other quest ion will he answered a the pla" nc for the r.ew system he en :n earnest Jan I and during the first years of the new. enlarged I'nivers.fy of North Carolina " The year long battle over retructurs:-g higher education m North Carolina is fin; sited. "The University of North Carolina'" will soon take on a broader meaning than it has ever had before. What is now known, as the Consolidated University of North Carolina will soon cease to exist, as uill the so-called '"regional universities. "" The S C. Genera! Assembly . meeting m special session late in October, enacted a law dramatically diancmc the svstem of administration for all state public higher education. A 3 2 -man board of governor will soon have a depth, breadth and flexibility of control over state higher education unprecedented in North Carolina. be in line with what we have now student lite, appointment .! vertain personnel and intercollegiate athletics." he said. "Institutions vary and the delegations of power will vary ," The one power the local boards have by law is to provide the president with a slate of nominees from which he i to recommend to the central board a new chancellor for the institution. But the central board will have the power to appoint all major administrative personnel and tenured faculty. It wdl also have the power to set tuition and fees and enrollment levels at each institution. The local hoards powers, while limited, will still be flexible enough as to be practical. But it will be the central board which will determine the nature and quality of the new educational sy stem. board their present boards until June 3rd, 1 973. The Consolidated University campuses will have local boards appointed by and from the Consolidated University Board of Trustees beginning July 1, 1972. on which date the main board will cease to exist. Ea.h local Consolidated University campus board will have 12 members plus the student body president of that campus. On July 1, 1973, new local boards will take over at all 16 schools. light members of eah board will be appointed by the central board, four will be appointed by the governor, all for four-year, overlapping terms. Ihe student body president of each campus will serve ex officio on his campus board. No state official. legislator, member f the centra! board or their spouses may serve on the local boards. i f M 4 i