Meeting Overview
May 2024

An eventful academic year at Carolina reached a thrilling climax this month with the University’s evening graduation ceremony in lovely Kenan Stadium, complete with fireworks for the 6,700-plus graduates, their families and friends, the faculty, and the staff. It was the first Tar Heel graduation not only for Interim Chancellor Lee Roberts, but also, as it turns out, for Trustee Chairman John Preyer, who skipped his own graduation in 1990 to go straight to work. “By all accounts, it was a spectacular success,” Preyer said of the recent festivities. Even for those of us who have attended previous graduation ceremonies – in some cases, several of them – this year’s commencement festivities were at or near the top of the list in our experience.

“Carolina celebrated a tremendous weekend,” Trustee Perrin Jones noted during our May 15 University Affairs Committee meeting. “It was fantastic, and it culminated in probably the best graduation ceremony I have attended in my 52 years on this planet. It was phenomenal. I spent time around so many students and parents, and to a person everyone said that it was fantastic. It was just off the charts. Interim Chancellor Roberts, I would like to thank you and your team for putting that together. It was truly something to behold. And for our graduates, that was the [high school] Covid Class, and it really came away from the ceremony feeling special. It was a fantastic weekend to be in Chapel Hill.”

(University photo by Jon Gardiner)

The May 11 graduation keynote speech was by American astronaut Zena Cardman, a double Tar Heel. “Success is yours to define, and your team is yours to build,” the graduates heard from Cardman, who is scheduled to make her first spaceflight in August, heading to the International Space Station for a six-month mission. “You know your values, what brings you joy, what questions make you curious. You know the people who matter to you. … If your goal requires cutting down someone else to get there, you need a different goal.”

As Interim Chancellor Roberts noted during our May 16 Board meeting, it was especially appropriate to hear from an astronaut during a commencement beneath the starry sky. “If you want to feel inadequate, spend some time chatting with a 36-year-old astronaut who has been training for seven years and is about to go up on the Space Station,” he said.

Interim Chancellor Roberts showed a stirring, short video recapping graduation weekend.

Free speech and public safety

Interim Chancellor Roberts noted the hard work by many that went into keeping graduation celebratory and safe. Several other universities delayed or canceled their graduations because of disruptions by people protesting the Hamas-Israeli war in Palestine.

“We’ve had to make some very difficult decisions around topics that people across campus and beyond feel very passionately about on every side,” Roberts said. “We’re always going to uphold free speech. It’s a foundational principle of our University as the first public university in America. It’s obviously a constitutional and legal obligation. And beyond upholding free speech, we’re going to actively encourage student engagement and peaceful protest. That should be true for any institution of higher education. Everyone has a right to have their voice heard. We have a longstanding and proud commitment to protecting the rights of all community members to demonstrate and protest peacefully. And we will follow our policies. We will follow the law.

“No one has the right to disrupt campus operations, threaten or harass others, shout down a speaker, or destroy public property. Now that commencement is over, information collected during recent events is being reviewed to pursue potential violations of policies and applicable laws, including recent treatment of employees at South Building as they were leaving work and the vandalism we saw at South Building on Commencement Day. I want to thank our Facilities crews for quickly cleaning the area before the evening ceremony. We’ll continue to take necessary actions to promote a safe teaching, learning, and working environment.

“We have unfortunately had to take action with protesters, including many who are not members of our Carolina community. I’ve been very appreciative, as Chair Preyer has, of our Police Department and our University leadership for the way they’ve handled these disruptions. Our police were able to clear the Polk Place encampment quickly. This occurred days after protesters refused to follow state and University policies regarding tents, after previously complying with and working with our Student Affairs team. Also in this case our incredible Facilities team quickly restored an area following a major cleanup operation.

“I want to specifically commend Chief Brian James for his leadership in this regard. His approach to minimizing force and focusing on de-escalation benefits the safety of all involved. I also want to thank University leaders, my colleagues, for remaining steadfast in our mission, upholding our policies, and maintaining our commitments to free speech and peaceful demonstration.”

As Interim Chancellor Roberts suggested, promoting free speech while maintaining order and protecting public safety is very much the Carolina way.

Planning for a new institute

Among other highlights of our May meeting was a presentation to Board about the initial planning for Carolina’s future Institute for Risk Management and Insurance Innovation, which will train students in high demand for risk-management careers. The Institute’s creation has been authorized by Provost Christopher Clemens and Interim Chancellor Roberts. Its planning will proceed under the direction of Gregory Characklis, William R. Kenan, Jr. Distinguished Professor in Carolina’s Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering and Director of the University’s Center on Financial Risk in Environmental Systems.

“It is something that has the potential to be a transformative new model for bringing money into the University – private money from one of the most well-funded industries in the country outside of oil and gas, which is the insurance industry,” said Chairman Preyer, a champion of the new institute. The unique program will unite the study of financial risk, environmental risk, the insurance business, and data science. It’s a high sought-after skill set without enough of a talent pipeline, and so the job pays handsomely, Chairman Preyer noted. “The insurance industry is the only industry that I know of where you can be a year out of school and do a $100 million deal – and it happens routinely,” he said, quoting an insurance executive.

Interim Chancellor Roberts, whose professional background is in finance, noted that it’s very hard to launch such a program quickly. “It’s been a tremendous effort bringing resources from across the University,” he said. “The employer response has been very strong, the student response has been very strong, and the donor response has been extraordinary. Greg deserves an enormous amount of credit for that. Chairman Preyer also deserves an enormous amount of credit. He has spent a huge amount of time on this, and it really has paid off, particularly in terms of getting the word out and getting donors’ attention to this. We’ve really, I think, identified something that has extremely promising potential for Carolina for a long time.”

SBP Taylor’s remarks

Carolina’s recently elected Student Body President Jaleah Taylor gave her first remarks as a new member of the Board. Taylor, a rising senior from Charlotte who is studying political science and media, thanked her many supporters along her path as a Tar Heel leader. She said she will strive to make sure students understand that they have a powerful voice and can help make the University better.

Taylor

“In my time as student body president and a trustee,” said Taylor, “I plan to advocate for a meal-swipe donation plan that addresses food insecurity on our campus, introduce voter engagement initiatives for the upcoming election cycle in the fall, defend diversity, and — most importantly — make sure that all students feel welcome, supported, and safe here at Carolina.”

Taylor said she realizes that she and her fellow Board members won’t agree on every issue before them. “There will be tough conversations and sensitive topics that will present challenges for all of us,” she said. “But, if anything, these times of tension can inspire growth in all of us and remind us of the value of compromise and comradery. We may not see eye-to-eye on some issues, but I know that I am ready, willing, and excited to work with all of you to make the best choices for our University, which we all love and hold dear to our hearts. I’m hopeful about the amount of work and policy that we will be able to accomplish in the next year, and I look forward to deepening my relationships with you all in finding common ground.”

Chairman Preyer thanks Taylor for her thoughtful remarks. “You’re absolutely right: we won’t always agree on everything,” he said. “But we can do it in an agreeable way. Thank you.”

Meeting Materials

Past Meeting Reports

March 2024 Meeting Report
January 2024 Meeting Report
November 2023 Meeting Report
September 2023 Meeting Report
March 2023 Meeting Report
January 2023 Meeting Report
November 2022 Meeting Report
September 2022 Meeting Report