Study suggests smaller board, autonomy for UNC campuses

The Associated PressThe body that oversees the 16-campus University of North Carolina needs no more than 15 members and local trustees should be given more authority, a new study says.The independent study released Monday by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni also said the governor, not the General Assembly, should select members of the UNC Board of Governors."Essentially, it's an issue of accountability," said council President Anne Neal. "The governor is essentially not at the table," Neal said. "The power to appoint is the power to lead. This (would allow) one person to set the agenda and take responsibility."The council is a Washington organization started a decade ago in part by Lynne Cheney, wife of Vice President Dick Cheney and former chief of the National Endowment for the Humanities.Phyllis Palmiero, a senior consultant to the council and former executive director of the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, wrote and researched the report. She concluded that North Carolina should retain its higher education system, with an overall governing board that makes policy for the 16 UNC campuses and keeps watch over strategy, cost controls and quality measures.Palmiero commended the board for its hard work and clear commitment to its biggest priority - affordable access to higher education. But the system could be improved, she said.

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