The Daily Tar Heel has published a Q&A with UNC President Tom Ross headlined “Thomas Ross reflects on challenges he’s faced.” Among the questions/answers is this:
DTH: Is there anything in this job that keeps you up at night?
TR: I think we all worry about another crisis at one of our institutions, and how many more can you take? Any time you’re dealing with an institution that employs as many people as we do … and then you throw on top of that 220,000 students — there’s going to be crises, there’s going to be mistakes made. It’s our job to manage through those and try to resolve those as quickly as we can and successfully as we can and we’re going to continue to do that. I don’t lose sleep over those things.
But what I worry about more than anything is the success of our students and their safety and their opportunity and their ability to help provide the leadership and the development of our economy … because that’s who we depend on.
I was just watching a video from the University of Virginia about a young woman who was very highly regarded on campus, went to Washington, D.C. for a party and took a molly pill (and died). I worry about that a whole lot more than I do anything else.
All that’s going on with the University, is it hurting opportunities for students in some way? Are we cutting in the wrong places? Or doing something that might reduce their opportunity? Those are the kinds of things that keep me up.
What a shame that President Ross makes no mention of the burden on the people who work hard every day and pay the taxes that make the university system viable. Thankfully, the legislature is concerned about the burden.
