Shannon Blosser pointed out yesterday that Purnell Swett was elected to the UNC Board of Governors even though he had been convicted of theft from the Robeson County schools — when he was superintendent. This does raise questions about how seriously the legislature takes the job of choosing members. But it raises another question, too: Does it really matter who is on the Board of Governors?
With 32 people on the board, only a few are likely to have an impact — the ones who “control the agenda.” And so far, in the policy sessions I’ve attended, the UNC administrators, headed by Erskine Bowles, are in total charge, not the board. For example, a UNC administrator at the May meeting discussed how to improve graduation rates. Yet some governors seemed completely unaware of how low the system’s graduation rates are. Yet the same UNC administrator had discussed them at length in January; the figures are posted on the board’s Web site; and they have been well-publicized.
I’m still a newcomer, but if administrators have to spoon-feed information like that, I must ask, what kind of leadership is the board giving? In my view, election to the board is mostly a beauty contest. No wonder the House and Senate don’t give a darn.
