The Quad: Higher Ed Newsmakers

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Good Vibes

At the first event in The Assembly’s Newsmakers Series, three leaders insisted on their optimism about the future of higher education and research, despite the many challenges dominating headlines.

“I don’t believe the national narrative about higher education is the North Carolina narrative about higher education,” UNC System President Peter Hans told the sold-out crowd at Raleigh’s Jiddi Courtyard. “When I visit with colleagues from other states and we compare notes, I’m able to tell them enrollment is up, retention is up, graduation is up, public funding is up, private funding is up.”

Hans touted the fact that the UNC System hasn’t raised tuition in almost a decade—“No other state in the country can make that claim,” he said—and that fewer than half of UNC System graduates take on student debt.

The event’s other guests, North Carolina Central University Chancellor Karrie Dixon and RTI International CEO Tim Gabel, were similarly bullish on the industry, even as they acknowledged the difficulty of navigating federal cuts to research and Medicaid funding—something Hans and Gabel called a “disruption.”

Gabel compared today’s climate to the one when he joined RTI during the Ronald Reagan administration, saying there were “lots of executive orders, lots of changes to research funding, lots of layoffs at RTI.” Trump administration policies have led RTI to reduce more than a third of its workforce.

“The word ‘unprecedented’ has been used, but in fact it’s sort of a typical business cycle,” Gabel said.

— Matt Hartman

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Thanks for reading The Quad, a higher education newsletter written by Matt Hartman and Erin Gretzinger and edited by Emily Stephenson. Reach us with tips or ideas at highered@theassemblync.com.

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Cash-Strapped Colleges

For two of North Carolina’s most troubled colleges, it has been an eventful month. 

Guilford College got to celebrate. Not only did the school meet the $5 million fundraising goal it set in March, but it brought in $1 million beyond that. Guilford also cut more than $4 million in expenses (it was aiming for $3 million).

Unfortunately, it hasn’t brought in any of the $3 million in new revenues it was hoping for, and its student body keeps shrinking, reducing revenue even further. As we detail in a new story, the upshot is that Guilford has more work to do to ensure its survival. 

Meanwhile, Saint Augustine’s University lost its arbitration process with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, which affirmed its decision to revoke SAU’s accreditation. On Monday, the Raleigh HBCU vowed to file a lawsuit to pause the decision—but said it needs more cash to do so. Chloe Courtney Bohl, our INDY colleague, has details on the nail in the coffin for SAU’s accreditation with SACSCOC.

In a virtual webinar on Monday night to share information and raise money, school leaders made a plea to alumni by laying bare the school’s financial turmoil. Scrolling through a spreadsheet of debts, school officials showed more than $47.6 million in unpaid bills. (That didn’t include the full amount from a recent court ruling that ordered the school to pay nearly $20 million to a wireless service provider.)

“There is not a day that … I wake up, Monday through Sunday, when we don’t have a phone call from an angry entity that wants to be paid,” said Claude Tolbert, a member of the board of trustees.

As The Assembly and INDY reported, some alumni blame the board, and SACSCOC also found issues with the board’s stewardship. The current board chair, Brian Boulware, recently accused previous leadership of a decade’s worth of financial mismanagement, including alleged misuse of federal funds.

Marcus Burgess, SAU’s president, told alumni on the call that if they didn’t trust the school enough to donate, they could support St. Augustine’s by paying its vendors directly.

When alumni questioned what could have been done differently, some of the leaders’ weariness became apparent. Trustee Sophie Gibson said she wanted to “jump ship” after she first joined the board. Asked if he would do it all over again, Burgess started to say he would—but Boulware cut him off and interjected: “That’s not what you told me!”

—Matt Hartman, Erin Gretzinger, and Chloe Courtney Bohl

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Sounds Nice

Blue waters, pristine coastlines, and pastel villas—this is what most visitors picture in the French Riviera. But this summer, for six Duke and UNC-Chapel Hill students, there were also onion domes, Marc Chagall, and Rachmaninoff.  

The Duke in Russia program in Nice, France—a Russian language and culture summer immersion program—welcomed a cohort of six students in May. 

Duke used to host the program in St. Petersburg. But at a time when travel to Russia isn’t recommended, Duke found an alternative in Nice, a city that boasts a rich Russian diasporic community.

Russia’s ties to Nice trace back to the end of the Crimean War in 1856, when the Romanovs established the city as a naval base to anchor their fleets after losing control over the Black Sea. The natural harbor soon became a winter retreat for the Russian aristocrats and the czar. The Bolshevik revolution in 1917 saw an influx of Russian émigrés to the French Riviera, where Russian-named streets and orthodox churches have left an imprint on the city to this day. 

During the six-week program this year, students opted to take either two intensive Russian language courses or study the intersection of neuroscience and multilingualism. The courses are complemented by cultural events and excursions related to Russian culture.

Duke sophomore Haynes Lewis said she was initially puzzled about a Russian program in France. But under the encouragement of Edna Andrews, her first-year professor and director of the Duke in Russia program, Lewis decided that the opportunity was worth a shot, despite having no prior experience with Russian.

Lewis’ highlight from the trip was sampling Russian and Caucasian cuisines across town, whether that was Manti, soup dumplings with beef fillings, or Borscht, a traditional beet-based soup.

UNC-Chapel Hill junior Khizra Ahmad grew up speaking many languages, including Russian, but the language remained relatively new to her. For Ahmad, excursions to Saint-Tropez and the Grand Prix made the program special. 

The cohort spent nearly 20 hours a week in an intensive Russian studying environment, Lewis said. Outside the classroom, Lewis and her cohort found themselves having to acclimate to French customs and manners, which she described as “definitely a fun, [but] almost confusing challenge.”

Ahmad noted that the combination of Russian and Nice offered “the perfect mix” of learning a foreign language at a location that felt “a bit more safe [and] a bit more comfortable.” She added that Nice, as an international tourist spot, was relatively easy to navigate. 

“I was actually pretty grateful that it was in France,” Ahmad said. “It’s not as intimidating as having to be in a completely Russian-speaking country.”

 —Lucas Lin

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Class Introductions

André J. Richburg, an executive at the education consulting firm CampusWorks Inc., was named the vice president for strategic enrollment at Methodist University. 

Brian Allen, the former president of the construction company Precision Walls, was appointed to the UNC-CH Board of Trustees. He will fill the vacancy left by Brad Briner, who left the board to become state treasurer.

Catherine Edmonds, former interim chancellor at Elizabeth City State University, was named interim provost for North Carolina A&T University. 

Dean Stoyer, chief brand officer for Trackhouse Racing and Entertainment, was named a vice chancellor for communications at UNC-CH. He will begin in the role June 30. 

Debra Clark Jones, the former associate vice president for community health at Duke University Health System, was named interim executive vice president for institutional advancement at Bennett College.

Masud H. Chowdhury, the associate dean for research and innovation at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, was named dean of NC A&T and UNC Greensboro’s Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering. He will begin the role in August.

Nicole Ditillo, the program director of the NC State College Advising Corps, became the director of the North Carolina Community Colleges’ Boost program, a new student success initiative.

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