I had to buy a new phone recently after my screen mysteriously cracked. I was excited to get some fancy new tech that would work better than my old one. Instead, my new phone has been freezing and restarting every 45 minutes.
That’s either a decent metaphor about dashed hopes—the subject of a must-read new story about Montreat College by my Assembly colleague Ren Larson—or a transparent attempt to shoehorn my petty complaints into this newsletter. Either way, I have to drive 45 minutes to the closest warranty-approved repair shop, so here’s what’s in today’s issue.
— Matt Hartman
Join us for coffee in Winston-Salem! Erin and I will be in town on Monday, June 2 visiting UNC School of the Arts, so we’re going to stop at Camino Bakery on 4th Street from 2:30-4:30 pm. Stop by and chat about higher ed or my thoughts on cell phone engineering, your pick.
📚 Today’s Syllabus
1. Why did Montreat College get $40 million for cybersecurity programs?
2. UNC-CH delays a bunch of tenure votes
3. UNC System bans multi-day events at Elizabeth City State
4. An reader’s suggestions for Guilford College
A Taxpayer-Funded Handout for Montreat College
Over five years, the state legislature has given Montreat College $40 million to build a regional cybersecurity training center in Buncombe County and boost the college’s cybersecurity programs. Championed by Republican legislators, the money provided a much-needed boon to the struggling college.
But Democratic legislators and even some conservative groups couldn’t square why the state would give such large sums to Montreat, a private college with declining enrollment, low graduation rates, and few faculty specializing in cybersecurity, when the UNC System and North Carolina Community College System already had multiple federally accredited cybersecurity programs.
To date, Montreat has spent less than $3 million of those funds, including $400,000 on strategic and master plans that expanded beyond the center to other campus facilities, roughly $170,000 a year on the salary for a director (which exceeded the amount allowed for grant-funded salaries under state law), and $105,000 paid to a Montreat board member and his personal business. Montreat President Paul Maurer said the school still needs another $15 million before it can begin construction on the center.
— Ren Larson
Montreat College Got $40 Million in State Funds for Cybersecurity Training
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.
Did someone forward this to you? Sign up here to get The Assembly’s weekly higher education newsletter.
Dazed and Deferred
Why didn’t the UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Trustees vote on any tenure cases outside of the health sciences at its last two meetings?
That question is making some faculty, including faculty chair Beth Moracco, nervous.
“This lack of personnel action has raised concerns and questions among faculty,” Moracco wrote in a letter to Chancellor Lee Roberts and interim Provost Jim Dean on Friday. “Deferring these actions disrespects the enormous contributions these faculty have made to the university.”
University officials said nothing was amiss, telling The Quad in a statement that UNC-CH “consistently reviews salaries and benefits to align offers with both our budget and current, relevant market data.”
“Tenure-track faculty across the University, including those in the College of Arts and Sciences, are eligible for tenure,” the statement said. “The exact timing of tenure awards is subject to a number of variables that our Board of Trustees and administration may consider with any recommended appointments.”
— Erin Gretzinger and Matt Hartman
UNC-Chapel Hill Has Delayed Tenure Votes in Most Departments This Spring
Multi-Day Events Suspended at ECSU
After a shooting during an on-campus festival at Elizabeth City State University left five students injured and one person who wasn’t a student dead, UNC System President Peter Hans has suspended all multi-day events on the campus until investigations into the incident are complete.
Hans told interim Chancellor Catherine Edmonds last Friday in a letter obtained by The Assembly that he has tasked Fred Sellers, the system’s vice president for safety and enterprise risk management, and an independent third party to “learn everything we can about this matter.”
“I worry that multi-day events extending late into the early hours of the next morning exceed our capacity to keep the campus safe and stray too far from our core mission to educate as was proven by the disruption to in-person classes and exams,” Hans wrote.
A spokesperson for ECSU confirmed university officials received the letter and said the institution will follow the guidance provided by the system. The spokesperson said the investigation into the shooting is ongoing.
— Erin Gretzinger
Can Guilford College Be Saved?
Jonathon Podolsky, an activist who consults with struggling schools, was involved in Guilford College’s last survival campaign, and he submitted this letter to The Quad with his thoughts on how the school should move forward. We are running it in full.
Guilford College declined to comment.
Guilford College’s acting leadership is working hard to cut expenses and increase revenue, but time is tight. To maximize results, they need to rebuild trust with their stakeholders, even those who have given up on the college.
Matt Hartman’s recent piece in The Assembly, “Guilford College Debates How Quakerly it Should Be,” was an excellent deep dive that surfaced important issues. It observes a dichotomy between forming Quaker councils, or making business decisions first. But we need a different lens to better see the college’s main impediments and way forward. Saving a college is like playing 3D chess while riding a bicycle. It requires an immaculate strategy while sustaining movement and balance.
Various strategies have different time cycles, but both sides of this seeming dichotomy agree the college needs to be saved now. Guilford’s strengths in terms of its offerings to students are not business or religion in isolation, but a blend of helping students find meaning, gain professional skills, learn critical thinking, group dynamics, and ethics.
Faculty groups have plans to reduce silos and expenses. One would flatten the administrative hierarchy, another organizes the academics into four clusters: Understanding the Human and Natural World, Human Studies & Cultural Understanding, Management & Systems, Justice, Society & Global Engagement (this proposal has been accepted).
Adding majors, and other changes that Mark Cubberley suggests in The Assembly’s Guilford article, should also be considered. What’s actually needed is a better container where students, staff, faculty, alumni, and a variety of marginalized groups can discuss these issues while keeping in mind timelines, financial goals, and successive stages. I was part of the re-envisioning coalition at Hampshire College that did just that.
Guilford overspent its approved budget to the tune of $10 million, and broke stipulations from its lenders, leaving some to wonder why the board didn’t notice this and take action sooner. Guilford can act expeditiously to rebuild trust by holding a community meeting with an impartial auditor to discuss new financial controls that would prevent these problems from recurring, while the board could reform its oversight policies, reporting transparently and often.
The college also needs an ace negotiator who can level with any vendors for which it may be overpaying. It’s time to renegotiate, or there won’t be a college. I’ve heard the college has experienced delays in selling a valuable parcel of land. It’s worth asking the bondholders if they would accept the parcel in exchange for eliminating debt payments for an appropriate period.
The college must also excite its constituents with a go-forward plan and better messaging. I like these thoughts from Prof. Dixon, quoted on Guilford’s website: “When you see the lights turning on, when you see (students) waking up to their intelligence and gifts? That’s why I get out of bed in the morning. The world needs people who are occupying their intelligence and their gifts and figuring out how those gifts connect with the world’s needs. That’s what a Guilford education does for you.” Let’s make it so.
— Jonathon Podolsky
Have your own thoughts about our stories or higher ed matters? Send them along to highered@theassemblync.com.