Some UNC-Chapel Hill trustees believe they overstep their authority. What they said

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Certain members of UNC-Chapel Hill’s board of trustees believe the group tends to overstep its authority and step on the toes of Chancellor Lee Roberts, according to an internal self-evaluation survey.

The board’s official role is to advise the chancellor “concerning the management and development of the institution.” In recent years, however, the board has become involved with high-profile athletics hires like football coach Bill Belichick, controversial tenure reversals, ambitious budget cuts, and the introduction of the contentious School of Civic Life and Leadership. It’s a trend that caused UNC System president Peter Hans to step in to strip and clarify the board’s responsibilities last year.

Of the 14 trustees at Carolina, five of those provided answers to an open-ended request for additional feedback at the end of the survey. The survey didn’t collect identifying information about the trustees, so the responses are anonymous. The survey was prepared for the board by UNC’s Office of Institutional Research and Assessment and publicly available as part of the materials for its July meeting.

The majority of those responses dealt with the concern that the board meddles in matters beyond its purview.

The trustee who gave the most in-depth response voiced concerns that the board is “unduly influenced by outside entities and individuals that are constantly pushing for reform to UNC and to higher education in general … [some of which] are not good for UNC and not good for higher education.”

That anonymous trustee connects those outside influences and political principles to what they see as the board’s tendency to overstep.

“Our board has been led by individuals who often times put their own principles ahead of what is best for UNC, and as a result, our board has gone outside of its lane on several occasions,” wrote the trustee. “Reform is needed to make sure future boards are not overly influenced by outside political forces and to create a more balanced grouping of leaders that does not operate as an echo chamber.

“Our board should select its leaders and these decisions do not need to be orchestrated by politicians or outside groups. The Chancellor and his team need more influence as to who should serve on UNC’s [board of trustees] and the [UNC System board of governors] needs to give more weight to his choices than they currently do.”

Two other anonymous trustees agreed:

At the board of trustees meeting Thursday, Roberts dismissed those concerns, and told the News & Observer he feels the relationship has improved.

“The working relationship between the administration and the board is really strong,” Roberts said. “… I was saying to the team this morning: the relationship continues just to get more and more effective. It’s better and better every meeting, so I couldn’t be more pleased with the relationship that we have with the board.”

This story was originally published July 30, 2026 at 11:33 AM with the headline “Some UNC-Chapel Hill trustees believe they overstep their authority. What they said.”