Bush Center Leader Is Going to Carolina

Margaret Spellings, the newly-elected president of the North Carolina public university system, is greeted after being elected by the University of North Carolina Board of Governors Friday, October 23, 2015, in Chapel Hill, N.C. Spellings is the former education secretary for President George W. Bush.

Regarding the October. 23 news article “Faculty leery of next UNC boss”: As a taxpayer, I object to the consideration of Margaret Spellings for the position of UNC president.

Spellings will replace Tom Ross, a Democrat who was lavishly praised but pushed out by the governing board after members said they wanted a change they were unable to define.

Ross was scheduled to step down in January.

That’s a significant jump from the $600,000 base salary that Ross earned in his previous year of service.

UNC-CH’s BOG Democracy Coalition, a student group focused on holding the Board accountable, also released a statement about Fennebresque and Spellings last week on the group’s Facebook page.

“You bet, that’s what makes it fun”, she said.

Spellings holds a bachelor’s in political science from the University of Houston, and holds no advanced degree. She will be the second woman to serve as president, but who is she?

Elsewhere, other university leaders selected from outside the academic world include former Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, running the University of California system, and former IBM executive Bruce Harreld as the University of Iowa’s next president. Though the vote to hire Spellings was unanimous, two board members – Thom Goolsby and Marty Kotis – voted against the terms of her contract. Before that, Spellings served in a variety of positions within the Bush Administration, including serving as a White House Domestic Policy Advisor, from 2001 to 2005. Spellings worked as Secretary of Education from 2005 to 2009 under President George W. Bush.

“We have a president who is in a deficit potion as far as trust”, said Spoma Jovanovic, a UNC-Greensboro professor, adding that Spellings will need to work hard to overcome that. Margaret is a strong leader, a role model, and a tireless champion for America’s students.

Public funding, though a higher proportion than many other public university systems at about 13 percent of the state budget, has stayed relatively flat since the start of the recession in 2008 despite rising inflation, forcing budget cuts and layoffs.