East Carolina University’s newly elected chancellor has unprecedented political experience and a diverse resume that will serve the university well, says UNC Board of Governors member David Powers. Cecil Staton, current interim president of Valdosta State University in Georgia, was elected on April 27 by a unanimous vote of the Board of Governors as the...
Transparency will be a top focus for the UNC system’s administration in the coming year, President Margaret Spellings said Friday during her first official presentation before the Board of Governors. At the Fayetteville State University campus, the former U.S. secretary of education in the George W. Bush Administration emphasized the importance of public trust, and...
RALEIGH — After months of controversy surrounding his tenure as chairman of the UNC Board of Governors, John Fennebresque announced today that he will quit his post. The board’s vice chairman, Asheville attorney W. Louis “Lou” Bissette Jr., will assume the chairmanship until the board can elect a new leader. Fennebresque’s board seat will not be filled until the N.C. Senate elects a successor to serve the remainder of his term.
CHAPEL HILL — Following a controversial search process spanning several months, the UNC Board of Governors on Friday unanimously selected Margaret Spellings, former secretary of education in the George W. Bush Administration, as UNC’s new president. She will receive an annual salary of $775,000 along with a benefit package. Outgoing President Tom Ross makes $600,000 annually plus benefits.
RALEIGH — Today’s emergency meeting of the UNC Board of Governors, where a possible successor to outgoing president Tom Ross will be interviewed, is being called an attempt to bypass a law enacted by the General Assembly requiring more transparency in the selection process, leading several board members to call for the resignation of board chairman John Fennebresque.
RALEIGH — Carolina Journal asked the state's candidates for federal office their approach to the tax cuts that initially were passed in 2001 and 2003. Their unedited responses follow.
RALEIGH — After a federal commission urged changes to how the government enforces Title IX, part of a federal law that seeks to ensure equal treatment in academia, the U.S. Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights issued a new "clarification" of OCR’s policies to determine compliance with the measure. On the controversial issue of colleges complying with Title IX not by creating sports programs for women but by eliminating sports programs for men, the clarification letter stated that because the elimination of teams diminishes opportunities rather than enhancing opportunities, "it is contrary to the spirit of Title IX for the government to require or encourage an institution to eliminate athletic teams.”
RALEIGH — Government regulations cost each typical American household about $8,000 a year, an EPA official said recently at a John Locke Foundation luncheon. In describing the value of reviewing the type and extent of government regulatory activities, Allen C. Basala, a senior economist with the Environmental Protection Agency's Center for Air Quality Planning and Standards, said that the savings could total between $3.6 billion to $21 billion per year.
RALEIGH — A statewide program to reduce greenhouse gases to levels required by the United Nation’s Kyoto Protocol on global warming would likely cost North Carolina households an average of $7,249 a year and consumers and businesses $22.7 billion in higher energy costs and lost wages, according to a recent study by an independent think tank. The regulations would also significantly reduce revenues to the state.
