Did the UNC Board of Governors Pull a Fast One at Fayetteville State University?

 

Darrell Allison.
Photo by CriShaun Hardy, DTH

The University of North Carolina Board of Governors -- Republicans all, aligned with the stink weeds in the leadership at the General Assembly -- has apparently ignored the chancellor search committee's recommendation at Fayetteville State University (an HBCU institution) and put in their own guy, Darrell Allison, a former member of the BOG who allegedly resigned from the BOG so he could become chancellor.

The switch was actually pulled off by UNC President Peter Hans. Back last September, about the time Allison was stepping down from the BOG, the BOG instituted a new policy that allows the UNC System president (Hans) to overrule the search committee and designate up to two individual candidates for system chancellor positions. Hans chose Allison and the BOG agreed, making him chancellor-elect of FSU on February 18.

According to The Daily Tarheel (DTH),

Through a fall 2019 executive action by the BOG chairperson, Allison was one of the five BOG members tasked with finding a solution for the Silent Sam monument. Allison was also one of the five signatories on the December 2019 op-ed for the News and Observer explaining the Silent Sam settlement with the N.C. Sons of Confederate Veterans, which was overturned this month.

The settlement of the DTH Media Corp. v. UNC System lawsuit over alleged Open Meetings Law violations during this deal revealed that this op-ed was not written by the five committee members, but by then-UNC System Vice President for Communications Earl Whipple.

With Allison's departure from the BOG, concerns were raised about representation. At the time, he was one of only three Black BOG members, but Black students make up over one-fifth of total enrollment at UNC System schools, including five historically Black institutions.

How upset are FSU students and faculty about the appointment of Darrell Allison? The Faculty Senate met on Friday and passed a series of resolutions declaring that Allison's appointment needs to be rescinded immediately for violating every tenet of fair academic governance and alleging that Allison is wholly unqualified and was picked because of his conservative political affiliations.

An FSU alumnus created an on-line petition calling for the removal of Allison and gets explicit about his lack of qualifications:

Darrell Allison, without one day of experience in teaching, serving as a Dean, being a provost, or any other capacity building or training in Higher Education, is given the responsibility of educating students and leading them in an Academic Institution of Higher Learning. Allison lacks the Education, Knowledge and Experience that one is assumed to have before becoming the Chancellor of an institution. Darrell Allison additionally has a history of scandals involving Financial Mismanagement, Tampering with Leadership and Steering Vendor Contracts. FSU doesn't desire or deserve Darrell Allison.

Don't you even dare suggest that the UNCBOG is determined to turn higher education in this state to their own ends.