The Ritual Humiliation of Steve Long

[Thank Gawd for @JoeKillianPW, who's actually in the room for the UNC Board of Governors meeting at AppState this morning. I'm depending on his Twitter feed]

You remember Steve Long? He's the one member of the Board of Governors who's come out publicly against UNC BOG Chair Harry Smith. Even urged his replacement. Primarily for the ouster of Eastern Carolina University Chancellor Cecil Staton.

This is what happened to Steve Long this morning:

JoekillianPW‏ @JoekillianPW

UNC Board of Governors member Steve Long is now apologizing to Chairman Harry Smith and the board for speaking out after the ECU chancellor's ouster. He said he should have come directly to Smith rather than speaking publicly on the matter in an "intemperate" way. #NCPol #ECU

JoekillianPW‏ @JoekillianPW

Long previously said Smith needed to step down, accused him of carrying out a personal vendetta against ECU Chancellor Cecil Staton. He now says he didn't handle things the right way. Smith thanks him, says they continue to be friends. http://ow.ly/hGBn30o9jm1  #UNCPol #ECU

 @JoekillianPW

Interim UNC System President Bill Roper does not acknowledge any controversy over asking the ECU Chancellor for his resignation, says simply he thanks the chancellor for his service and moves on to other business. #NCPol #ECU #UNC

JoekillianPW‏ @JoekillianPW

Reminder: Several UNC BOG members told Policy Watch earlier this week there was a movement to formally censure board member Steve Long for speaking out over the ECU Chancellor ouster and Smith's role in it. Long made an abrupt about-face this morning, apologizing. #NCPol #ECU

The UNC Board of Governors Meeting in Boone Just Got More Interesting

UNC BOG member Steve Long

Reference: BOG member Steve Long, who had the courage to call for BOG Chair Harry Smith's replacement, based on Smith's bullying yet another university chancellor into premature retirement -- ECU's Chancellor Cecil Staton.

Fellow BOG member Tom Fetzer, former chair of the NCGOP and one of Chair Smith's strongest lieutenants, has reportedly been lining up votes to formally censure Steve Long for his criticism of Chair Smith, such censure resolution to be sprung during Day Two of the BOG's meeting on the campus of AppState -- in other words, tomorrow.

Since that plan to censure Steve Long has been outed publicly, will it happen anyway, in the full glare of press coverage?

ADDENDUM
Said Thomas Harnisch, Director of State Relations and Policy Analysis at the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, “The stories coming out of North Carolina have garnered national attention. People are seeing heavy turnover in key leadership spots. That can lead to top talent not applying for those positions. Higher education is a community. People certainly talk to each other. All these transitions are piling up and taking a toll on the state’s reputation. North Carolina has gained a reputation where its Board of Governors is very political. There’s a lot of instability emanating from that board. All of the stories about in-fighting on the board, firings and resignations over the last several years, top talent sees that and may decide they don’t want to be a part of it.” (Thanks to Joe Killian, NC Policy Watch, for getting the interview with Harnisch)

Better Keep Your Children Indoors! The BOG Is Coming to Boone

UNC BOG Chair Harry Smith

The feudin', fussin', and fightin' Board of Governors (BOG) of the University of North Carolina System will hold its next meeting this Thursday and Friday on the campus of Appalachian State University (Plemmons Student Union). The BOG bears a certain justifiable resemblance to an institutional wrecking crew, chaired as it is by Uncle Fester lookalike Harry Smith.

Smith leads a band of hard-edged conservatives -- all appointed by the Republican overlords in the General Assembly -- and he's a bloodhound for sniffing out people who won't be missed. He just succeeded in getting rid of the chancellor of Eastern Carolina University, Dr. Cecil Staton, following closely his successful defenestration of UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor Carol Folt and UNC System President Margaret Spellings.

Forcing out Dr. Staton at ECU in the last week opened a public fissure on the BOG. Member Steve Long has issued a public letter denouncing his chairman as a petty meddler who relentlessly grinds his axes to the detriment of higher education in North Carolina. According to Long, Smith's vendetta against Chancellor Staton consisted of a "long-running campaign of false accusations and irrational attacks" based on Smith's failure to reap a profit from the students at ECU: "Harry Smith has been seeking the Chancellor’s removal ever since Chancellor Staton and his trustees rejected in 2016 Mr. Smith’s proposal to buy an apartment complex near ECU if the University would change its housing policy." The sordid topic of coin in the age of the Trumpists.

Making a profit seems very much uppermost in the philosophy of Harry Smith, as is keeping the symbols of white supremacy manifest in an old bronze statue. Wonder how he feels about Chancellor Sheri Everts' successful application for certifying AppState student IDs for the purposes of voting. Is that a strike against her? Smith doesn't seem like the sort of political operative who would be interested in encouraging student activism at the ballot box. In fact, we wonder if any discussion will focus on the fact that 12 of the institutions in the UNC System just had their students significantly disabled from their access to the polls.