Partnering For Excellence
Posted on May 7, 1995Close your eyes for a moment and imagine the Chapel Hill campus without the Carolina Inn, the Lineberger Cancer Research Center, South Building, the Morehead Building, the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Center, Kenan Stadium, the Smith Center, the Kenan Center, the George Watts Hill Alumni Center and most of our dormitories. These are just some of our familiar and important facilities constructed without state appropriations. During Carolina’s first 100 years most of this campus was built without the benefit of state-appropriated funds.
For more than two centuries a wonderful partnership among the people of North Carolina, Carolina alumni, the federal government, foundations and others has built one of the world’s premier universities, respected for achieving academic excellence while providing unparalleled public service. It would be tragic if Carolina’s capacity to contribute was severely diminished because of the zeal to downsize government.
Where else can North Carolinians invest a dollar and receive a threefold to fourfold return on their investment? There would be no Research Triangle Park without three great research universities. The 34,000 tax-paying employees in the Research Triangle Park represent a $1.5 billion payroll.
In the next several weeks important decisions will be made by North Carolina’s elected officials that will help to determine the future of our University. Some argue that for too long elected officials have not felt that there would be adverse consequences if they failed to support Carolina. If our collective silence has encouraged some to believe we don’t care what they do to our institution, then that is unfortunate. If our elected officials don’t understand what Carolina does for the people of North Carolina, the region and the nation, then that is in part our fault.
In this issue of the Carolina Alumni Review, Garnet Bass ’74 writes about how UNC’s graduate programs repay the state’s investment manyfold and how the graduate programs affect people across the state (“The War of the Numbers” on page 10). Bass also reports on concerns raised about Carolina’s stature as a leading research institution as many top graduate students go elsewhere because of a lack of funding at UNC (“The Grad School Gap” on page 18). Rosemary Waldorf ’73 interviews UNC political science professors Thad Beyle and Dick Richardson about the effect of the state’s November 1994 elections and Gov. Jim Hunt’s proposed budget on the University (“New Politics in North Carolina” on page 68). A directory of N.C. legislators who are UNC alumni begins on page 70.
We should not be timid in advancing Carolina’s cause. Please remember: The value of our diploma is determined not by the ranking of UNC at the time that we earned our degree. Carolina’s present reputation determines its market value today. It is not only in our personal interest but in the interest of all North Carolinians that our University prosper. We must again be competitive in faculty salaries — the latest figures show that last year’s raises helped stem our decade-long decline, but we are still in the bottom half among our peer group, and Duke continues to pay its full professors $14,000 more than Carolina — and we must become competitive in our capacity to attract outstanding graduate students. We must maintain our competitiveness in facilities. We ask all of this not for ourselves, but for all North Carolinians.
It is unfortunate that there are some who seem to believe cutting public support to higher education will meet with voter support. It makes bad economic sense. Please use the next several days and weeks to encourage our elected officials to continue the partnership of public and private support, developed over 200 years, that built our great University.
Yours at Carolina,
Douglas S. Dibbert ’70
Carolina’s 1995 Legislative Priorities
1. Salaries — Support the UNC System Board of Governors request of 5 percent for all UNC employees, an additional 2 percent for faculty and librarians and an additional 1 percent for UNC and N.C. State faculty.
2. Tuition — Provide increased tuition remission and invest tuition revenue in generating campus to benefit students who pay those costs.
3. Personnel — Review and revise state personnel policies to recognize university campus responsibilities .
4. Research — Fund research incentive programs to stimulate state’s private economy.
Capital Construction Priorities
Academic Affairs
1. Center for Dramatic Art — $8.4 million
2. Law School Addition — $10 million
3. Hill Hall Addition (Music) — $6.3 million
4. Knapp Building Addition (Institute of Government) — $4 million
5. Student Services Building — $16.2 million
Health Affairs
1. Medical Biomolecular and Neurosciences Research Building — $28.2 million
2. School of Pharmacy Annex — $9.1 million
3. Medical Allied Health and Community Programs Building — $24.7 million
