A member of the UNC Board of Governors is calling for the ousting of the board鈥檚 chairman, Harry Smith, saying his continued leadership will further damage the state鈥檚 public university system.
Board member and Raleigh attorney Steve Long alleges Smith is the reason behind East Carolina University Chancellor Cecil Staton鈥檚 upcoming departure, announced Monday, and former UNC System President Margaret Spellings鈥檚 departure earlier this year.
Long, like Smith, is a Republican and was voted onto the Board of Governors by the State Senate in 2017.
鈥淸Smith] does not have a full-time job,鈥� Long told 吉彩网网站 on Tuesday. 鈥淗e treats the UNC system as his full-time job, and he supplanted [Spellings] in managing the university [system]. He would call her five times a day, text or email 20 times a day. I mean, this is just not what a president of an organization wants from their board chair. And she had had it, and just went back to Texas.鈥�
Smith did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday. Spellings announced her departure last October, less than four months after Smith was sworn in as chairman.
鈥淲e lost one of our greatest university administrators,鈥� Long said. 鈥淪he was extremely talented and was doing a very good job. But when Harry became chairman, it became untenable for her to stay.鈥�
About Staton鈥檚 departure, Long said Smith became 鈥渙bsessed鈥� with undermining the ECU chancellor after he and the college鈥檚 trustees rejected a business deal in 2016 involving Smith鈥檚 purchase of a university apartment complex.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think the public appreciates just how relentless Harry Smith has been,鈥� said Long. 鈥淢argaret Spellings told me, virtually every conversation she鈥檚 had with Harry ended up with some discussion of ECU and his criticism of the leadership. And there are numerous Board of Governors members and Board of Trustees members who鈥檝e had the same experience.鈥�
Staton said at a news conference on Monday that he did not initiate his own departure. But the UNC system鈥檚 general counsel maintains that his termination as chancellor is a 鈥渞esignation.鈥�
According to Long, UNC System President Bill Roper asked Staton to step down. Long said in a public letter released on Monday that it was 鈥渁n effort to end the long-running campaign of false accusations and irrational attacks by Harry Smith.鈥�
But Long told 吉彩网网站 on Tuesday that he didn't think that effort would work.
鈥淸Smith will] find somebody else to go after, I鈥檓 sure,鈥� he said.
The Board of Governors as a whole has faced criticism in the past year, including from former board members and other higher education leaders, for alleged bad governance and for being too political. Smith has been accused of mismanagement in his role as chairman, especially with regards to East Carolina University.
The leader of that college's Board of Trustees, Kieran Shanahan, told the Greenville Daily Reflector last week, "You have a very hyperactive chairman on the Board of Governors that鈥檚 trying to micromanage a university."
Removing Smith as chairman would require a vote by two-thirds of the Board of Governors. Long said he doesn鈥檛 think the votes are there.
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 very frustrating that people look at what he has done and just sit back and accept it,鈥� he said. 鈥淭here have always been concerns. When [Smith] was elected, it was a big question whether President Spellings could put up with that. And obviously that didn鈥檛 happen. And until the rest of the Board of Governors decides to make a change, it鈥檚 going to continue.鈥�
