North Carolina State University announced a return to in-person classes and on-campus living for the spring semester yesterday. The school closed in late August after a rise in COVID-19 cases. School reopenings led to spikes in cases across the country, according to a new study co-authored by two North Carolina-based professors — as many as 3,000 cases per day.
Meanwhile, a contentious decision passed through the University of North Carolina Board of Governors last week to allow the UNC System president a bigger role in filling open chancellor positions. The UNC System president can now nominate two candidates for consideration by a university’s Board of Trustees — and in addition to their other choices, the Board of Trustees must return at least one of those candidates as a finalist for approval by the president. Opponents of the new policy said that the decision reduces the competitiveness of the chancellor search.
Last week’s Board of Governors meeting also contained an update about overall enrollment: The UNC System saw a 1% increase in enrollment from last year, driven largely by graduate programs. Host Anita Rao talks with WUNC’s education reporter Liz Schlemmer about the new chancellor search policy, enrollment and updates about the system’s finances and COVID-19 cases.
