The University of North Carolina today hired Thomas W. Ross, president of Davidson College since 2007, as the 17-campus system’s next president. Although it’s a big leap from a small liberal-arts college to a top public-university system, the new leader is a veteran of North Carolina politics. A graduate of the Chapel Hill campus’s law school, Mr. Ross, who is 60, served for 17 years as a judge on the state’s Supreme Court. He is a native of Greensboro, like Erskine B. Bowles, the system’s current president, who will step down in December. Mr. Bowles, a White House chief of staff in the Clinton administration, is co-chair of President Obama’s National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. The university, which has long been one the nation’s best-financed public systems, has faced recent state budget cuts.
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Not as big a leap as one might facially suppose, since the Davidson Fuzz is apparently part of the State Police System.
Was there a national search for this position, or was the qualifications of Ross simply revealed through divine intervention?
Arrg! See previous–I meant to write: WERE “the qualifications of Ross simply revealed through divine intervention.” Yeah, that’s what I meant.
Oh please, people. The issue before the courts has to do with whether campus police have jurisdiction off-campus. The religious affiliation of the institution, if any, is completely tangential, and I am dismayed that coverage of this case has focused on this irrelevant point. As for Ross’ selection as the next U. N. C. system president – or, for that matter, as Davidson’s president a few years back – both institutions sought the best candidate for their top jobs, and both seem to believe that Ross is that candidate. He’s certainly done a fine job at Davidson, and there is no reason to believe he’ll do less for the U. N. C. system.
A search firm can only provide a list of highly qualified candidates who are willing to accept the job. They do not decide who is actually hired.
No, 6, you might want to save your dramatic “Oh please”es until you have considered that what may or not be relevant to you may be relevant under the law in a particular case. You might want to read the decision of the NC Appeals court in State of North Carolina v Yencer. Here it is http://www.aoc.state.nc.us/www/public/coa/opinions/2010/pdf/090001-1.pdfIn the original appeal, the defendant made the religious affiliation of davidson an issue, and there is precedent for so doing.
Sorry, the above was addressed to No 4, et al.