"In March, the UNC Board of Trustees postponed a vote to grant tenure to 33 faculty members. At that meeting, held March 20, the board moved into closed session, with Clemens present, apparently to discuss individual tenure cases. Instead, trustees launched into a debate over the value of tenure, with some voicing their philosophical opposition to the practice and others arguing that they should delay such approvals for financial reasons, according to the lawsuit. The board eventually approved tenure for all 33 candidates in June via an email vote."
"Following that briefing, the Board of Trustees allegedly communicated through Signal, a private messaging application that includes a feature to automatically delete messages after they are read, to call for a vote of no confidence in Clemens. UNC leadership asked Clemens to step down shortly thereafter, according to the lawsuit. But even if Clemens's suit is successful and the violations are proven to be true, the board will likely face few repercussions given past precedent."
A former UNC provost resigned and filed a lawsuit alleging the Board of Trustees systematically violated open records and open meetings laws and retaliated against him. The board postponed a March vote on tenure for 33 faculty, moved into closed session, and shifted from discussing individual cases to debating tenure's institutional value and financial implications. The board later approved the tenure cases via an email vote in June. The suit alleges Clemens shared meeting details, trustees used Signal to prompt a vote of no confidence, UNC leadership then asked Clemens to step down, and past precedent suggests limited consequences for the board.
Read at Inside Higher Ed | Higher Education News, Events and Jobs
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