CHAPEL HILL (April 7, 2022) – A certain two-time graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill says it’s time to take another look at how the University is governed.
“This hallowed place was built and nurtured for decades by public servants who knew great universities make great states,” Gov. Roy Cooper said March 23 as one of six recipients of the William Richardson Davie Award at UNC-Chapel Hill.
“This university is a priceless gem. Our crown jewel. A treasure that gives back many times over to our students, alumni, businesses, health care, arts, sciences and so much more,” Cooper said.
“This success has been spurred by renowned faculty, brilliant researchers and autonomous university administrations that have followed the broad mission laid out by appointed leaders.”
State legislators stripped the governor of his ability to appoint some members of campus Boards of Trustees in 2016, shortly before Cooper took office.
After years of complaints since then about a lack of diversity on the UNC System Board of Governors and campus boards1 – gender, racial, geographic and partisan diversity2 – Cooper turned in his remarks at the Davie Awards dinner to how the University is governed.
“Tonight I would ask you to open your minds and your hearts about how we preserve the undisputed excellence of this university – how to adjust a university leadership system to ensure diversity of race, geography, gender and political thought and to ensure that system can thrive during partisan political storms, whichever way they may be blowing,” he said.
“The University of North Carolina is exceptional. Our state is the envy of the nation for what we have built here. One of the reasons is that this University has been a reflection of who we are as North Carolinians,” he said, listing rural/urban, racial, gender and partisan diversity among those factors.
“But we are all North Carolinians, and we all love our University, truly the University of the people. And for our state’s future, we must protect it fiercely and govern it lightly and wisely.”
THE WILLIAM RICHARDSON DAVIE AWARD, established in 1984, was named for the Revolutionary War hero who won passage of a 1789 bill in the General Assembly to charter the University of North Carolina. The award recognizes extraordinary service to the University or society.
Other recipients of the 2021 Davie Award are:
- NC House Speaker Tim Moore of Cleveland County. Moore is in his fourth term as Speaker, making him the longest serving Republican House Speaker in NC history. He has also served on the UNC Board of Governors and the UNC-Chapel Hill General Alumni Association’s Board of Directors.
- Roy and Wanda Williams, who met in their 9th-grade algebra class in Asheville. (“I’m for sure not the most famous Roy in the room,” quipped Cooper.) Roy Williams, who led Kansas and UNC to five Final Four men’s basketball appearances, is a member of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. He led Carolina to three NCAA championships, three ACC Tournament titles and nine regular-season ACC championships. Wanda Williams, a former teacher, oversees the family’s considerable philanthropic endeavors.
- Robyn Shernita Hadley, a first-generation college student who grew up in Graham, attended UNC-Chapel Hill as a Morehead-Cain Scholar and spent two years on the Tar Heels’ women’s basketball team. After graduating with a degree in public policy analysis, she went on to study political science as a Rhodes Scholar and was the first Black woman from North Carolina to receive a Rhodes scholarship. She is now vice president and chief student affairs officer at the University of Virginia.
- Jean Almand Kitchin graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill with a bachelor’s degree in education and taught secondary English in three school systems. She then went to work with Almand’s Drug Stores and took over as president and CEO in 1998 until she sold Almand’s in 2014. She has hosted and produced television shows for NBC and ABC affiliates, as well as PBS, dating back 30 years. At Carolina, Kitchin has served on the Board of Trustees as both vice chair and secretary, the General Alumni Association Board of Directors as chair and the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center Board of Visitors as chair.3
- Phillip L. Clay, who grew up in Wilmington, graduated from Carolina in 1968, served in Vietnam and then earned a doctorate in city planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is widely known for his work in housing policy and community development. He went on to serve as chancellor of MIT and a member of the UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Trustees from 2007-15.
- Joan Huntley, who first earned a master’s degree in biostatistics, then a doctorate in epidemiology from what is now the Gillings School of Global Public Health. Huntley taught and conducted research at the school, and she supported many of Carolina’s cultural offerings In 2004 she established a visiting professorship in the School of Medicine in memory of her husband, Robert Ross Huntley, MD. Huntley died in 2019 at age 88.
- David E. Pardue Jr. graduated from Carolina in 1969 and is the chairman of The Dacourt Group Inc., a real-estate investment company. Pardue was a trustee at UNC-Chapel Hill from 1995-2003. He as also served as director of UNC Chapel Hill Foundation and a director of UNC-Chapel Hill Real Estate Holdings since 2012.
- Steve and Debbie Vetter are Carolina graduates from 1978 who committed $20 million to establish the Steve and Debbie Vetter Military Families Scholars to honor their fathers, both Marine Corps veterans with more than 20 years of service. The program provides scholarships for Carolina Covenant students from military families. Steve Vetter is chair of the Executive Committee of the Rams Club and serves on the Board of Advisors for Kenan-Flagler Business School. He is the current chair of the board of Ennis-Flint and an operating partner at CenterOak Partners, a private-equity firm in Dallas, TX. Debbie Vetter serves as a member of the Chancellor’s Philanthropic Council after a career managing portions of the Vetters’ real-estate portfolio.4
1 https://www.wral.com/editorial-fixing-a-lack-of-diversity-by-eliminating-diversity/20123251/.
2 https://hew.aveltsagency.com/2020/02/bissette-perfect-board-of-governors/.
3 https://www.unc.edu/posts/2021/11/04/unc-chapel-hill-trustees-honor-six-with-prestigious-davie-awards/.
4 https://uncnews.unc.edu/2020/11/13/unc-chapel-hill-trustees-honor-four-with-prestigious-davie-awards/.
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