BOG must OK reduction in administrator benefits

By Gregory Childress

gchildress@heraldsun.com; 918-1046

Chapel Hill -- A committee of the UNC Board of Governors has approved sweeping changes in the UNC system's so-called "retreats rights" policy that allows chancellors and the UNC president to collect full pay while taking time off to prepare for a return to a faculty position.

Under the proposed policy, instead of a one-year leave and full pay, chancellors and presidents with five years or more of service will be granted six months' leave and receive a faculty salary commensurate with salaries of faculty members of comparable rank and experience in comparable positions.

A chancellor could receive up to six additional months of leave if the system president recommends it and it is approved the Board of Governors. Documentation must be provided to show why the additional six months is warranted.

The rule changes must be approved by the full board, which doesn't meet again until January.

The committee approval did not come without discussion about whether the retreating chancellor is required to return to work at the end of the leave. At least one board member worried that a chancellor would be granted leave, then not return to the classroom.

UNC system President Erskine Bowles said that's a valid concern.

"If they want to retool, I want them to retool to come back to the university," Bowles said.

UNC officials have said that the discussion about reducing the costs of "retreats rights" is an important one to have in the face of a global financial crisis that has forced the UNC system to do some serious belt-tightening.