Students, staff and faculty at MU are of course well aware that your concerns are shared on many campuses across the country. You should also know that what you do and how you manage your efforts is being studied by others, and will be part of a historical legacy this generation will leave to its successors. Here in North Carolina, we have had many problems that overlap, and many that are different from those you are addressing, but all of them share a common denominator: making higher education better.

I trust you will accept these words of advice in the same spirit of modesty that I offer them. (Perhaps immodestly, herewith, some bona fides: I have been at the forefront of faculty governance in what will be recorded as the most significant period of difficulty for the University of North Carolina system since its creation in 1971, and one of my areas of research is the history and philosophy of American higher education.)

Here is what I have learned about changing our institutions:

Universities can change, and they can be — and have been — on the leading edge of good change in this country. The challenge for students, staff, and faculty concerned about racism, or any kind of illegitimate discrimination — and indeed it is true for anyone who wants to change an institution for the better — is to use your powers to their best effect. The formula for success is quite simple — as is the recipe for diminished results if not failure.

First, good institutions make good leaders great. Be very smart about identifying your real and potential allies in university leadership, and cultivate those relationships. If you have administrators or governing authorities who are tone-deaf and uneducable, figure out how to push them out without simultaneously undermining the good things your campus does. Undiscriminating movements for change often destroy the very things they should strive to preserve. You want to build on the good, not on a ruin.

Second, and most importantly — and this is something that has been too often forgotten over the 60 years of the post-War “corporate” model of American higher education — do not abdicate your authority, or neglect your own expertise! “Demanding” that others make changes that you want is abdication, not responsible engagement. Great leaders have great advisers and counselors. Make yourself a valued and trusted partner in the process of change. Do your due diligence, as you expect others to do theirs. Help your leaders figure out how to move your institution forward. Don’t simply wait for them to respond — help them find the right path.

Although this is a simple formula, the effort it requires is demanding, and it can be difficult. Be a good counselor, and a good listener. Don’t give up if you can’t get everything at once. Keep your perspective, and think of your legacy: it is no triumph if your successors must rebuild what you inherited, and it is no failure if you leave them an example to emulate, and the chance to make the good you did even better.

Stephen Leonard
Chair, University of North Carolina System Faculty Assembly
sleonard@email.unc.edu