UNC efficiency: Don’t take cost-cutting too far

The past several years have been difficult financially for the University of North Carolina system.

The legislature cut more than $400 million from the system’s budget two years ago and the system had to find more than $100 million in other efficiency moves, all while enrollment has continued to grow.

Two strike us as particularly useful.

The UNC Board of Governors, the division says, should develop a policy of encouraging and directing efficiency. We agree. The board has experienced business leaders who can point the way to system-wide efficiencies that might be available.

The division also wants campus chancellors evaluated based on their success in improving efficiency. As the administrative leader of a campus, the chancellor should be directing efforts to find more efficient, less costly ways of getting the job done. Efficiency can’t be the only criterion used to decide if a chancellor has performed well, but it certainly should be one.

The division’s report raises several concerns, too.

One is that in calling for more system-wide efficiencies, the division might have the legislature overlook the need for both local flexibility and autonomy. In this regard, we also fear a diminution of individual character on each campus. Centralization works in some regards, but it can get out of hand. One frequent complaint about public schools, for example, is that local authorities do not have the flexibility they need to match local conditions.

We are also concerned about the potential academic damage that can be caused by too zealous an efficiency drive. System-wide efficiency is often just a replacement term for the elimination of departments and courses on some campuses.

Legislators must remember that the purpose of a university system is to educate a generation of North Carolinians across a wide spectrum of disciplines, not just the most popular.

With this report, both legislators and UNC leaders have new fodder for thought.