A feasibility report released this week argued against making North Carolina Wesleyan part of the University of North Carolina system.
The report was issued by a legislative study commission and was headed by James Leutze, former chancellor of UNC-Wilmington. It said the operating and construction costs needed to bring the school up to UNC standards were a major reason for the recommendation. In all, roughly $207 million would be needed in operational and capital costs to bring the institution on a par with some of the comparable institutions in the system, such as Elizabeth City State and UNC-Asheville, the report said.
The commission also said North Carolina Wesleyan, a private college affiliated with the United Methodist Church, would have to grow to 2,500 students to be a viable UNC campus over the next seven to 14 years.
Currently, there are 1,231 students enrolled at the school, but only 802 on campus. The remaining students take courses at off-campus adult education centers, which would likely have been phased out if the school were included into the UNC system.
UNC Board of Governors members may discuss the recommendations in May. The board does not have to agree with the recommendations and could vote to include the school into the system. However, UNC President Erskine Bowles has been viewed as skeptical of the plan, so that action seems highly unlikely.
Rocky Mount business and political leaders have pressed for North Carolina Wesleyan’s inclusion into the system on the grounds that it would improve educational and economic conditions in the eastern part of North Carolina. Now the leaders may focus on how to improve educational opportunities for students from the Rocky Mount area without adding a UNC institution.
“We also have concluded that the UNC system can provide the high-quality education to this number of additional students in a far more cost-effective manner,” the study says.
To do this, the commission recommended increasing enrollment at existing UNC campuses that are within 100 miles of Rocky Mount. Those include East Carolina, Elizabeth City State, Fayetteville State, North Carolina State, North Carolina Central, and UNC-Chapel Hill.
The study commission also recommended expanding the Gateway Technology Center, a collaborative center at North Carolina Wesleyan that offers on-line distance education programs from East Carolina and North Carolina State. Commission members said there should be more degree programs and classes offered at Gateway as well as face-to-face courses at the school.
Another study recommendation was to expand existing UNC services in the region.
Many of these ideas could come up as the UNC Tomorrow initiative begins its work to determine the needs of the state and what residents desire from the UNC system. The study commission suggested a forum to be held in Rocky Mount within the confines of the UNC Tomorrow project.
“The appropriate role of NCWC should certainly be a factor in those discussion,” the report says. “We are confident that additional strategies for meeting the long-term educational and economic development needs of the state – as well as the region – will emerge from that important initiative.”
Even though the feasibility study appears to have ended the idea of UNC-Rocky Mount as far as the Board of Governors is concerned, supporters have not given up so easily. UNC-Rocky Mount Ad Hoc Committee Chairman Tom Betts told the Rocky Mount Telegram that he didn’t feel supporters were given a fair chance.
“It’s far from over,” Betts told the paper Wednesday.
A meeting is scheduled Tuesday between Bowles, legislators, and the ad hoc committee to discuss the report’s findings.