Dive Brief:
- University of North Carolina-Greensboro Chancellor Linda Brady will step down on July 31, 2015, after seven years in the position.
- Brady says the timing of her announcement has nothing to do with the controversy surrounding her handling of personnel changes in the university’s public relations office, the News & Record reported.
- Since Brady appointed a new head in that office on April 1, two employees have quit in protest of its leadership and six have been fired, including three who were charged with 22 felony counts.
Dive Insight:
Faculty members have started a petition calling for prosecutors to drop the charges against the three former employees, who were arrested for allegedly working second jobs while on the university’s clock. The chairwoman of the faculty senate says Brady’s replacement will have to work hard to restore confidence after key decisions were made without involving faculty members and other constituents. State funding cuts and the poor economy forced the university to cut classes and staff after enrollment peaked at almost 18,500 students in 2010. Faculty members were upset by a merger of two schools and the cutting of 41 academic programs; community residents were upset by a campus expansion that tore down several homes for room to build a dorm complex and a student center.