Lee Roberts Knows He Needs to Say More About That

Since he became chancellor of UNC-Chapel Hill two years ago, people who work closely with Lee Roberts have praised his commitment to listening to those around him.

“I don’t know that I’ve ever met anyone quite so eager to listen while so many people tell him he’s wrong on any given subject,” UNC System President Peter Hans said at Roberts’ installation ceremony. Former Gov. Pat McCrory, for whom Roberts served as state budget director, has said Roberts is “one of the best listeners” he knows. Beth Moracco, who regularly meets with Roberts in her role as UNC-Chapel Hill’s faculty chair, has described the chancellor as “accessible” and generally willing to hear the concerns of professors.

But now, in his third year on the job and in academia, Roberts may need to start talking.

This academic year alone, Roberts has faced pushback against removing a pro-Palestinian mural from a campus building, shuttering the university’s international studies centers, and suggesting the men’s basketball team might move from its home of 40 years to a site off campus. After all of those incidents, Roberts or other senior officials gave a common explanation: They could have communicated better.

After his administration removed the mural last August, Roberts told reporters: “I don’t think we did a particularly good job of communicating, of involving all stakeholders. And we’re sorry for that.” After the university announced it planned to close its six area studies centers, he told faculty at a January meeting: “The whole process obviously left a lot to be desired in all kinds of ways.”

In February, Athletic Director Bubba Cunningham said the university was rethinking its timeline for relocating or repairing the Dean E. Smith Center because they “dropped the ball” on communicating with fans about the plans.

The pattern hasn’t gone unnoticed—even by Roberts.

“Every time in this role so far …  where I feel as though I could have done something better, that thing that I could have done better, almost invariably, has been: I could have done a better job seeking more stakeholder input,” he told reporters after a Board of Trustees meeting last week.

Moracco told The Assembly that it’s “refreshing” for campus leaders to acknowledge when they fall short on communication and that she appreciates Roberts’ pledges to improve.

“It happens,” Moracco said. “But if it continues to happen, then it just gets frustrating.”

Recently, Roberts has shown a willingness to go back to the drawing board.

Following outcry from faculty, he announced in February that he would “scrap” a controversial policy that would have allowed administrators to secretly record professors. “The whole idea was to create clarity and reassurance. That policy clearly has not achieved that aim,” he said of the about-face at a Faculty Council meeting. The announcement drew applause.

“I think what that shows is just a little bit of frank, direct communication and acknowledgement goes a long way,” Moracco said.

Roberts says part of the disconnect stems from his professional background, which he spent in the private sector, save for his stint as the state’s budget director. He previously served on the UNC System Board of Governors, resigning from that board to become interim chancellor in 2024.

“In order to make durable decisions and and make sure that the community feels heard, you have to spend more time than might have been my natural instinct, coming from outside higher education, hearing from as many people as possible, meeting with as many people as possible, making sure that we’re doing the best job that we can on communication,” Roberts said.

Holden Thorp, who served as UNC-CH chancellor from 2008 to 2013, came up through the ranks of academia and had served as dean of the university’s largest college before becoming chancellor. He said he had a better understanding of the various stakeholders he had to communicate with because of that experience.

“It’s absolutely true that if you’re in a corporate environment, where a corporate team gets together and makes a decision and then sends out a memo, then you’re not really prepared for the amount of precinct work that has to be done when you’re running a university,” Thorp said.

Moracco said Roberts’ commitment to listening to his many constituencies at the university is an important first step to improvement, “but it has to translate into incorporating that information into the decision and into the communication.” And while she recognizes that it will be rare for Roberts’ decisions to please everyone, Moracco said she hopes that new Provost Magnus Egerstedt—who told the Board of Trustees last week that he wants to be a “champion” for professors and researchers—will be a strong voice for the “academic mission of the university” in Roberts’ inner circle. 

Thorp agreed, saying he believes Egerstedt can be an important “intermediary” between Roberts and the faculty.

“I don’t think Lee has tried to deceive anybody. I just think that he hasn’t had the game of telephone set up perfectly yet,” Thorp said. “And now that he’s got his full team, I’m hopeful that will happen.”

Egerstedt told The Assembly he wants to create an “actionable trust process” between himself and faculty, which he believes will alleviate some of the “tension” experienced this year when the administration made decisions that were within its purview but had ramifications for professors. But Egerstedt said he thinks Roberts is “doing a really good job at communicating,” noting that the chancellor regularly meets with stakeholders including faculty, students, and board members.

“I’ve been at many institutions, and the degree to which he’s making himself available is actually quite remarkable,” said Egerstedt, who started as provost last month after previous roles at the University of California, Irvine, and Georgia Tech. “Sure, everyone can always do better, but I think we’re pretty good to start with.”

Roberts says he welcomes the feedback he is receiving.

“We have a lot of constituencies here at Carolina, and a lot of interest in what we do,” he told reporters last week. “And that’s a strength. It shows that what we do here matters.”