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Outside the Raleigh Convention Center on Tuesday, Brian Merritt nodded to many passersby who made their way inside. Both Merritt, the North Carolina Community College System’s senior vice president and chief academic officer, and the stream of people entering were there for the biennial NCCCS conference—which is, as he put it, a big ole “family reunion.”

One overarching theme of the three-day conference concerned a key issue that is bound to impact the whole family: the marriage of workforce development and post-secondary education in the community college system.

“We’ve always focused on economic mobility, and we are social and economic drivers,” Merritt said in an interview on the conference’s final day. “But it’s time for us to really make sure that we’re continuously evolving as the community evolves, as students’ needs evolve, as the workforce needs evolve.”

Last summer, Jeff Cox took the helm as president of NCCCS, and the system’s state board made scaling up capacity for workforce development one of his major first-year goals. Those goals were complemented by a new vision statement that the board approved in the spring, which said its colleges would seek to set the “national standard for innovation in higher education and workforce development.”

Even a novel branding tagline—“Extraordinary 58” in place of the long-standing “Great 58”—symbolizes the system’s efforts to innovate.

Perhaps the biggest embodiment of the system’s evolving approach is Propel NC, a new funding formula that the system unanimously approved earlier this year. While community colleges have historically been pushed by funding incentives toward two-year degree programs, Propel NC’s proposed changes would encourage colleges to launch more short-term, career-focused credential programs based on student and workforce demands.

The plan is in a “holding pattern” until it receives full funding from the legislature, Merritt said. (Getting enrollment growth increases funded by the legislature, he added, is the system’s top priority.)

It’s all a part of a grander vision, Merritt said: “We’re trying to empower our colleges to take ownership over the future of higher ed.”

What are your hopes for the future of the state’s community college system? I’m gearing up for a story on that very subject and would love to hear your thoughts at erin@theassemblync.com.

–Erin Gretzinger

Thanks for reading The Quad, a higher education newsletter written by The Assembly’s Matt Hartman and Erin Gretzinger. Reach us with tips or ideas at highered@theassemblync.com.

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Tar Heel Technocrats

A few weeks ago, former UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor Holden Thorp published a Chronicle of Higher Education essay arguing that the industry has entered a “post-presidential era.” Chancellors and presidents aren’t setting the direction of universities anymore, he argued. Donors, trustees, and politicians are. Leaders on campuses are left with the technocratic work of implementation.

Unsurprisingly, the essay caught our eye. The Quad called Thorp earlier this week to get his take on how this is playing out in North Carolina, especially with the high-profile appointments of Lee Roberts and Darrell Allison—two chancellors who lacked traditional academic backgrounds before joining the UNC System Board of Governors.

“Carolina is, thankfully, academically in the same league as Michigan and Berkeley,” he told me, “but politically, it’s much more similar to South Carolina or Georgia.”

Thorp is an academic through and through, but as much as he objects to this change, he believes political realities have to be accepted. 

“Unfortunately, I think it’s very rational” for UNC System President Peter Hans to use an administrative perspective when choosing leaders, rather than purely an academic one, Thorp said. “It pains me, but I think that he’s explaining transparently—and I’ve applauded him for it—the situation.”

“My view is that Lee Roberts, based on the time I’ve spent talking to him, doesn’t want to tear down the university, and I think he wants to bring the campus together,” Thorp added. “And he has my support as long as he’s trying to do that.”

(Not everyone on campus is giving Roberts the benefit of the doubt, however.)

–Matt Hartman

Legislation We’re Watching

College Thriving Act: U.S. Rep. Valerie Foushee, a North Carolina Democrat, recently introduced a bill to provide $1 million in grants to support colleges in offering skills-for-success courses. Historically Black colleges and universities would be prioritized. The bill is currently with the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.

FAFSA Deadline Act: After the recent mayhem with FAFSA, a bipartisan congressional group is moving to require that the application be available by October 1 each year. The current law only asks the secretary of education to meet that deadline “to the maximum extent practicable.” The measure is out of committee and awaiting a vote in the House of Representatives.

Students Working for Communities Act: Rep. Jahana Hayes, a Democrat from Connecticut, is attempting to increase the amount of federal work study funding available for community service positions. It’s also with the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.

–Matt Hartman

Do Digital IDs Matter? It’s TBD.

Another week, another round of legal whiplash for students at UNC-Chapel Hill hoping to vote in the 2024 election.

Last month, a lawsuit from the state Republican Party and the Republican National Committee sought to block the use of UNC-Chapel Hill digital IDs at the polls. A judge in Wake County initially denied the request, but a week later, the state Court of Appeals overturned the lower court decision, leaving the digital IDs again in limbo.

That put the ball back in the State Board of Elections’ court to appeal or accept the decision. In a statement to The Assembly, a spokesperson said they were taking the latter route. The board decided not to appeal the decision because “people are already voting, and we need certainty on the rules for voters and poll workers,” the spokesperson wrote.

UNC-CH students have other options to vote. Physical student and employee ID cards are valid, alongside other forms of acceptable IDs. The NCSBE spokesperson said that any student who registers to vote can get a free photo ID at their county board of elections office. And for any voters who can’t show an ID or a photocopy of one at the polls, there is a photo ID exception form that allows voters to fill out a provisional ballot and explain why they couldn’t show an ID.

“We hope the court-ordered prohibition on the use of mobile cards does not unnecessarily deter any eligible voter from making their voice heard in this election,” the NCSBE spokesperson wrote.

Naturally, we still have questions about how much the digital ID debate at UNC-CH will impact students at the polls: Do students know about the court rulings? Did they plan to use a digital ID in the first place? Do they have a plan to vote?

We posed some of those questions to UNC-CH, which told us that the university emailed updated voting resources to students late last month, including information about the digital ID litigation. Still, a university spokesperson said, “It is difficult to determine how many students may have a digital ID but no physical ID.”

Do you think the digital ID rulings will affect student voting? Tell us your vote—yay or nay—at highered@theassemblync.com, or send us other election-related stories from your campus.

–Erin Gretzinger

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The Assembly is a digital magazine covering power and place in North Carolina. Sent this by a friend? Subscribe to our newsletter here.

Matt Hartman is a higher education reporter for The Assembly and co-anchor of our weekly higher education newsletter, The Quad. He was previously a longtime freelance journalist and spent nearly a decade working in higher ed communications before joining The Assembly in 2024.

Erin Gretzinger is a former higher education reporter at The Assembly and co-anchor of our weekly higher education newsletter, The Quad. She was previously a reporting fellow at The Chronicle of Higher Education and is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin at Madison.