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Hi all! I hope everyone survived the snow-pocalypse last weekend.

As a University of Wisconsin grad who trekked to class in blizzards, my capacity to understand the scramble ahead of last week’s flurries is admittedly low. Still, if you had problems (or fun!) in the snow on your campus, drop me a line and further my Southern snow-storm education.

Back in the news: Duke University administrators went on offense at a recent student government meeting against the Duke Respect Durham campaign, which is calling on the university to voluntarily pay the city $50 million each year, per the Duke Chronicle. The Assembly and INDY Week reported on the push in November.

This week in The Quad: I took a look at the number of H-1B visa applications from North Carolina colleges and universities as debates swirl around the program. Plus, we highlight recent high-profile hires (and departures) at colleges across the state, and Matt reveals why campuses love bricks.

—Erin Gretzinger

To Be or Not to H-1B?

Over the holidays, you might have seen the online squabble between Elon Musk and other MAGA figures surrounding the H-1B visa program, which permits U.S. employers to hire foreign workers in specialized occupations who have obtained a bachelor’s degree or higher.

The discourse has some higher ed observers worried about the future of the program, POLITICO reported earlier this week. In his first term, President Donald Trump attempted to increase the minimum wage for H-1B workers, but colleges and others pushed back on the proposal. Musk recently defended the program but proposed increasing the minimum wage to make it “materially more expensive to hire from overseas than domestically.”

North Carolina’s colleges and universities make up a fraction of the total approved H-1B applications in the state, according to data from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. In fiscal year 2024, North Carolina colleges, universities, and their health systems accounted for just under 700 approved applications for H-1B visas, out of 10,279 total by employers in the state. Among the top 100 employers in the state filing H-1B visa applications, 10 higher ed institutions or their health systems made the list last year.

Duke University ranks fifth in the state overall with more than 200 approved applicants. North Carolina State University is ranked 9th and the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill is ranked 12th, with 136 and 104 approved applications, respectively. Other UNC System schools like East Carolina University, Appalachian State University, and the University of North Carolina-Charlotte had about 20 approved applicants each.

Private companies account for many more of the approved applications, with IBM Corp. ranking No. 1 in the state with more than 2,900 approved applicants (the company is also ranked 10th in the nation for approved H-1B applications). Other top North Carolina-based employers on the list included Bank of America, Truist Bank, and Lowes Companies, whose H-1B approved applications combined total more than 900.

N.C. State spokesperson Mick Kulikowski said H-1B is “critical to maintaining research and staffing teaching positions at the university,” adding that the visa is particularly important for STEM disciplines in which the university may need to recruit at a higher rate.

UNC-CH spokesperson Gabriella Neyman said the school “values our researchers and the knowledge they bring to this University through the H-1B program.” Neyman added that the university will monitor immigration changes and communicate them promptly to affected international students and scholars. 

Wake Forest spokesperson Kimberly McGrath said the school will “continue to use all legal pathways to hire exceptional candidates from around the world” and closely monitor any federal regulation changes.

UNC-Wilmington said in a statement that the H-1B program is “a small but important tool” in meeting hiring needs, particularly for faculty. The university added that “these highly qualified educators help UNCW prepare students to succeed in a global economy.”

–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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Class Introductions

Once a month, we will feature academic and administrative job moves at North Carolina colleges and universities. Send your announcements to highered@theassemblync.com.

Brick House

In this installment of Quad on Quads, the Totally Real Series in which we investigate actual quads: What’s up with all the brick in university architecture? Aren’t those beautiful walkways expensive tripping hazards?

Kind of! But it turns out the thing that makes it easy to stumble over a loose brick—the fact that they’re easy to move—is also one of their benefits. If you think campus construction is annoying now, just imagine if you had to cut up and re-pour concrete every time a water pipe leaked, especially on large campuses that maintain their own utilities.

“With brick work, all you have to do is pull it up, make your repair, put your base down, and put your brick back down,” said Todd Kasprowicz, who supervises N.C. State’s four-person brick crew.

Kasprowicz estimates that his team lays 10,000 bricks per year, including replacing about 1,000 bricks stolen as mementos annually. But they only have to buy half that number: The rest are re-used from a collection of 100,000 bricks pulled up during previous campus construction projects.

The benefits of brick aren’t just budgetary, either. “The red brick paths knit the campus together,” said Tom Skolnicki. “They make people understand when they’re on campus and when they’re not.”

As N.C. State’s university landscape architect, Skolnicki is charged with planning not just the long-term future of those paths, but also the iconic Brickyard at the heart of campus. The shared brick aesthetic creates continuity and a sense of community—especially since N.C. State lacks the more prescriptive architectural style of other schools.

You can see the impact in the multiple Google reviews complaining about the Brickyard being closed for the construction of the new Woodson Hall. As part of the project, all 588,060 bricks will be re-leveled to ensure ADA compliance. Kasprowicz’s crew won’t do the work though. He estimates it would take a four-person team three years.

–Matt Hartman

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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.