The UNC Board of Governors plans to take up the issue of paid leaves for administrators at its meetings Thursday and Friday, addressing concerns that the often six-figure payments to campus officials have gotten out of hand.

The leaves are intended to help administrators prepare for a return to teaching, but The News & Observer reported in August that paid leaves had been given to campus administrators who then retired, got jobs elsewhere or were shown the door. Some leave deals also violated UNC system policies.

Here's more from staff writer Eric Ferreri's Campus Notes blog. 

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The UNC system and the U.S. Army Special Operations Command are partnering to share expertise.

The two agencies will announce their partnership Thursday morning during UNC system Board of Governors meetings. UNC officials are billing the relationship as a "collaborative partnership" allowing the military and academic communities to share expertise and interest in national security.

Army Special Operations is headquartered at Ft. Bragg near Fayetteville. It is charged with the full range of special operations from unconventional warfare to civil-military operations, according to a UNC news release.

The working agreement between the two agencies will encourage: the exchange of medical, culture, language and management negotiation training instructors; business school suppor for an Army course; degree opportunities for soldiers and their spouses and families; a relationship with UNC-sponsored Fulbright Scholars, and other initiatives.

For more on this new partnership, click on the memo attached to this blog post.

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Some thoughts from UNC Chapel Hill's University Day celebration:

Holden Thorp can do no wrong, apparently.

Erskine Bowles, who as the UNC system's president is Thorp's boss, told a packed house at Memorial Hall Monday that he was, shall we say, quite pleased with himself for naming Thorp to the UNC-CH chancellorship last year.

"Holden Thorp is doing a phenomenal job," Bowles told the crowd. "He is, without a doubt, the single best decision I've made in my life."

Both Thorp and Gov. Beverly Perdue - who gave Monday's featured speech - pointed out to Bowles that perhaps he'd like to temper his enthusiasm just a smidge so as not to enrage his wife, Crandall Close Bowles.

For three decades, James Holshouser has sat on the UNC system's Board of Governors, listening as others spoke.

His silence is so customary, in fact, that at the rare moment when the former governor does speak on an issue, the room quickly falls silent.

Hannah Gage, the board's current chair, likens Holshouser to the character in the old E.F. Hutton commercials. When he talks, people listen.

"He never preaches, never lectures, and he always illuminates our path," Gage said Friday. "He's the rare individual who only talks when he has something important to say."

Holshouser was the center of a quick celebration Friday by the UNC system board, feted both for his 75th birthday the day before and to honor his 30 years of board service. He was presented with a cake with 30 candles, and his fellow board members serenaded him with a warbly version of "Happy Birthday" that made clear that none should quit their day jobs.

Holshouser became governor in 1973, narrowly defeating Hargrove "Skipper" Bowles. These days, Holshouser sits on the board whose top staff member is UNC system President Erskine Bowles, the son of the man he defeated in that gubernatorial race.

Holshouser served one term as governor and not long after became a member of the UNC board, which sets policy for all public universities.

"If you keep your mouth shut most of the time, people will think you're smarter than you are," he quipped. "I throw that out as a piece of advice for some members of this board."

A UNC Chapel Hill professor is making the case for Erskine Bowles.

Walter C. Farrell, Jr., a social work professor at UNC-CH, writes in the Fayetteville Observer this  weekend that Bowles, the UNC system president, has deftly handled all manner of challenge during his tenure as the head of the public university system.

Farrell, who is researching higher education leadership, writes that Bowles has dealt well with a long series of challenges during his time in the university's top job. From a series of financial and leadership problems at N.C. A & T University, to the discovery of an unsanctioned campus run by N.C. Central University, to the still-ongoing saga related to N.C. State's former chancellor, James Oblinger, and his role in the hiring of former First Lady Mike Easley - Bowles has had his hands full.

And Farrell says he's done a good job.

He writes in part:

The UNC system has been fortunate to have effective leaders during critical stages of its development: William Friday at its founding, during the volatile phase of campus desegregation, and the merger of historically black public colleges into the UNC structure; and Erskine Bowles in this era of economic uncertainty and management malfunction on UNC campuses. Both were and are the right leaders for their times.

Here's the entire column.

This morning, UNC system President Erskine Bowles is speaking about the 900 or so administrative jobs being cut from the UNC system budget.

Stay tuned for details. But here's what Bowles just told members of the UNC system's Board of Governors at the start of two days of meetings.

Like every other organization in America, without exception, this organization has gone through some pretty tough times in the last 18 months. We've let a lot of folks go. We've abolished over 900 administrative positions. A year ago, well over 600 were filled. Anyone in this room who has ever fired anybody or instituted a RIF (reduction in force) knows that is really painful. It's really tough on the people who lose their jobs, but I'm here to tell you it's not easy on the people instituting it.

These jobs aren't just cuts. They're real people who were in them and real families who were depending on them. They were folks who were working hard at this university trying to do their part to provide the students the education they need. A lot of them still don't have jobs. I get emails from a lot of them and they're suffering a lot. So while we may get some kudos for doing the right thing in tough times, I'm telling you it's not without some pain.

We knew where to cut. We have cut our administrative costs on a permanent basis by over 18 percent. When you add the one-time administrative cut, we've cut it by over 22 percent. As I said, that was over 900 jobs that were abolished. At the same time, we were able to protect the academic core and on a permanent basis, we have only cut the academic core by less than 1 percent. When you add in the one-time cuts, it's about 5.2 percent. I think we've done this and done it smart.

These administrative cuts - they weren't just from anywhere. Because we had worked so hard to develop a roadmap. That's what we've been working on. We were able to make these administrative cuts where we had duplication or overlap, and where we had enough strength that we could afford to slim down. But most important, while we made these cuts, I can look you in the eye and tell you we have protected the academic core. We have protected our ability to manage this place effectively.

At some point in the next year or two, Erskine Bowles will most likely step down from his post as UNC system president.

He took office Jan. 1, 2006, and he turns 65 - the traditional retirement age - next August.

But in a wide-ranging chat Tuesday with reporters and editors at the News & Observer, he made clear he doesn't want to leave the job until he cleans up some of the messes facing him right now. 

Controversies over a retreat rights policy that for five years has paid top administrators boatloads of money after they leave their jobs; a bloated payroll filled with administrative jobs and associated costs Bowles is now pledging to reduce; and of course, the state's economic woes, which have led to more than $170 million in UNC system budget cuts this year.

Bowles has a lot to say on these issues and others. You can read our coverage here and watch a video of the interview here.

And click here for today's main News & Observer editorial, which lauds Bowles for his attention to shaving administrative costs.

Some other tidbits from the Tuesday conversation:

On the Mary Easley situation: Bowles said that when revelations about the former First Lady's pay hike - of more than 80 percent - first emerged, he was skeptical.

"I just grossly underestimated how long that matter would be before the people of the state," he said. "I honestly thought that, really, the hiring of her before I got here, that she was a big star and you all would look at it and there would be no "there" there. I just underestimated, grossly, the whole depth of the situation."

 On the growth over time of administrative costs, which he now pledges to cut back.

"I think we've made some progress, but facts are facts. My hope is that at this time next year you'll see incredible progress."

and...

"Universities aren't businesses. When given a new task, since everybody is busy, the first thought is to bring someone else on to handle the task."

 Bowles, a former White House Chief of Staff, has also managed in large and small business settings and led the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

But education, he said, is the most challenging field in which to manage.

"Education is more resistant to change," he said. "And it's more difficult to manage in than any of those other businesses."

On the hiring of chancellors: Bowles was asked whether he thought universities ought to be more open to hiring people like himself, "non-traditional" candidates with business backgrounds, to lead public university campuses.

"I think it's invaluable to have the breadth and experience for my job," he said. "But for the chancellor job, I really think you need a significant amount of experience on a campus. I didn't think that before I had a chance to manage in this field. [But] Having credibility with the faculty, and understanding the business, is not something that comes naturally to someone like myself."

Erskine Bowles, president of the University of North Carolina, talks with News and Observer reporters about the hiring and firing of Mary Easley ... more

The UNC system is looking at eliminating about 900 administrative positions as it deals with a $171 million cut to its budget.

UNC system campuses are under pressure to cull their administrative ranks, and UNC system President Erskine Bowles has urged campuses to make administrative positions the top priority and to protect the academic core.

The 900 positions will account for much of what campuses will be asked to cut this year, though UNC leaders say there may be other administrative reductions as well aside from jobs lost.

It isn't yet clear how many of those positions are filled, a UNC system spokeswoman said today. Since last fall, campuses have held positions vacant in the face of the budget shortfall.

Administrative costs on university campuses have come under scrutiny lately. An Aug. 17 News & Observer report showed that administrative ranks across the UNC system had swelled by 28 percent over five years, from 1,269 administrative jobs to 1,623 last year.

That increase in administrators outpaced the growth of faculty and other teaching positions, which was 24 percent, as well as student enrollment, which climbed 14 percent.