Writing on his blog, UNC Chapel Hill Chancellor Holden Thorp espouses the virtues of fraternity and sorority life at Carolina.

Though he wasn't in a fraternity while a student at Carolina, Thorp writes that he owes much to the Greek system. His father was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon, and that's where he met Thorp's mother.

The Greek system has taken some knocks lately, particularly related to the strange death of DKE President Courtland Smith, who was shot dead earlier this year by Archdale police after driving and acting erratically on the interstate. Police thought he had a gun.

Here's what Thorp writes about Smith:

We may never fully understand why Courtland died. We do know that there’s no indication that Courtland had been using anything other than alcohol the night he died. That was consistent with what our Student Affairs folks told us about Courtland – that he was a good kid who was working with them to improve Greek life and make his fraternity a safer place.

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.

Today is University Day at UNC Chapel Hill, and Chancellor Holden Thorp has put a twist on the traditional State of the University address that campus leaders here customarily give as part of the day's celebration.

This year, Thorp gave a virtual address. You can click on the 9-minute youtube video below or click here to read the transcript.

The chancellor doesn't break any news in this year's address. Mostly, it's a summary of all that went on in the past year. It emphasizes the budget crisis that sapped $67 million from university coffers, and the Bain report, created by a consultant to help the university streamline its administrative and financial operations.

And it also trumpets some highlights from the past year, like the national championship in basketball, the success of Anoop Desai on American Idol, and the fact that the university produced two Rhodes Scholars.

Not bad.

On the budget issue: Thorp mentions that the economic crisis has led more students to request financial aid in order to get to or stay in college. The university has managed to patch aid packages together for all who needed them; the Carolina Covenant program, which offers full aid funding for students who demonstrate great financial need, has swelled and now accounts for 11 percent of the first-year class.

At 11 this morning, Gov. Beverly Perdue will give the keynote University Day address at Memorial Hall.

Was UNC Chapel Hill Chancellor Holden Thorp a bit heavy-handed in dismissing a retired faculty member who made a bit of an off-color comment related to a controversial student group he'd signed on to advise?

That's the topic N&O staffer Matthew Eisley is pondering today in a point/counterpoint. Offering up a different view this week is Domenic Powell, a columnist for the Daily Tar Heel.

The brief summary: the student group in question is Youth for Western Civilization, a right-wing organization at the center of controversy last semester when it attempted to bring former U.S. Congressman Tom Tancredo to campus.

Tancredo, a vocal opponent of illegal immigration, wasn't able to conclude his speech because it was interrupted by protesters. The YWC group subseqently lost its faculty advisor and Elliot Cramer, a retired professor, stepped in.

But then, in an e-mail, he made what seemed an off-hand remark about owning and using a gun, and Thorp promptly asked him to resign.

Here's the background.

UPDATE - The student group Youth for Western Civilization is back in business, having found three new faculty advisors.

The faculty advisor for a controversial student group at UNC Chapel Hill was relieved of his volunteer duties last week after an ill-advised remark about a gun.

But in insisting that retired professor Elliot Cramer step down as advisor for Youth for Western Civilization, UNC-CH Chancellor Holden Thorp has empowered campus radicals who now pledge to disrupt any event that group presents on campus.

So says Jay Schalin, writing this week for the Pope Center for Higher Education Policy.

In asking for Cramer to step down, Thorp in essence hamstrung the student group's ability to exist, since the clock is now ticking towards a deadline before which it must have a new faculty advisor.

Schalin writes in part:

Thorp can amend this error by making bold statements that he will not let legitimate opinions on his campus be harassed into silence. One thing he could do is to sponsor the YWC himself, at least for this year. That would send a powerful message to the radicals that his campus is a place for free expression of ideas, not group intimidation and violence.

Additionally, he must make it clear that attempts to intimidate and silence others on campus will be met with expulsion and prosecution. For without a very clear no-tolerance policy of such behavior, the radicals will grow continually more aggressive until they get their way or until somebody gets hurt. And if they get their way, they will use the same methods to silence other voices that disagree with them.

What do you think? Did the chancellor overstep in asking Cramer to step down for a remark that appears to be made in jest?

UNC Chapel Hill Chancellor Holden Thorp chimes in today with an update on the university's budget situation.

It's his first since the General Assembly approved a state budget, which, for UNC-CH brought a cut of about 7 percent. 

As Thorp points out, Carolina had already implemented a 10 percent cut plan and as such is a little bit ahead of the game.

 And the university did receive funding for some key initiatives, Thorp writes, including enrollment growth, faculty recruitment and retention, and a cancer fund.

Here's Thorp in his own words.

The job title "associate vice chancellor" sounds prestigious enough. But at UNC Chapel Hill, it surely isn't rare.

At UNC-CH, there were 10 such administrators a decade ago. Now, 19.

We're not picking on Carolina here; this is just an example of the sort of growth in administration that campus and UNC system leaders are now honing in on now as the university enters a new era of efficiency and budget cutting.

In today's News & Observer, we take a look at how these administrative positions - that bring with them pretty good salaries - have grown in recent years.

Here's the story.

To the Chapel Hill campus's credit, its leaders were ahead of the curve a bit, commissioning a study last year that examined the institution's financial structure and organizational charts. It found some bloat and has made plenty of recommendations. You can read more about that here.

A UNC system policy guaranteeing chancellors a one-year leave at full pay when they leave the top job plays a key role in recruiting top talent, the leaders of five of North Carolina’s public universities said Thursday.

This group of campus chancellors, which included UNC Chapel Hill’s Holden Thorp and N.C. Central University’s Charlie Nelms, spoke today at a workshop for members of the UNC system’s Board of Governors, which is likely to scale back the four-year-old “retreat rights” policy in the coming months.

The current policy allows a university president or chancellor retiring after at least five years of service a one-year “retreat” at full administrative pay, followed by a return to the faculty. Their salary then would be 60 percent of what they earned as chancellor or president.

Rosemary DePaolo, now in her seventh year as chancellor at UNC Wilmington, said the retreat rights policy, while difficult for those outside academia to digest, is a critical piece of the compensation package for people considering a leadership post at a public university. These are difficult, stressful jobs, so potential chancellors want to know they’ll be taken care of it they become unpopular on their campus.

“We do need a cushion upon which to fall back, because falling back is all too likely,” said DePaolo, who is the second longest-tenured chancellor in the UNC system, behind only John Bardo, Western Carolina’s leader since 1995. “These are high-risk jobs with high turnover. You might not like [retreat rights] philosophically, but this is a business and we have to compete.”

The "retreats right" policy has been employed broadly at North Carolina's 16 public universities, UNC records show. Over the past five years, taxpayers have paid about $8 million to 117 administrators who either returned to the faculty or left the university. In 24 cases, the payouts were for $100,000 or more.

A recent News & Observer review found that these agreements, along with other transitional payments, offered sizable sums of money with few or no strings attached, in at least three cases violated UNC system policies and in some cases rewarded administrators with as much as a year's salary for a job poorly done.

For more on this story, read Friday's News & Observer.

Writing today in the News & Observer, UNC Chapel Hill Chancellor Holden Thorp talks about the Bain report, an analysis unveiled last week by a private consultant that suggested that the university has quite a bit too much bureaucracy.

Thorp writes that the report will help UNC-CH find ways to become more efficient, and in doing so, may help improve public confidence in the way universities are managed these days.

He writes: "Legitimate concerns are being expressed about the growth in our administrative costs. We're proud that Carolina has been ahead of the curve in addressing these concerns this year, and this report shows that we are serious about changing the way we do business."

Here's Thorp's opinion column.

And click here for more on the Bain report.

Newsflash: UNC Chapel Hill has far too much bureaucracy.

That's one message coming from a new report by Bain & Company, a consultant hired by the university to examine the university's financial processes. Bain's 107-page report will be presented to university trustees Thursday.

It suggests an institution bogged down by duplication and with  too many levels of administrators and supervisors. One example: In at least one area of the university, a low-level worker is 10 steps from Thorp, the chancellor. In other words, that worker bee has nine bosses if you follow the chain-of-command concept.

Campus officials hope changes that stem from the analysis could reap millions in savings.

The Bain report examines administrative structures, spending processes and personnel decision-making across the university and proposes dozens of areas where money could be saved.

A few examples:

• UNC-CH has more than 100 academic centers and institutes but no standard reporting structure for them. Most have their own finance, human resources and information technology staffs; combining many of those support services and streamlining the way these centers report to supervisors could reap up to $6 million in annual savings, according to the report.

• UNC-CH conducts a massive amount of funded research, but technology in the offices supporting that work isn’t adequate. There are overlapping responsibilities in some places that create confusion and redundancy, and these support offices are scattered across campus and, in some examples, off campus. An investment in automation and some other resources within research support could save money over the long run, according to the report.

• UNC-CH should eliminate some supervisors and give more control to those who continue in those roles. Fewer management layers would lead to fewer meetings, less duplication, and could save up to $12 million annually, according to the report.

View the report here. For more on this story, read tomorrow's News & Observer.