For the last time in 2026, members of UNC’s Board of Trustees gathered to conduct official business and hear updates on the university’s operations, strategic priorities and more.
The trustees met in the Carolina Inn with Chancellor Lee Roberts and several UNC administrators ahead of a busy end to the fall and the university’s winter break. With an agenda ranging from artificial intelligence and next academic year’s tuition rate, to experiences on Tar Heel game days and the holistic graduate student experience, the appointed governing board had much to discuss.
Here are some highlights from the committee meetings and full board meeting, as well as Roberts’ comments to local media after Thursday’s open session.
AI Leaders Detail Integration Efforts on Campus
With Roberts having embraced artificial intelligence as a challenge and opportunity UNC ought to be addressing, how the university is working AI into its curriculum is still unfolding. Vice Provost for Artificial Intelligence Saif Khairat, as well as Provost Magnus Egerstedt and English department chair Jordynn Jack, presented to the trustees about the early progress on that front — as well as what access students and staff have to AI tools.
The latter includes two, free options available through the university: Microsoft Copilot, which is connected through the Outlook system used for UNC email addresses, and the generative AI platform PromptLab, which is available through UNC Libraries. Those options allow students to use AI on their own time and in their own ways, but the administration’s goal is to also integrate it into what they are learning so as to train them for situations in the job market where artificial intelligence is either required or useful.
Jack said the English department is the most prominent area where AI is being used as part of the curriculum — including in the required English 105 Composition and Rhetoric writing course for first-year students. For the 2025-26 academic year, that includes 250 sections of the course for more than 4,700 undergraduate students. The four key outcomes built into the class, and others, include development of students’ close reading, rhetorical thinking, judgement and effective communication skills. The goal, Jack said, is to build on those concepts by weaving in how they could relate to creating AI prompts.
“These have always been competencies our students at Carolina have been developing from [the] 1790s onward,” said the English department chair. “We’re no longer asking them to read in Greek and Latin, but they’re doing a lot of the same work…only we’re updating it for the AI age.”
Khairat, who entered his role in June after working in the UNC School of Nursing, said the university launched its first AI strategic framework on November 4 that “offers a unified sense of direction on how we can approach AI and thoughtfully integrate AI into the classroom, research and into operations.” That pairs with a new AI literacy course UNC will launch next week to help students, faculty and staff understand the basics of the technology and build a foundational knowledge.
Khairat also used his time to highlight the work being done to prepare faculty and answer their questions about working with students who are increasingly using AI.
“Faculty empowerment is as important as student education and learning,” he said. “The Center for Faculty Excellence, that’s under the Office of Faculty Affairs, has been spearheading efforts to empower our faculty across Carolina in two specific ways. One is through education and workshops, and two is through ideas that can transform the classrooms. Can we reimagine and redesign our academic assessment? Instead of just writing a paper – which does not sound as effective as it used to be a few years ago – now we’re thinking redesigning the classroom in an AI-enabled world.”
When asked by Undergraduate Student Body President Devin Duncan about the approach for students who object to using artificial intelligence, and by Trustee Kristin Baker of how students could get exposure if they skip English 105, Egerstedt said modules are being inserted into other extremely popular classes on campus — like Biology 101 and Economics 101 — to cover its use in the context of those courses.
“The idea is,” the provost said, “it should be impossible to navigate through the curriculum at Carolina and come out [the other side] and not be AI native. You can be a conscientious objector, but you need to know what it is you’re objecting to. And that requires actually learning something about [how to use it].”
Increases in Out-of-State Undergrad Tuition and Fee Rates, In-State Tuition Stays Flat
UNC trustees had forecasted in prior meetings leading up to the November batch that they were looking to keep tuition affordable for in-state students while raising it the maximum amount for out-of-state students to match their peer institutions’ rates. Those sentiments came to pass on Thursday, with the board voting to keep the in-state tuition rate flat ($7,230 per year for Fall 2026 students and beyond), while adding a 10% increase to the out-of-state amount ($54,369 for Fall 2027 students). The base tuition rates for graduate students in campus-based programs is also staying flat ($10,764 for residents $29,421 for nonresidents), while Carolina Housing’s fees for students in residence halls and on-campus apartments and Carolina Dining’s meal fees also saw increases.
Trustees also discussed at length with Vice Chancellor for Finance and Operations Nate Knuffman about the student fees. Knuffman recommended a $30 net increase in fees to $1,881 per student — stemming from a planned increase to raise funding for a new Student Recreation Center, but a decrease in fees associated with Lenior Dining Hall renovations that are now off the books. The university is limited in how much it can raise fees (3% in total each year), leaving UNC incrementally increasing that support for the gym project (1.6%), which was identified as an amenity where Carolina significantly lags behind its peers thanks to advocacy by former Student Body President Chris Everett.
Even with the modest increase, UNC remains the lowest in North Carolina’s university system — and the trustees signaled they would like to use that fact, along with the campus’ numerous capital projects needing funding, to request the Board of Governors and state legislature for permission to raise fees much higher. Chair of the committee Jim Blaine, a former chief of staff for longtime North Carolina Sen. Phil Berger, said even if the idea does not initially catch on, he believes it is a measure worth floating.
“If you don’t ask and don’t put out alternative proposals and at least look like you’re thinking about how to solve these problems, most people aren’t going to come solve our problems for us,” said Blaine, who also shared during September’s meetings his belief that Republican legislators de-prioritized UNC funding requests based on criticism from faculty and students.
With those tuition and fee structures approved by the Board of Trustees, UNC will submit them to the UNC System for consideration and approval, which the system’s Board of Governors will consider in January.
The Future of Stadium Drive Could Largely Be Car-Free
Several of UNC’s ongoing strategic priorities and projects could be served by a transformation of Stadium Drive. The road runs from South Road near the Morehead-Patterson Bell Tower, past Kenan Stadium, and to Ridge Road, making it a key spot of both pedestrian and vehicle traffic on any given day on campus. But as the university is exploring creative revenue generation around athletic events, density of student housing and the significant upgrade to its student recreation facilities, reimagining Stadium Drive presents the unique opportunity to combine and advance all three.
That was the pitch made by Associate Vice Chancellor for Facilities Services Howard Wertheimer at the end of Wednesday’s Budget and Finance Committee meeting. Wertheimer told trustees the administration is considering the 50 acres surrounding Stadium Drive as an opportunity to turn a place with congestion and “tension” between its uses into a pedestrian corridor with a dedicated “campus hub” while protecting the Kenan Woods.
An aerial map of Stadium Drive and the surrounding campus facilities and roads. (Photo via UNC-Chapel Hill Finance and Operations.)
Already, UNC is planning to replace Parker and Teague Residence Halls along the road and build taller dorms to add more undergraduate student beds to mid-campus. The Alumni Center has received advanced funding approval for a $70 million addition that will become the university’s new Welcome Center alongside the work of improving the Campus Rec Center. Wertheimer said by using Stadium Drive as the lynchpin to connect all those together would improve cohesion of a mid-campus planning vision and turn the corridor into something more than “what it is today, which is really a parking lot.”
The initial reactions shared by Trustees Jennifer Lloyd and Jim Blaine to Wertheimer focused on the impact closing Stadium Drive to vehicles would have on traffic, particularly on game days. Wertheimer said a traffic impact analysis has not yet been conducted, and agreed it would be necessary to get the fullest picture on where vehicles would be redirected. But the vice chancellor said he saw some additional benefits to the consideration being improved pedestrian safety from cutting back traffic and the eventual need to replace utility lines under the road, which could be paired with a redesign and repaving project.
No future date of a full project design or when a traffic study would be produced was discussed.
Is the Graduate Student Experience Being Properly Considered?
Graduate and Professional Student Government President Jaden Smith has spent his time at Board of Trustees meetings the last few months highlights challenges his peers face in finding local housing options and earning funding support from the university, the latter of which has been impacted by shifts in federal funding. But on Thursday, Smith used his time at the podium to ask the board to consider a broader issue grad students face: feeling left out of the traditional “Carolina experience.”
“I think the graduate students genuinely feel seen heard and valued by the Graduate School,” he said to the board. “But when we broaden our perspective to the university as a whole, the sentiment I’ve heard from students is very different. In fact, one word [I’ve heard] used to describe the graduate student experience is an ‘afterthought.’ I think that’s the missing piece I’m trying to convey today.”
Graduate and Professional Student Government President Jaden Smith addresses the UNC Board of Trustees on Thursday, November 12. (Photo via Jon Gardiner/UNC-Chapel Hill.)
Smith argued to the trustees that much of what Carolina offers to its students is disproportionately crafted with undergraduates in mind. He acknowledged graduate and professional students have a wider variety of backgrounds and enrollments — whether as a researcher, educator, fully remote student or a student-athlete — which makes the student body less of a monolith to plan for. But the master of public health student said he and his peers believe UNC’s leadership ought to make it a more regular practice to ask how resources or experience serve that part of the campus community, describing a need for a stronger “institutional expectation.” While Smith and his administration are doing that work, he said, the burden should not be exclusively on them nor the Graduate School — especially as university leaders push for expanded undergraduate enrollment.
“Carolina doesn’t lack resources,” Smith said. “But graduate and professional students aren’t always being considered from the beginning when programs, services, policies and opportunities are developed. And the Graduate School cannot and should not be expected to carry the responsibility of addressing that concern alone. And if we want to change experience, we have to look beyond the Graduate School and make it a campus-wide commitment.”
After the open session, Roberts responded to the comments and said a meeting earlier this week with the combined undergraduate and graduate leadership teams produced good conversations. The chancellor similarly acknowledged how the graduate and professional student body background requires far more varied contexts to consider.
“We have some who are here for a year, we have some who are here for five to seven years, or more,” Roberts said. “Some [graduate students] have families, some don’t…some of our graduate programs are expanding, some them are shrinking. So, it’s hard to address them as a cohesive group the way we can with undergrads.
“But the graduate students are crucial to the university,” the chancellor concluded. “I said to the group earlier this week: in many ways, the grad students are what make us a large, global research university. Nothing really happens here without the graduate students making it happen — and so we’re going to invest in and prioritize the graduate student experience.”
Following Election Results, AAUP Pens Letter on Political Interference
Outside of the Carolina Inn, faculty in UNC’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors and supporters held a demonstration on Wednesday as the Board of Trustees committee meetings were underway. The group, which has been a vocal opponent to political interference and influence from the Republican-led state legislature reaching campus operations, attempted to deliver a letter to the trustees. The message: with a significant change coming in both chambers following Democratic candidates’ wins in the general election results this month, the AAUP hopes the trustees would renounce and denounce partisan intervention into academic affairs of all kinds.
“We believe that UNC-CH is the greatest public University in the nation,” said the letter, which was also posted to the chapter’s website. “The political interference over the past several years has threatened both our reputation and our practical ability to teach our amazing students. We urge you to recommit to Lux, libertas. You have a critical role to play to reverse these recent trends and restore faith in faculty governance and academic freedom.”
The UNC AAUP members asked for trustees to publicly commit to developing campus policies through faculty governance, defunding the School of Civil Life and Leadership, ending the Service First measure Roberts’ administration is undertaking to cut down the university’s operational staff, confirming accreditation going forward to be apolitical, and ending interference in faculty hiring.
When asked on Thursday whether he had read the AAUP’s letter, Roberts told gathered media he had not but pointed to a meeting with an AAUP leader “a few months ago” and said his “door is always open” to hear their concerns.
The full video of Wednesday’s Board of Trustees Committee meetings can be watched here on UNC’s YouTube channel, while Thursday’s full board meeting can be watched here.
Featured photo via Jon Gardiner/UNC-Chapel Hill.
Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
AI Emphasis, Fee Increases and Grad Student Experience: Highlights of the UNC Board of Trustees Meetings (November 2026) Chapelboro.com.
Hence then, the article about ai emphasis fee increases and grad student experience highlights of the unc board of trustees meetings november 2026 was published today ( ) and is available on chapelboro ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( AI Emphasis, Fee Increases and Grad Student Experience: Highlights of the UNC Board of Trustees Meetings (November 2026) )
Also on site :
- Exclusive: OpenAI disbands its robotics team as its general models start running robots
- Costco’s Bakery Just Brought Back a Holiday Favorite Shoppers Wait All Year for—and It’s $4 Less Than Last Year
- ‘Pioneer Woman’ Star Ree Drummond’s Daughter Shares Unexpected Life Update, Less Than Two Years After Getting Married