The UNC Board of Trustees held its final meetings of the academic year on Wednesday and Thursday at the Rizzo Center in Chapel Hill, with the proceedings featuring recognitions of incoming and outgoing university leaders, updates on long-term projects and more.
Here are some highlights of the meetings, as well as Chancellor Lee Roberts’ press availability afterward.
Roberts, Turner Mum on Any Involvement in Men’s Basketball Coaching Search
The hottest topic around UNC’s campus this week was little discussed by the Board of Trustees and Carolina leadership: the ongoing coaching search for Hubert Davis’ replacement to lead the men’s basketball program. When asked Thursday how the search was going, Roberts said Athletic Director Bubba Cunningham and the incoming AD Steve Newmark were the ones involved in the process and did not elaborate further.
The chancellor did take time, though, to thank Davis for his stewardship during five years of head coaching and many others being a representative for the team.
“Coach Davis will tell you,” Roberts said, “he met his wife here at Carolina, he became a Christian here, his uncle’s jersey is hanging in the rafters, Hubert and Leslie are Carolina parents…they love the university deeply and the university loves them back. They’ll always have a place of pride in the hearts of the Carolina family.”
UNC Chancellor Lee H. Roberts makes remarks during the Board of Trustees full board meeting held at The Rizzo Center. March 26, 2026. (Photo via Jon Gardiner/UNC-Chapel Hill.)
Chair of the Board of Trustees Malcolm Turner was similarly asked about whether any trustees would have a role to play in the search, like was reported around UNC football head coach Bill Belichick’s hire in 2024. Turner played that down and when asked about concerns, he said he had “none, whatsoever.”
“We have a fine team leading that search, with Bubba Cunningham and Steve Newmark,” said Turner. “We need our leaders to lead and I trust that they will do so, and lead a great process with a great outcome. The board’s role is approval — so, we await the output of that work and look forward to [the search] unfolding.”
Introduction of “Cool Provost,” and Celebration of Outgoing Interim
One person the university recently welcomed into its ranks is Provost Magnus Egerstedt, who formally began in his new role this month after being around the campus community for a few weeks prior. Egerstedt – whose background is in robotics engineering and who is the long-term replacement for Chris Clemens – was introduced to the board Wednesday and shared his aspirations for the role. Clemens and the trustees experienced a significant split, with Clemens resigning from the role and filing a lawsuit against the board that was ultimately dismissed. Referencing that and other tensions between the campus community and upper leadership, Egerstedt said he does not want to “re-litigate the past” and said his goal is to be described as “the cool provost.” He said he’s enjoyed learning what drives the Carolina community and pledged to uplift the research, teaching and service done across campus.
“I am very much a forward-looking provost, because I think we need that at this moment in time,” Egerstedt added, “and a big part of my job is really leaning in hard [to] champion and story-tell around the things that happen on our campus that matter. Students’ lives are being transformed thanks to their educational experiences, the service work really matters to the state around us, and the research we do is deeply, deeply innovative and it enhances the human experience. That is the kind of story I want to tell.”
Current UNC Provost Magnus Egerstedt speaks with outgoing interim UNC Provost Jim Dean during the UNC Board of Trustees full board meeting held at The Rizzo Center. (Photo via Jon Gardiner/UNC-Chapel Hill.)
With Egerstedt now onboard, Roberts’ administration and the Board of Trustees wanted to recognize Jim Dean, who came out of retirement to serve as the interim provost since last May. To thank him for that – and his previous 20 years of work as faculty, dean and UNC provost – the chancellor presented Dean with an induction into the Order of the Long Leaf Pine as approved by North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein.
Alvarez Shares Parting Perspective
With the May meetings of the trustees cancelled, the Wednesday and Thursday gatherings also marked the last for graduating UNC Student Body President Adolfo Alvarez. His fellow trustees passed a resolution honoring his work over the last year and Alvarez shared departing thoughts with the board. As Carolina’s first ever Latino student body president who emigrated from Mexico, he shared his philosophy around what UNC’s new slogan – “First and For All” – means to him. Alvarez said it starts with ensuring others like him are empowered and afforded a chance to realize their goals in Chapel Hill.
“At its core, diversity means that no two people arrive here the same way,” the UNC senior added. “It’s diversity of thought…the chance to sit in a classroom and be challenged by somebody who sees the world differently. It’s diversity of background, recognizing that not every student comes here with the same opportunities, resources or path. It’s diversity of perspective, understanding that our differences aren’t weaknesses but strengths that challenge us, push us and ultimately make this institution better.
“Even in a year that hasn’t been easy,” Alvarez concluded, “I’m confident about where we can go next. At the end of the day, we can’t be first if we are not for all.”
Outgoing UNC student body president Adolfo Alvarez addresses the Board of Trustees during the meeting on Mar. 26, 2026. Incoming student body president Devin Duncan sits in the background. (Photo via Jon Gardiner/UNC-Chapel Hill.)
SciLL Update Falls Through, Roberts Shares More on Investigation
The trustees were scheduled to hear an update from a trio of students about their experience taking courses in UNC’s School of Civic Life and Leadership on Wednesday – but the item was ultimately canceled because of a scheduling conflict. It also comes in the wake of UNC receiving the summary of a seven-month-long investigation into the school, which has none of its original faculty remaining amid reports of infighting and resignations after two years of operations. Despite receiving faculty blowback for deciding the results will not be made public, Roberts said Thursday he plans to keep following the recommendation of the university’s legal counsel.
“We’re trying to strike a balance between the legal advice we have – which is the report is privileged and contains sensitive personnel information that can’t be released – with the natural interest of the campus community about the process,” the chancellor said. “If there are any other creative suggestions for helping to assure the faculty that the report was thorough, balanced, and fair…we are eager to hear it.”
Carolina North Update Focuses on Groundwork…for the Groundwork
The Board of Trustees also heard from university administrator overseeing Carolina North on Wednesday about the early outreach done for the future campus extension.
UNC hired Tiffany Lacey in the winter to serve as its executive director of real estate development — with the top priority of leading the extensive redevelopment of 228 acres off of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard less than two miles from main campus. Since announcing her addition to Roberts’ administration and making its initial spending request for Carolina North’s advance planning, the project team issued RFQs for both the “place strategy” document and the master plan.
During her presentation to the trustees, Lacey described the former as a vision guide for how the university and stakeholders want Carolina North to look, feel and operate. Roughly 70 firms registered interest in helping build out this framework, while more than 150 firms submitted interest for creating the master plan that will determine general layout of the live-work-learn-play development. The place strategy will come first, Lacey said, and will help drive the master plan forward.
A map of the Carolina North property in Chapel Hill, with the green section marking land that will be preserved and the blue overlay marking where the development will take place. (Photo via UNC-Chapel Hill.)
“Our goal is by the end of summer of next year,” she said, “we will have a thoughtful, feasible master plan and development strategy that will position Carolina North for long-term success.”
Lacey fielded questions from the trustees about what the current site conditions are (largely the decommissioned Horace Williams Airport tarmac, runways and buildings) and what kind of big-picture development items are being planned. She said beyond the housing commitment of more than 2,200 student beds and additional for-sale housing, it is too early to make commitments on the types of retail partnerships or attractions will be integrated with UNC’s planned academic facilities. Lacey said choosing a master planning partner and later a development partner will help inform the university what will best work for the Carolina North community.
Next steps in the project are issuing an RFQ for that development partner, who would build the housing and commercial space, and finalizing the 30-person advisory committee set to help provide feedback on the planning stages of Carolina North. Both of those are expected to be achieved by the summer.
Wednesday’s committee meetings of the UNC Board of Trustees can be watched here, while Thursday’s full board meeting can be watched here.
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