N.C. needs 16 special universities, not two

Letting UNC Chapel Hill and N.C. State set tuition a dangerous step

MARY SCHULKEN, The Charlotte Observer

I don't know about you, but the words "precision metrology" are not in my everyday vocabulary.

Unless you're a techno-dweeb -- one of those terribly smart people who dabble in intricate formulas and technologies -- they probably don't mean much to you, either.

Yet if you live in Charlotte, you live in a center for studying metrology, a science that is becoming more and more important to the up-and-coming generation of manufacturing.

That center, located on the campus of UNC Charlotte, is a good example of why a measure that mysteriously emerged from the state Senate this week is all wrong for North Carolina.

The Senate wants to let UNC Chapel Hill and N.C. State, the state's two major research universities, set their own tuition, so long as the cost remains in the lowest one-quarter of universities in the nation and the legislature approves it.

That idea may not sound harmful, but it is. It would be a clear step away from central governance for North Carolina's 16 public universities. Without that principle, it's likely UNCC would not be the 19,500-student, doctoral-granting school it is today.

The Senate's plan also ignores the financial needs of the smaller research/doctoral granting universities such as UNCC, including East Carolina University and UNC Greensboro. Those universities, too, struggle with the cost of higher disciplines such as engineering and medicine that spawn valuable research.

Robert E. Johnson, dean of engineering at UNCC, is blunt about his department's needs.

In June, the William S. Lee College of Engineering will move out of its cobbled-up home into a new, $22 million building. Yet with enrollment expected to rise to 3,500 students in the next five years, the space won't last long.

Johnson has $800,000 to outfit the new classrooms and labs. But he estimates costs at $3.5 million, so labs will either remain empty or use outdated equipment.

He is also concerned about the 24-1 student to faculty ratio in engineering. Most engineering schools in the Southeast -- including the expansive one at N.C State -- have 16 to 18 students for each faculty member. That reflects UNCC's next-to-the-bottom ranking in per-student funding -- despite being North Carolina's fourth largest university.

Instead of granting tuition autonomy, the legislature needs to grant adequate funding for its campuses.

Now, back to metrology. That's the science of weights and measurements. UNCC's campus houses the National Science Foundation Center for Precision Metrology, where engineering faculty and students conduct interdisciplinary research in that field.

Some of the measurements at UNCC involve tolerances so small they confound the mind. Yet the economic impact is gigantic. We're talking about high-speed machinery, electro-optics and nanotechnology, the guts of what economic developers like to call North Carolina's new manufacturing economy.

Think circuit boards. Optic equipment. Sensors. Things that require a great deal of accuracy -- and expertise.

It takes more money to support that kind of resource than it does to support the average undergraduate liberal arts program. Faculty salaries must compete with private enterprise in order to draw top people. Equipment and space must be constantly updated to reflect cutting-edge technology. And classes must be small enough so students get intensive attention.

Tuition is a ready source of money. But it should remain low, as the state Constitution requires. And the UNC Board of Governors should set it, not the legislature.

UNC Chapel Hill and N.C. State, with their established research programs, are assets to every citizen of North Carolina. But there is enormous economic value in having resources such as the Center for Precision Metrology on campuses around the state. Part of the reason they exist outside Raleigh and Chapel Hill is because the state governs, funds and operates its universities as a system.

Granting campus autonomy does not address the funding needs of the state's universities. Instead, it creates two special universities, and recognizes their needs.

For Charlotte or Raleigh or Chapel Hill, that's just not right.

Mary Schulken