Tom Fetzer leaves UNC System board. He had often sparred with other members.
Tom Fetzer, a UNC Board of Governors member who has come under fire frequently from fellow members, announced Wednesday that he’s stepping down from the board to focus on his family.
Fetzer said he has been homeschooling his five children during the coronavirus pandemic and that his family has had to “reassess our priorities in light of the incomprehensible time in which we’re living.”
He said they will continue to teach their kids at home with a year-round schedule as summer activities have been canceled.
“Consequently, my attention and energy and necessity ... will shift from higher education to elementary education,” Fetzer said.
Fetzer, a former Raleigh mayor and chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party, has been part of several controversies involving his role on the board and often at odds with other members.
Controversies involving ECU and WCU
He was criticized for initiating a personal investigation into former ECU interim Chancellor Dan Gerlach and also for inappropriately inserting himself into the search for a new chancellor for Western Carolina University.
Those actions prompted board discussions of changes to governance policies, procedures and sanctions for board members who misuse their power and operate outside the board.
Fetzer’s sudden departure comes as the board’s governance committee is finalizing those changes.
Fezter said at the meeting he’ll miss the “sometimes heated exchanges” with fellow board members.
“When your long-time friends disagree with you vehemently, it is humbling but also enlightening,” he said. “I think better policy is hammered out through those kind of debates.”
Board Chair Randy Ramsey thanked Fetzer for his service and wished him the best.
Fetzer gets attention for bold statements
Ramsey also said the board will miss Fetzer’s comparisons to former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in board meetings. It was a nod to the time Fetzer quoted the conservative icon during a “contentious meeting where a faction of the board seemed to take charge,” The News & Observer previously reported.
“The process of abandoning all beliefs, principles, values and policies in search of something in which no one believes but to which no one objects,” Fetzer said, reciting the definition. “The process of avoiding the very issues that have to be solved, merely because you cannot get agreement on the way ahead.”
That meeting was two months into his appointment on the board and came on the heels of a strongly-worded letter he drafted to former UNC System President Margaret Spellings and former Board Chairman Lou Bissette. It criticized Spellings and Bissette for their lack of communication about plans for Silent Sam, the Confederate statue on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus, and highlighted a split among board members.
Fetzer again made headlines for his speech at UNC Wilmington’s commencement ceremony where he offered off-script financial advice for graduates. Video of the speech showed that he told women to borrow money for education and houses, but told men to borrow money for diamond rings, The News & Observer previously reported. At the time, Fetzer didn’t think it would be controversial, according to Wilmington news station WECT.
Fetzer announced his resignation at the very end of the board meeting Wednesday. He had already informed North Carolina State Senator Phil Berger and Board Chair Randy Ramsey of his departure, but wanted to wait until the legislature was back in session so that they could “expeditiously” appoint his replacement.
After the meeting, reporters asked Ramsey about Fetzer’s departure and he said he wasn’t aware of any other reasons behind it. Ramsey said Fetzer has always been a “spirited member” of the board and expressed his opinions in a “unique way” that have played a vital part of board decisions.
“I really don’t have anything else to say about it,” Ramsey said.
This story was originally published May 20, 2020 at 12:03 PM with the headline "Tom Fetzer leaves UNC System board. He had often sparred with other members.."
