UNC’s chancellor has struggled. Firing him would be worse.

UNC-Chapel Hill faculty find themselves in an odd position this week: defending the job of a chancellor they haven’t heaped praise upon in his 18 months leading the school.

The UNC Faculty Council held an emergency meeting Wednesday amid concerns that state politicians, UNC trustees and UNC System Board of Governors members may be trying to replace Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz. UNC Faculty Chair Mimi Chapman asked faculty to consider a resolution in support of the chancellor, acknowledging that, while Guskiewicz is not perfect, it is “not a time for a leadership change on our campus.”

The UNC Board of Governors has the ultimate authority to remove Guskiewicz as chancellor, but the UNC Board of Trustees, which is meeting Wednesday and Thursday, could make a recommendation to remove the chancellor or take a vote of no confidence. UNC System President Peter Hans also can recommend the chancellor be terminated.

While Guskiewicz has certainly had a rocky start as chancellor — mishandling major issues such as the coronavirus pandemic and tenure for Nikole Hannah-Jones — removing him is a bad idea.

Doing so would only create further instability at the UNC System’s flagship campus, which has seen no shortage of turnover in recent years. University leadership has become a revolving door, and it’s moving at an increasingly rapid pace. Guskiewicz was named interim chancellor in Feb. 2019 and was officially named chancellor that December, and much of his time as chancellor has been spent battling a pandemic. Meanwhile, the UNC System has cycled through four different presidents in 10 years, with each one leaving even sooner than the last. That’s a disturbing pattern.

Perhaps worse, according to faculty, is who might be next. At the meeting, Chapman told faculty that among the names being floated were Clayton Somers, UNC’s vice chancellor of public affairs and former chief of staff to House Speaker Tim Moore, and John Hood, president of the John William Pope Foundation, a nonprofit foundation chaired by former Republican lawmaker and Board of Governors member Art Pope. We already know what happens when you mix politics and university affairs. From UNC’s mishandling of the Silent Sam statue to the botched tenure of Nikole Hannah-Jones, UNC and its leaders have been well-schooled on the perils of politicizing higher education.

Another concern: Should Guskiewicz be shown the door, his replacement can be chosen by Hans. Last year, the System adopted new rules giving the president more power to decide who is hired as chancellor at each campus, thereby bypassing the traditional selection process, which typically includes input from the university community. That means UNC’s largest constituencies — its students and faculty — are left with very little power and almost no say.

Let’s be clear: Guskiewicz has struggled as chancellor. He applauded then tried to distance himself from the 2019 deal to pay $2.5 million to the Sons of Confederate Veterans to take the Silent Sam statue off UNC’s hands. In 2020, UNC ignored public health guidance to bring students back to campus — then reversed itself — as COVID surged. Now, UNC is reeling from bad headlines and faculty turmoil surrounding Hannah-Jones’ decision not to accept a belated offer of tenure at the Hussman School of Journalism and Media.

UNC’s problems didn’t begin with Guskiewicz and likely wouldn’t end with his departure. UNC’s issues are primarily structural, rooted in how the school is governed and who really leads it. Even as leaders at UNC have come and gone, one thing has remained constant in recent years: the drumbeat of avoidable scandals and an administration that answers to a Republican-appointed Board of Governors. That’s not a coincidence. Getting rid of Guskiewicz isn’t going to change it. Replacing him with a political figure very well could make it worse.