What a Margaret Spellings Presidency Might Mean for North Carolina
When word got out that the University of North Carolina system’s Board of Governors was holding an emergency session on Friday to meet with one finalist for the system’s presidency — and that the finalist was Margaret Spellings, a former secretary of education under President George W. Bush — it quickly became the topic of the day in higher-education circles. The news was the latest chapter in a series of highly divisive and politically charged episodes that began in January, when Thomas W. Ross, the system’s president, was pushed out by a Republican-led board. The board’s chair, John C. Fennebresque, at the time denied speculation that Mr. Ross’s ouster had been politically motivated but otherwise declined to explain the move.