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Moeser to step down at end of school year

Posted on September 27, 2007 by Staff

It was not one of Carolina’s better-kept secrets; the only question was when the announcement would come. The answer to that was yesterday, and during his annual State of the University address James Moeser served notice that he will step down as chancellor on June 30, 2008.

In a message to the campus community released during his speech, Moeser, the university’s ninth chancellor, said that after a year’s research leave he will return to the university “with the most exalted title that Carolina confers — professor.”


The timing of his announcement, he said, should give the Board of Trustees ample time to conduct a search for his successor.

During his tenure, Moeser oversaw the largest capital campaign in the school’s history along with one of the largest construction booms on campus. He emphasized international studies and, after years of steady tuition increases, worked with the school’s financial aid officers to craft the Carolina Covenant, which provided an increase in support for low- and moderate-income students.

UNC system president Erskine Bowles said Moeser has set Carolina on a path to excellence.

“Good has never been good enough for James Moeser. He has set high standards for this university and held all of us accountable for meeting them. His passion for academic excellence and commitment to service are among the qualities that have made him such a great chancellor,” Bowles said in a statement released by the university.

Rep. Joe Hackney, speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives, praised Moeser for his dedication to the job, and UNC Board of Trustees chair Roger Perry said Moeser set the tone for the campus. “His leadership has provided great vision and opportunities for Carolina,” Perry said.

The chancellor has often sparred with local leaders and residents of neighborhoods near campus, especially early in his term when the school and the Town of Chapel Hill tried to hammer out an agreement for expansion on the main campus.

He also had a public disagreement with former UNC system president Molly Broad after he met privately with leaders of the state Senate along with former N.C. State chancellor Marye Anne Fox.
At the same time, his stand on social issues and academic freedom earned him praise. Carrboro Mark Chilton praised his defense of the school’s choice of a book explaining the Q’uran and its influence as a freshman reading.

“He stood squarely behind his faculty in the selection of the freshman reading program even under an intense national spotlight on the issue and especially in a time when America most needed to challenge its own thinking.  The debate over the freshman reading program put politics and academia directly at odds, and Chancellor Moeser stood up to be counted for academic freedom when it counted most,” Chilton said.

At 68, Moeser is Carolina’s longest-serving chancellor since Christopher Fordham. He took office on Aug. 15, 2000.

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