When a prospective chancellor accepts the job to lead a UNC System university, it comes with several perks. One of the largest — outside of their salary and bonuses, which are often hundreds of thousands of dollars — is living rent-free in a house on campus.
The idea is that a chancellor who lives on campus can be immersed in student and faculty life, as well as have a base for hosting alumni, donors, and other entertainment events.
UNC System policy requires chancellors and the System president to live in their official residences, with little exceptions. But that could soon change.
This week, a UNC Board of Governors committee voted to allow universities the possibility of providing chancellors with a housing stipend instead of an on-campus house.
Chief Operating Officer Michael Vollmer said there's been some challenges with the requirement for chancellors to live in their residences, like maintenance needs, location, and family situations.
"When those instances have arisen, the current policy is so prescriptive that we have been prevented from considering any alternative solution, whether that is a temporary or permanent fix," Vollmer said to trustees at the committee meeting. "... this is not something that we would expect to be widespread or frequent, but it is a tool that we believe would be very helpful in solving specific challenges."
The proposed policy change would require universities to first get permission from the UNC System President before offering any housing stipends.
Vollmer told trustees he could easily see a situation where it would be more "financially advantageous" for a university to pay a stipend rather than provide housing, especially if there were other campus buildings that could be used for entertaining.
"We've had a number of times over the past 20 years where we've had to do substantial renovation to a chancellor's residence or take a residence offline for one, two plus years," Vollmer continued. "... I think it is reasonable to see a world where the easier solution for something like that is to find a way for the chancellor to receive some kind of remuneration for the loss of that residence that doesn't involve the university out negotiating leases."
It remains to be seen how President Peter Hans could ultimately choose to apply the policy. The full board of governors will vote on the housing stipend proposal in May.
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