THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 11, 1995 TAG: 9502110077
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY PERRY PARKS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DUCK LENGTH: Medium: 80 lines
Several North Carolina University system officials expressed concern Friday about a recent meeting between some Board of Governors members and a handful of state legislators.
The meeting, which included Senate leader Marc Basnight of Manteo and involved discussions of proposed coastal marine science research centers, violated Board of Governors procedures, some board members said.
Philip G. Carson of Asheville, a member emeritus and former chairman of the 32-member panel that governs the state's 16-university system, raised the issue - without naming participants - during the board's regular meeting Friday.
The Board of Governors and staff members were at the Sanderling Inn for a four-day retreat.
All contacts between the university system and the General Assembly are supposed to be handled by the system president or a staff member to preserve a unified voice, staff members said. That didn't happen with the session on the research centers.
Carson said after the Board of Governors meeting Friday that he was not criticizing Basnight for his participation in the earlier meeting, but wanted to caution board members to follow standard procedures.
``Nobody acted in bad faith,'' Carson said.
Board member G. Irvin Aldridge, a Manteo lawyer, said later that he had organized the meeting, which he called an information-sharing session among lawmakers, board members and university-based scientists interested in expanding coastal research facilities. Board Chairman W. Travis Porter of Durham attended.
Aldridge said a similar meeting was held last year. Basnight said Friday afternoon that he was unaware Board of Governors rules frown on the meeting he attended at the invitation of board members.
The board has requested more than $23 million in 1995-96 to create a marine sciences and education center in Wilmington and to expand the facility at Morehead City.
But talk has also renewed about pursuing a third research center somewhere in northeastern North Carolina, which Basnight represents.
Basnight said current plans for making the Wilmington center a priority should be re-examined, perhaps by an outside reviewer independent of the General Assembly or the Board of Governors.
``I certainly would like to have more information . . . before I have to make a decision about where to expend those kinds of funds,'' Basnight said.
Board of Governors member Charles D. Evans of Manteo, who did not attend the meeting with legislators, said Friday that developing a northeastern center is not ``pork,'' as some detractors have claimed, but is scientifically important.
If there is legislative support for a northeastern center, ``we certainly ought to take this opportunity to pursue it,'' Evans said. He later added that any pursuit should be made ``within the framework of the Board of Governors.''
Board of Governors staff members said the panel's Planning Committee has not addressed the notion of a northeastern center in detail.
Echoing Carson's concerns of impropriety during Friday's Board of Governors meeting were board members Ellen S. Newbold of Rose Hill and Barbara Wills-Duncan of Raleigh.
Wills-Duncan, up for reappointment in the General Assembly this year, said she was concerned about the integrity of the board.
``I think I see something ugly happening,'' Wills-Duncan said during a break in the meeting. ``I think I see us putting politics and some meanness above the interests of the university system.''
Half the board members face re-election in the legislature this year. Members' terms were halved to four years at the beginning of the decade, and some have said the shorter terms are making the process more political.
``If you don't come out and say the right thing . . . you can forget about being re-elected,'' Wills-Duncan said. ``It's whether or not you do someone's bidding.''
Basnight and 1st District Rep. W.C. ``Bill'' Owens are expected to address the board during its final session this morning, a ``legislative panel discussion.'' by CNB