Board games: flaws in overly political UNC System governance raise pressure on Margaret Spellings as she juggles demands for change with maintaining a national reputation for excellence.

• Author: Otterbourg, Ken
• Position: Point Taken - University of North Carolina

It has been exactly 10 years since Margaret Spellings, then Secretary of Education in President George W. Bush's administration, chaired a commission on the future of higher education. Like all good task forces, it issued a report, entitled "A Test of Leadership: Charting the Future of U.S. Higher Education."

"What we have learned over the last year," the report said, "makes clear that American higher education has become what, in the business world, would be called a mature enterprise: increasingly risk-averse, at times self-satisfied, and unduly expensive."

That's where our story might have ended. Instead, the second act of this commission, whose members included former Gov. Jim Hunt, will play out across North Carolina as Spellings takes over as president of the University of North Carolina system. Her new job provides a chance for her to put words into action and see whether she can apply the right amount of gas, brake and clutch to our state's public universities.

Even under the best of circumstances, this would be a difficult job. Public universities are tasked with a wide range of duties--improving access, increasing quality, maintaining affordability, easing the taxpayer burden, staying relevant --and many of these jobs can run at cross purposes to each other. Their principal consumers are young adults, people often still finding out who they are and what they want to do with their lives. It is enough to make your head spin.

Yes, higher education is an industry, but it's not really a business. The input-output approach found in the corporate world doesn't quite transfer to higher education. We know there's a return on investment on college degrees, but the loop isn't closed or even predictable. In addition, the people who pay the freight don't necessarily get the benefits.

Spellings hasn't helped herself. At her first news conference, she reiterated her view that being gay was a lifestyle decision. For her critics, this is just red meat, fuel on the fire. It creates a working narrative of her rigidity and will taint her more sensible ideas to bring transparency to the fog of the academy. But her real problem is this: She has a terrible Board of Governors. Yes, terrible.

Before you light the torches, let me explain. There are 32 voting members on the board, half selected by the House and half by the Senate. They are accomplished professionals, most with successful careers in medicine, law and business. I have no doubt of their...