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UNC-Chapel Hill leaders come under fire at emergency faculty meeting I NC Policy Watch "This is all going to be decided at the UNC System level,the Board of Governors,"Aikat said. "The chancellor is in a position where he does not have the power to make this decision." Chapman seemed to agree during the faculty meeting. "As I understand it,the system said`stay the course,'Chapman said. "So that's what's happening.We might not all be fine with that, but it sounds like that's what's happening." Policy Watch reached out to the UNC System office and UNC Board of Governors Wednesday. Emails and phone messages were not returned. Eric Muller,another Faculty Executive Committee member,also + expressed frustration such strong public health recommendations from Orange County could be dismissed because they were not in the form of an order. "Does that mean that someone or some group of people on our team affirmatively disagreed with the advice we received from the Orange County Health Department?"Muller asked Guskeiwicz during the faculty meeting. r, t Guskiewicz did not answer. Eric Muller,Faculty Executive Committee member, "There are a lot of opinions about what to do and the rationale for doing it,"Provost Bob Blouin said in answer to the question. "And there is sometimes unanimity around the experts and sometimes there is less than unanimity around the experts." Blouin also said the university had to consider that most students have either begun moving onto campus or had signed leases off- campus. They had to consider the impact on them of dramatically reversing course. Health department employees dispute UNC leaders'characterization of county-campus communications Both Blouin and Guskiewicz framed the Orange County Health Department recommendations as having come suddenly and at the last moment. Guskiewicz said he did not know the motivation of the health director in writing the letter rather than communicating the recommendations to the school in the course of their frequent meetings on the return plan. Two employees of the Orange County Health Department with knowledge of the discussions,however,told Policy Watch Wednesday that that is a mischaracterization. The employees,who Policy Watch agreed not to identify because they expressed concern about being fired for discussing health department discussions with the university, said the department has frequently expressed its concerns with the university's move-in plan.Those concerns have become more urgent in the last month,they said,as infection and hospitalization numbers have not improved and infection clusters among returning student athletes have made it clear students were not following masking or distancing rules. https://www.ncpolicywatch.com/2020/08/06/unc-chapel-hill-leaders-come-under-fire-at-emergency-faculty-meeting/[8/7/20, 10:18:52 AM]