Like all government operations, state universities waste money. We are accustomed to seeing them pile on layers and layers of needless bureaucrats, “investing” in fancy new buildings (while older ones are allowed to deteriorate), and hire expensive “star” faculty who spend most of their time working on research projects that are of scant value to anyone.
But here’s a new bit of wasteful spending — the University of North Carolina system is going to relocate from its longstanding location on the Chapel Hill campus to downtown Raleigh. In today’s Martin Center article, Jenna Robinson writes about this development. There had been discussion about doing this, supposedly to reduce what was perceived as undue influence in favor of UNC-Chapel Hill by having the system offices there, for some time. Now it’s about to happen.
Robinson is skeptical about the expense of the move, writing that, “While it’s true that UNC-Chapel Hill has, in the past, seemed to exert a special pull over the System as a whole, this move is a sudden and expensive change. The UNC System is already in the middle of moving from the outdated C.D. Spangler Building on Raleigh Road to the Center for School Leadership Development — an additional two miles from UNC-Chapel Hill’s main campus. The new building has ample parking and sufficient facilities to live stream meetings as well as house the UNC System staff in one location.”
Alas, one more higher-education cost for the taxpayers to cover.