| Office: | 13th Chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill |
| Term Start: | January 12, 2024 |
| Predecessor: | Kevin Guskiewicz |
| Birth Name: | Lee Harriss Roberts |
| Education: | Duke University (BA) Georgetown University (JD) |
Lee Harriss Roberts[1] (born 1968) is currently the 13th chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill since January 2024. Before the chancellorship, he spent 30 years working in finance and real estate investment.
Roberts is the first chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in modern history to serve without a PhD or any prior career in higher education. His appointment faced criticism and opposition from the student body and faculty.
Roberts received a Bachelor of Arts with a major in political science from Duke University in 1990 and a Juris Doctor degree from Georgetown University in 1994.[2]
Roberts spent 30 years working in finance and real estate investment. He was a partner at Cherokee Investment Partners and spent nine years with Morgan Stanley. He then became managing director of Piedmont Community Bank Holdings.[3] From 2014 to 2016, he was the budget director for North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory. He then founded SharpVue Capital, a private investment firm in Raleigh. For the five years before 2024, he taught budgeting at Duke University.[4]
Since 2019, Roberts has served on the corporate board of Variety Wholesalers, a retail-store company owned by Art Pope, a prominent conservative donor.[5]
From 2021 to 2024,[6] Roberts served as a member of the UNC System Board of Governors and chair of its budget committee.[7] [8]
On December 15, 2023, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill announced that Roberts would succeed then chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz (who left to serve as the president of Michigan State University) as the interim chancellor of UNC-Chapel Hill. Roberts described his motivation as stemming from a "family tradition of public service" and his deep commitment to North Carolina, which he first moved to at age 17.
On August 9, 2024, the UNC System Board of Governors appointed Roberts as the 13th chancellor and 31st leader of UNC-Chapel Hill after serving 7 months as interim chancellor. He is the first chancellor of UNC-Chapel Hill in modern history to serve without a PhD or any prior career in higher education.[9] The selection process for Roberts' appointment faced criticism from members of the student body.[10] [11]
On January 12, 2024, a coalition of student groups published an op-ed titled "UNC deserves better, Lee Roberts ain't it" on the university's student newspaper The Daily Tar Heel. The article highlighted Roberts' lack of experience in educational administration and actions during his tenure as state budget director that were perceived as contrary to the interests of higher education and inclusivity.
A month later, in February 2024, another op-ed was published by five UNC students titled "'Nonpartisan' Lee Roberts receives income from far-right megadonor’s company" highlighting a conflict between his claimed commitment nonpartisanship and his financial ties to conservative donor Art Pope.[12] Following this publication, Roberts stated in an interview that he would not be taking income from his board position on Art Pope's company Variety Wholesalers during his time as interim chancellor, and that serving on a corporate board has no bearing on his nonpartisanship.
In early April 2024, a student group was formed in opposition to Roberts' chancellorship, TransparUNCy.[13] Alexander Denza, a UNC student activist and TransparUNCy organizer, questioned the motivations behind accelerated timeline of the search, which was initially expected to conclude by the end of the year.[14] Denza characterized the rapid narrowing of candidates from a broad pool to a final selection within a few weeks as "rigged".[15] At a TransparUNCy meeting session in April 2024, Roberts made an appearance where he reaffirmed his commitment to nonpartisanship to the crowd.[16] [17]
Faculty members also expressed concerns regarding his chancellorship. Sue Estroff, a member of the UNC Faculty Executive Committee, stated weeks before the official appointment of Roberts, "I fear that the chancellor search is already over, and I don’t have a lot of confidence in the process." Roberts was condemned by nearly 900 faculty and staff members in a joint letter, which criticized creating a "militarized and unsafe climate" on campus.[18]