Students and faculty across the University of North Carolina system have called for greater input in developing the public university system’s five-year strategic plan — an initiative that could bring a “tsunami of change” to UNC campuses, Appalachian State University Chancellor Ken Peacock said Monday.

UNC system President Tom Ross and UNC Board of Governors Chairman Peter Hans announced the creation of the UNC Advisory Committee on Strategic Directions Sept. 13.

A group called the North Carolina Student Power Union has called for greater diversity of representation on the committee, organizing a petition, day of action and letter campaign. Specifically, the group has noted that the 32-member committee includes only one faculty member, one staff employee and one student.

“This committee will be making decisions about the public higher education system in our state that will directly impact everyone in the UNC system and the people of North Carolina,” said Lydia Bravo-Taylor, a student at N.C. State, in a statement Monday.

“Yet, students, faculty and workers … are dramatically outnumbered by businesspeople with no experience whatsoever in public education,” Bravo-Taylor said. “We make the UNC system what it is, and we should be the ones deciding its future.”

The Advisory Committee is tasked with recommending whether and to what extent the state should embrace higher education degree attainment goals, along with strategies accompanied by reasonable objectives, timelines and metrics, according to committee meeting materials. The committee first met Sept. 26.

The Advisory Committee may also consider recommendations related to higher academic standards and competencies required for a globally competitive workforce. To help inform its recommendations, the Advisory Committee’s work will include a high‐level analysis of the university’s budget.

Additional meetings are scheduled for Oct. 24, Nov. 7, Dec. 12 and Jan. 9.

The Student Power Union has decried a committee membership it says is “dominated by corporate and right-wing forces with a clearly documented agenda to dismantle public education” and “overwhelmingly wealthy white men.”

The union is particularly critical of the appointment of Art Pope, CEO of Variety Wholesalers. Pope is a former state legislator, director of conservative political group Americans for Prosperity and board member for the conservative John Locke Foundation.

The union’s statement Monday demanded that Pope be removed from the committee.

The UNC Faculty Assembly on Sept. 21 passed a resolution calling for a mechanism to solicit faculty input from each campus throughout the strategic planning process and a faculty group be formed “to interact and collaborate with the business/political community advisory committee for the university’s strategic planning.

The ASU Faculty Senate voted to endorse the resolution on Monday.

Peacock, who is among five chancellors appointed to serve on the advisory committee, spoke about the strategic planning process at Monday’s ASU Faculty Senate meeting.

“Change is coming. I don’t know what that change is going to be,” Peacock said, metaphorically stating he felt he was standing at the shore and watching a tsunami approach. “I just sense this change is coming.”

Peacock told the Senate that the “political landscape” and membership among the Board of Governors have influenced that feeling.

Faculty Senate Chairman Andy Koch asked how the current process compares with UNC Tomorrow, the Erskine Bowles-led strategic plan adopted in 2008.

“The process is totally different,” Peacock said, noting that UNC Tomorrow conducted forums across the state to gather input.

Peacock is also a member of the UNC Strategic Directions Committee, a separate committee that is guiding and directing the larger strategic planning process. This committee is chaired by BOG member Fred Eshelman and includes selected UNC General Administration staff and chancellors.

For more information about the strategic planning process, including meeting materials, visit http://www.northcarolina.edu/strategic_direction/meetings/committee/index.php.