Lee Roberts, Trinity ‘90, was elected chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill by a Friday vote of the UNC Board of Governors.
Roberts has served as UNC’s interim chancellor since Jan. 12, after Kevin Guskiewicz left the role to assume the presidency at Michigan State University. Roberts’ term as official chancellor begins Monday.
Roberts attended Duke from 1986 to 1990, where he was a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in political science from the University in 1990.
“For 230 years, UNC-Chapel Hill has been the most important pillar on which we build a better future for North Carolina and its people,” Roberts said. “I’m deeply honored to be asked to play a role in serving this great university. There’s a lot of exciting work ahead.”
UNC System President Peter Hans formed a 13-member committee in February to conduct a national search for Guskiewicz’s permanent replacement.
“I believe we have found the right leader for this moment in Carolina’s history,” Hans said. “Roberts brings a pragmatic understanding of what it will take to expand this university’s service to a vibrant state.”
Roberts' selection on Friday was met with mixed reactions.
His limited experience in academia raised eyebrows for its departure from UNC tradition, though the move falls in line with a recent national trend of selecting nonacademics for university administrator roles.
Roberts’ seven-month interim term was also met with controversy.
His leadership saw national attention in the spring after dozens of students and community members — including seven Duke students and one Duke professor — were arrested at an April 30 “Triangle Gaza Solidarity Encampment” on the university’s campus. Roberts took a personal role in the administration’s response, calling in police forces after protesters reportedly did not comply with an order to clear the area.
After protesters lowered an American flag flown in the center of the quad and replaced it with a Palestinian flag, Roberts restored the American flag — flanked by police officers who forcibly removed students guarding the flagpole.
Roberts secured the support of Republican state legislators for his handling of the protests, who lauded his “patriotism” and advocated for his selection for the permanent chancellorship. Meanwhile, he was simultaneously criticized by students and local government officials who called the response “aggressive” and an “overreaction.”
Roberts also faced scrutiny early on in his interim tenure from UNC students who cast doubts about his ability to govern the university in a nonpartisan manner due to his connection to conservative donor Art Pope.
Roberts served with Pope on the UNC System Board of Governors from 2021 to 2024, resigning in January to assume the interim chancellorship at UNC-Chapel Hill. He previously replaced Pope as budget director for the state of North Carolina in then-Gov. Pat McCrory’s administration following Pope’s resignation in 2014.
In a Feb. 19 Daily Tar Heel opinion editorial, UNC students criticized Roberts’ financial ties to Pope, who they allege built “a vast network of political power” in the state “to push agendas aiming to defund public higher education and promote conservative ideology in university curricula.”
For the last three years, Roberts reported receiving income from Variety Wholesalers, a business owned by Pope. The State Government Ethics Act requires state board members to disclose sources of income above $5,000.
According to Pope, the funds were paid to Roberts as a director’s fee for serving on its board of directors as a non-shareholder.
Prior to joining UNC’s administration, Roberts taught public budgeting classes at Duke’s Sanford School of Public Policy from 2020 until January 2024. He served on the school’s Board of Visitors from 2009 to 2017 and the Board of Visitors of its predecessor institution, the Sanford Institute of Policy Sciences and Public Affairs, from 2005 to 2009.
Roberts has been active in several alumni organizations since graduating from Duke, including as a member of the Duke Alumni Association Board of Directors from 2008 to 2015, which he served as vice president of from 2011 to 2015.
He was also a member of the Annual Fund Reunion Committee from 2004 to 2005, and he served as class chair of the committee from 2009 to 2010, from 2014 to 2015 and from 2019 to 2020. Roberts was a member of the Alumni Admissions Advisory Committee from 2008 to 2023.
Representatives from the Sanford School and Duke’s alumni engagement team did not respond to The Chronicle’s request for comment on Roberts’ election to the permanent chancellorship in time for publication.
Roberts previously worked at a number of private investment firms, including Morgan Stanley, Cherokee Investment Partners and SharpVue Capital. As budget director for the state of North Carolina, he spearheaded the March 2016 Connect N.C. bond package, which allocated $2 billion to enhance higher education facilities.
He holds a Doctor of Law from Georgetown University.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.
Zoe Kolenovsky is a Trinity junior and news editor of The Chronicle's 120th volume.