Chancellor promotes Connect NC bond package
UNC Charlotte Chancellor Philip L. Dubois says the $2 billion Connect NC bond package is vitally important to the continued growth of the University and the long-term economic vitality of North Carolina. The bond measure is on the March 15 ballot statewide.
State leaders officially started a formal effort to rally support for the initiative today. Gov. Pat McCrory, Speaker of the N.C. House Tim Moore and Senate Democrat Leader Dan Blue Jr. headlined the Connect NC Bond Campaign Kickoff in the Duke Energy Room of the Jim Hunt Library at N.C. State University Centennial Campus.
As Dubois travels around the Charlotte region to promote the bond package, he said $90 million in the bond issue is earmarked for a new science building at UNC Charlotte.
UNC Charlotte accounts for nearly half of the recent growth in the entire UNC system. And increasing numbers of UNC Charlotte students are seeking degrees in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields.
Without the new science building, Dubois said the University’s enrollment growth will be stopped in its tracks. The new science facility is crucial to ensuring continued growth and to meeting strong demand for talent by Charlotte region employers.
Dubois said demand for science instruction at UNC Charlotte is directly related to enrollment growth. Enrollment at UNC Charlotte has grown by 142 percent since the current science building was built in 1985. He called the bonds a wise investment that will pay huge dividends.
“The business case for the bond package is simple,” Dubois said. “No tax increase is needed to pay for the bonds, the debt service level is below the recommended amount to maintain the state’s triple ‘A’ bond rating, and interest rates are at historic lows.”
Dubois recently spoke to civic and educational leaders in Rowan County. He is expected to make other such presentations prior to the March 15 referendum.
North Carolina has grown by 2 million people since the last bond campaign in 2000. The state’s infrastructure, including educational facilities, is not keeping up with this growth, he added.
The bonds would provide a total of $980 million for facilities on UNC system campuses and another $350 million for community colleges, including $134 million in the Charlotte region.
“It’s not only for the good of UNC Charlotte but for the good of the state,” Dubois said. “And because we have such a heavily populated area, what happens in this region could very well determine what happens with the bond measure statewide.
“So we want to be sure we get good turnout,” he added. “We want to be sure we get voters who are well-educated about what the bonds will do for the University and community colleges and other aspects of the state.”
The new science facility would replace the overcrowded Burson Science Building on the UNC Charlotte campus. That building opened in 1985 with 50 fume hoods, which are used in chemistry labs. It now has 205 fume hoods with no space left to expand.
Renovation estimates of $26 million for the current science building would not provide the needed lab space.
More information on the bond deal and its impact on UNC Charlotte is on the Web.