Fellow Bears:

This morning, the Board of Trustees convened for a public presentation and discussion about the projected financial impact of COVID-19 on UNC鈥檚 FY 20 and FY 21 budgets, as well as various measures that are being considered to address projected shortfalls in the months ahead. The financial impact in FY 20 is about $4.5 million and our current projections suggest that we could face an additional $18.5 million revenue shortfall in FY 21鈥攁lthough the actual impact could certainly be better or worse, depending on how things continue to unfold.

As a first measure to begin addressing the projected shortfalls, I announced this morning that I will take a 10% reduction in pay and that a similar 10% reduction will be applied to UNC鈥檚 vice presidents and athletic director while we navigate the fallout from COVID-19 and its effects on our university鈥檚 budget and operations. While this is the first cost-saving measure I am implementing to respond to the financial hardship our university and community will face, it will not be the last. Although no specific decisions regarding additional budget reductions have been made, I have asked my team to keep all options on the table and will continue to communicate openly with you as we proceed. 

The meeting and Q&A session that followed were also recorded and are available to view at聽unc.link/trustees. If you were unable to join us this morning, I encourage you to watch the presentation online.

We are all in this together. I have heard it said several times in the last few weeks that 鈥渢ough times do not last, tough people do.鈥� I have faith in the resilience of this Community of Bears and know we will weather this storm together.

Rowing, Not Drifting,

Andy Feinstein
President