This nut graph from @jackstripling's story on what happened with Nikole Hannah-Jones and UNC is the key. University leadership is clearly cowed by the Board. This is a pattern at this school. chronicle.com/article/how-ch… 
I have no doubt that the radical activist Board of the UNC system makes it very hard to lead the flagship campus, but leadership means leading, and sometimes that means risking one's job to do the right thing.
You can't speak of the high minded values of your university and then fail to stand behind those values in the face of a challenge, even when that challenge comes from your own board. I'm sure UNC leadership is worried about what damage the Board can do, but...
...it's clear that there is no end to the damage these bad actors will wreak on the university. Silence isn't an option. It's a responsibility of leadership. If you can't fulfill that, get out of the job.
It's entirely possible, maybe even probable that standing up to the Board and forcing a confrontation over the values will cause a larger controversy, but my guess and my hope is that a majority of folks would come down on the side of those values and against the board.
The UNC Board is determined to bring their state institutions to heel under the rule of minority power. Too much capitulation has already happened and it's blown up every time. You can manage your way out of this stuff. You have to lead.
I read the statements of the UNC Chancellor as an attempt to cajole, or lightly shame the Board, but it clearly has no effect. The end result is essentially pablum that those focused on achieving power can ignore. unc.edu/posts/2021/07/…
The lack of leadership is ultimately what put NHJ off joining the faculty, for good reason.
I'm sure the UNC Chancellor wants nothing but the best for his school, but this ain't going to get it done.
On her way to Howard, @nhannahjones painted a picture of what leadership would look like at UNC. Maybe they should lure her back as Chancellor. naacpldf.org/press-release/…
Getting a couple of DM's about the "impossible" situation that UNC leadership was in, and I don't discount how fraught the whole deal was, but NHJ was in an impossible position and she navigated through by being true to her values. Leadership means accepting risk.
Yes, easy for a guy who has no position the requires leadership to say, but my career in higher ed was ultimately made impossible because too many leaders acted like managers, rather than leaders, allowing for the erosion of their institutions.
The defensive crouch to limit the abuse from malevolent actors has not been kind to public institutions. I believe that universities doing what we know they can and do do and living those values will garner strong majority support of the public.
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