The board approved five other outside hires and 27 promotions during the meeting.
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The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Board of Trustees on Wednesday voted to reject the appointment of a women’s studies professor whose hire had been approved by faculty and administrators. The decision is the latest example of the UNC trustees using what is typically a rubber-stamp vote to deny the hire of a green-lighted faculty candidate.
Kiran Asher, a professor of women’s, gender and sexuality studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, first interviewed for the distinguished professor position in January 2025 and followed what she called a “perfectly normal” hiring process. Provost Magnus Egerstedt told her two weeks ago that her hire would be put up for the board’s approval at the May 13 meeting. During an open-session voice vote at the meeting, one unnamed tenure candidate was rejected.
When she spoke to Inside Higher Ed on Saturday, Asher had yet to receive an official notification about her employment outcome.
