Lawmakers couldn't agree and ended up giving the universities nothing. The proposal has changed little except for the inclusion of voters. But I have full confidence that if we do our job correctly, the people will once again respond. The plan includes projects UNC chancellors and community college presidents consider most pressing. I think we still have a lot of work to do.
Legislators expect to approve the referendum swiftly.
Leaders in both parties and both chambers signed on. That's a sharp contrast to 1999, when the House and Senate stalemated over whether voters needed to approve the debt. Frustrated and unwilling to budge, legislators left town without giving the campuses anything. 48,000 Students on the way Even critics of the universities don't contest that they need help. A report by private consultant Eva Klein showed that the state's 16 universities need to prepare for an additional 48,000 students by 2010.