Axios interviews UNC's Lee Roberts about diversity, the Dean Dome's future and affordability

Lee Roberts is now two weeks into his first semester as UNC's permanent chancellor , but he will soon be making decisions that could reverberate around the state's flagship campus for years to come.

Why it matters: Roberts, a financial executive and former state budget director for Republican Gov. Pat McCrory, is UNC's fourth permanent chancellor since 2013, a period rife with controversies and spats with the state's General Assembly.

• Beyond teaching at his alma mater Duke University, Roberts had no previous higher education experience before taking the UNC job, though Peter Hans, the UNC System's president, has argued that as an asset, calling him a " set of fresh eyes ."

Driving the news: Axios sat down with Roberts in his South Building office in the heart of UNC's campus. Outside, the campus sat relatively quiet just days after pro-Palestinian protesters returned at the start of the new academic year.

• Roberts has been both criticized and praised for his handling of the protests last spring.

Here are some highlights from the interview.

What does diversity mean to UNC going forward

Next week, UNC is expected to release a census of its incoming first-year students, which may reveal how the Supreme Court's ruling banning race-conscious admissions policies could impact the makeup of the university's student body.

• Roberts will also have to submit on Sept. 1 a plan to comply with a UNC System policy that changes the role of diversity, equity and inclusion offices on its campuses.

Roberts declined to discuss how the university will comply until it submits its plan, but he said the school has a duty to reflect the growth and changes of North Carolina itself.

• "We have to make sure that we're reflecting the state as it grows and as it changes," he said. "And we can't just reflect it on paper. We need to make sure that the students get here, no matter where they're coming from, they feel welcome, as though they belong here."

Roberts said he believes there are three components to doing that:

• Affordability . Tuition has been flat for eight years , he noted.
• Outreach . There are areas and schools in the state that haven't sent a student to Carolina in several years, both rural and urban. "We can do a better job recruiting students, letting the students know that we want them at Carolina," he said.
• Plugging in. The university can improve on connecting students with like-minded groups on campus, he said, "whether that's a charitable effort or the ultimate frisbee team or Greek life."

UNC's campus might need some upgrades, including the Dean Dome

Many universities have invested heavily in amenities in recent years to lure students, including N.C. State and Duke, both of which have student unions that were built or renovated in recent years.

Roberts said there are areas on campus that could use investment, and that the university is reviewing fiscal plans for the campus.

• "I was working out in the Student Recreation Center this morning. That facility was built in '93 and it's definitely show(ing) its age," he said.
• "I think that's an area where we need to invest," he added. "Our dining facilities can be overcrowded at peak times, and we have a lot of housing stock that is beginning to show its age."

The university is also seriously considering the future of its basketball team's home , the Dean E. Smith Center. UNC launched feasibility study to assess whether to renovate the building or construct a new facility.

• We've played in the Smith Center since 1986, almost twice as long as we played in Carmichael [Arena] ," he said, adding the Dean Dome leaks and needs structural repairs.
• "We're going to be spending money on our basketball arena no matter which path we take," he said.

Navigating affordability in Chapel Hill

Chapel Hill is a relatively expensive place to live if you work at the university, Roberts acknowledged.

• He said working on affordable housing is a priority both for the town and the university, and he's talked with Chapel Hill's mayor, Jess Anderson , about the topic.
• "We have some tools ... particularly the university owns plenty of land all around the town of Chapel Hill that can be part of a solution to bringing more affordable housing to this area," he said.

An engineering school at UNC?

Earlier this year, many people were surprised to see funding in the state House's proposed budget for a new engineering school at UNC .

• That budget line has not yet passed, but Roberts said it's a mistake to think UNC isn't a place for engineering. It already has 170 faculty in engineering disciplines like biomedical engineering, data science and environmental engineering.
• About half of UNC's undergraduates are STEM majors now, up from around one-third in the recent past, Roberts said. "There's clearly significant student demand for these programs, and that's something we need to be responsive to."
• "Student demand is highly responsive to perceived changes in the workforce," he added. "You can't manage [your offerings] based on year-to-year changes in student demand, but you have to be attentive to what students want to study over the medium and longer term."

Importance of fundraising

Roberts' predecessors , Carol Folt and Kevin Guskiewicz, were responsible for the Campaign for Carolina fundraising campaign that brought in a record $5.1 billion to the university.

• "Our model, and that of our peers, requires us to be fundraising more or less all the time," he said.

He noted that some of the schools within the university have done a better job fundraising than the university as a whole. There's room to improve there, he said.

• 'We're extraordinarily fortunate to be in such a vibrant, fast-growing part of the state with so many companies growing here and moving here," he said. "We can do more in partnering with those companies."

Is UNC's future in the ACC?

Roberts said he and Bubba Cunningham, the school's athletic director, have never seen as much upheaval in college sports as there exists now, with schools switching conference loyalties at a fast clip and television contracts expanding.

• For example, one of Roberts' daughters is a recent graduate of Southern Methodist University, which just joined the Atlantic Coast Conference this year as the ACC tries to retain its status as an elite college conference.

"Our job is to make sure that when the dust settles, Carolina is better off," he said. "We have challenges like every other D1 school does, but I wouldn't trade our strategic positioning for that of any other school. We remain extraordinarily well positioned."