After concerns over a lack of professors receiving tenure in 2025, the UNC Board of Trustees used a written ballot to confer tenure on more than two dozen employees.

WRAL reported on the unusual numbers last week after the board deferred a number of personnel decisions in their May meeting.

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On June 4 via written ballot, the board considered and approved all of the personnel actions deferred in May.

The move impacts a total of 33 professors, including employees in the College of Arts and Sciences, the School of Education, the School of Information and Library Science and the School of Law.

In a statement provided to WRAL, a UNC spokesperson wrote, "Nothing has changed in the University’s tenure policies. Tenure-track faculty across the University, including those in the College of Arts and Sciences, are eligible for tenure."

The statement also says, "The University administration and Board of Trustees moved these personnel actions forward given the impact the deferral caused on departments. The University will continue to weigh all factors when considering the timing of expenditures given the current fiscal environment."

UNC Faculty Chair Beth Moracco wrote a letter to the Board of Trustees after the May meeting calling the tenure situation "highly unusual."

The board approved tenure for a handful of professors in health affairs schools at that meeting, and no professors from the College of Arts and Sciences had received tenure in 2025 until this Wednesday's written ballot.

WRAL News looked into how the tenure numbers compare to past years.

By the mid-way point of 2023, 47 appointments, 14 of them in the College of Arts and Sciences, had been granted.

Halfway through 2024, 57 appointments, 19 of them in the College of Arts and Sciences had been made.

Before the June 4 decision, only 31 professors had received tenure, down from past years, with none in the College of Arts and Sciences included.

The change now brings the total number of tenure recipients in 2025 at UNC Chapel Hill to more than 60, higher than this point in past years.

Faculty argue tenure is necessary for recruitment and retention of top faculty at Carolina.