UNC President Tries To Reassure Rocky Mount Leaders

While a commission has rejected the idea of turning N-C Wesleyan College into a U-N-C campus, there's still interest in the Rocky Mount area from the 16-campus system.

President Erskine Bowles visited the area Tuesday, first meeting privately with officials who had pushed the idea, then attending a public meeting. Also attending the private meeting was James Leutze, the former U-N-C Wilmington chancellor who led the study commission that recommended against the change.

Bowles says while the Leutze report said converting N-C Wesleyan wasn't the best way to bring hope to eastern North Carolina, it didn't say U-N-C didn't want to be a part of what the area wants to do.

Last week, the commission said the change would cost too much and be inefficient. It cited the 207 million dollar cost and a lack of cademically qualified students in the 11-county region.

One Rocky Mount businessman says local leaders feel like they've been insulted.