By Jeff Hamlin
Assistant News Director

To say the least, Holden Thorp’s first year as UNC Chancellor wasn’t easy. It featured the worst budget crisis since the Great Depression.

On the other hand, the university had a record-breaking year for grants and contracts.

The growth of the grants was not enough to offset the 60-million dollars in cuts the university was forced to make because of a reduction in funding from the General Assembly. Even the positive of receiving more grants has a downside in these difficult economic times. Thorp says the extra revenue creates more bookkeeping and extra regulations to follow, which is tougher to do with fewer resources.

In the years prior to becoming chancellor, Thorp spent time growing businesses he started himself.

Though there are many differences between the private sector and academics, Thorp has taken a CEO approach to his role at UNC.

Even before he realized how severe the budget situation would be, Thorp decided to hire consulting firm Bain and Company to look at the university’s operations.

Thorp made his comments on “Today’s Business,” a program hosted by Jeremy Salemson that can be heard every weekend on WCHL.