Two Things: UNCG chancellor under siege; Pharmacy closing presents difficulties for some [News & Record, Greensboro, N.C.]

Feb. 2—Happy Friday. And a busy one at at that.

GREENSBORO — Pity might not be the right word.

Chancellor Frank Gilliam, the embattled leader of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, will be just fine. His annual base pay, per public reports, sits around $427,000 — more than $534,000 with benefits.

Not bad.

Still, compensation aside, the chancellor has had a rough go these last few months.

Budget pressure driven by a general (and wrong-headed) sense that higher education has somehow become superfluous meant that the G has had to contract some 20 academic programs.

A months-long "academic portfolio review" meant that an array of courses and degrees including physics, Korean and Chinese language programs and anthropology will be cleaved from the university's catalog.

In practical terms, it'll mean job losses for faculty, a ding to the overall prestige of the university and a siege mentality settling across campus.

Protests and rallies cropped up. The Faculty Senate voted to censure Gilliam and Provost Debbie Storrs Wednesday and professors decried the process by criticizing its fairness and transparency.

It's a natural — and predictable — reaction. It's difficult not to sympathize with anyone facing the loss of a job and the students suddenly dealing with uncertainty.

(Those currently enrolled in degree programs will be allowed to finish without having to transfer.)

"Fundamentally this is about the future," Gilliam said. "By better aligning resources with our mission, student and community needs, and competitive demands, we ensure UNCG's academic and financial footing for the next generation."

Painful but true.

As is the fact that the G is, at its core, an affordable commuter school and a regional cornerstone in the alphabet soup — UNCs at Greensboro, Asheville, Pembroke, Wilmington — of what remains a fine public state university system.

It's not Carolina or State, nor should it be.

UNCG, built from The Women's College of North Carolina, has its niche. And Gilliam, operating in a difficult climate, is well aware.

Universities with unmanageable tuition rates unimaginable to those of a certain age fortunate enough to be able work their way through school without crippling debt — quaint notion, that — are under siege by politicians looking to score cheap political points by railing at eggheads and "elites."

As hard as it seems at the moment, Gilliam certainly acted from what he believed was the best long-term interest of the school and the community in a no-win situation.

And as an alumnus speaking only for myself, I say give the man a break.

Store closing cause hardship

The building that until Wednesday housed a CVS pharmacy isn't much to look at architecturally speaking.

It's a squat, standard single-story number in downtown Winston-Salem. A two-panel mural near the entrance adds a splash of color, but for the most part, the building represents form over function, designed to meet its purpose as a retail store.

And for decades it did just that.

Built before the renaissance of American downtowns made urban living retro chic, the CVS mostly served cubicle denizens and the working poor passing through the nearby bus station.

But to folks like George Bell, that particular CVS location was a literal lifeline. And with its shuttering — part of a nationwide consolidation by the drug chain — he's left scrambling.

"I'm epileptic. I can't drive and it's hard for me to get around," Bell said. "I'll manage but getting my medicine will be more difficult for sure."

CVS announced the closing in 2023 in a typically corporate way — via official statement surely vetted by a small army of PR types.

The company deemed the closing of 900 locations nationwide a "consolidation initiative" and said its decision came after a careful process that looked at such weighty matters as local market dynamics, population shifts and "geographic access" points.

"Maintaining access to pharmacy services in underserved communities is also an important factor we consider when making store closure decisions," the statement said.

Mm-hmm.

Odd, but it glossed over the biggest factor in these sorts of transactions: profitability and the bottom line.

Pressure from online pharmacies, Amazon and enormous Wal-Mart moving into the market no doubt played a major role.

And a company like CVS Healthcare, publicly traded since 1996, had to respond. It's far more than a simple neighborhood drug store.

CVS Healthcare is a big corporation that owns CVS Pharmacy, its retail arm, CVS Caremark (a pharmacy benefits manager) and Aetna (a health insurance provider) — a one-stop shop in the modern American health-care industry.

To the little guy who might struggle to balance rent with the cost of prescription drugs, it sure looks (and feels) like shareholder value matters as much as convenient and affordable care.

A guy like George Bell, who moved here from Santa Rosa, Calif.

He gets around by bicycle and the downtown CVS meant ease and convenience for a man who lives on Social Security disability.

His prescriptions have been transferred to the CVS at the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and New Walkertown Road — a newer, larger location. And getting there won't be as simple as taking a half-mile ride from his apartment off Sixth Street. He'll still take his bike but the volume of traffic crossing MLK will pose additional hazards.

"I'm not wealthy enough for Uber," he said with a laugh. "Not much choice there."

Things change as time marches on; the evidence is all around Bell from his seat at a table in Merschel Park.

Condos, the spanking new Kaleidium children's museum a few yards away and a movable feast of nearby restaurants that have come with the rebirth of downtown testify.

"I can't be all dramatic about it, either," Bell said. "I think about it like this. A lot of other people have it worse than me. I could be in Ukraine or the Middle East."

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