Students push to democratize Board of Governors

A new UNC student group is looking to change the way students interact with the UNC-system Board of Governors — and hoping to increase student input in the board’s decision-making.

The UNC BOG Democracy Coalition launched Thursday during the board’s two-day meeting in Chapel Hill. Students gave board members copies of the group’s petition, which lays out four concrete ways the coalition believes would improve the accessibility, accountability and transparency of the board.

“I assumed I had some say in the Board of Governors, but as soon as I found out that our representation has no voting power or speaking power I joined because I wanted some kind of say,” said sophomore Alice Wilder, who is also a columnist for The Daily Tar Heel.

The coalition is made up of representatives from student groups on campus who feel that the student and faculty voice is not given the appropriate weight when the board is making policy decisions.

“We noticed that some of the campaigns we’ve run, we reach a point where we realize that we don’t have that much power as students. It’s increasingly harder as we get up to the level of the Board of Governors because we realize that we don’t have a voice there,” said senior Catherine Crowe.

Crowe said when she tried to attend one of the board’s working group meetings on Friday, she was stopped by a security guard and told that the meeting was closed, though it was open to the public.

She added that meeting rooms are not large enough to accommodate the public and both days of meetings are during school hours, when students have class and are unable to attend.

In the petition, the group says that every meeting should contain a public comment and petition session where students, staff and faculty can present ideas to the board.

It also believes all board members should use a UNC email address for all university-related business and that the student board member, UNC-system Association of Student Governments President Alex Parker, should be given full membership and voting rights.

Board member Marty Kotis said transparency is important to the board and that there are areas in which they can improve, but that access to the board is not as closed off as the group believes.

“If you want to participate in what goes on in those meetings, attend the meetings. Also, read the materials for the meetings to connect and engage with administrators and board members,” he said.

Student representatives from groups like Student Action with Workers and the N.C. Student Power Union, as well as faculty members, have joined the coalition.

The group’s petition states: “Our coalition is unified by the principles of accessibility, accountability and transparency in the University of North Carolina system. We are moved to action because in recent years the Board of Governors has made decisions that adversely affect students, staff and faculty without consulting these constituencies.”

Crowe said these issues include banning gender-neutral housing, shortening the add-drop period for UNC-system students and capping the amount of tuition revenue a campus can use for need-based aid at 15 percent.

Kotis said students with concerns should attend the committee meetings on Thursday before the full board meets on Fridays.

“Friday is mostly ceremonial and committee reports,” he said. “The real work is done at the committee level.”

Wilder said the group is focused on taking a broader look at the issues the board addresses that impact individual students’ passions.

“It feels like these are broad kinds of ideas that are not sexy issues that people care about,” she said.

Crowe said the coalition is organizing a teach-in Nov. 12 to spread awareness of the petition on campus.

“We realize that it’s not possible to demand this huge vision where students have a lot of control over these decisions, so we have smaller steps to get us there.”

state@dailytarheel.com