Student Congress approves bank account for Muslim Student Association

Student Congress met on Tuesday night to approve a number of new appointments and grant an exception to the UNC Muslim Students Association for an external bank account.

What happened?

The UNC MSA pitched their desire to open an external bank account to fundraise in order to build a Muslim Student Center, and the request was approved. Additionally, Student Congress reviewed proposed changes to some of the language regarding plagiarism charges and appointments of new honor court counsels.

Who spoke?

UNC MSA President Ayoub Ouederni, Treasurer Omar Laaroussi and Outreach Co-chairs Youssef Zarrouk and Ahmad Tejan-Sie came to represent their organization in front of Student Congress.

“We aim to raise $300,000 by the end of the semester and $500,000 by the end of the year,” Ouederni said.

Ouederni said an external bank account would allow the UNC MSA to fundraise through wire transfers and credit cards — their two main sources of revenue.

Title V of the UNC Student Code prohibits any student organization receiving student fee money from having their own private bank account. UNC MSA was seeking an exception to the Title V restriction that would allow them to continue receiving student fee money for one year while having an external account to receive funds from donors.

Speaker Cole Simons said Student Congress needed to be careful not to set a harmful precedent when considering granting the exception.

“So based on the way the school’s finance rules work and Title V of the Student Code, if you have student fee money, you are not allowed as a student organization to have an outside bank account,” Simons said. “The only way to approve that is to have an exception like we did.”

Aside from that topic, Undergraduate Student Attorney General Ina Kosova came to speak to Student Congress about proposed changes to language describing plagiarism charges with regard to how they account for the intent of the student.

Why was this meeting important?

In addition to setting a precedent for student organizations seeking exemptions to Title V restrictions in a specific case, some of the members of Student Government met in their suite after the general meeting to release a statement regarding the misdemeanor charges brought against UNC football player Allen Artis.

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