The senior class Gift Committee met Wednesday night to sort through the 470 votes submitted via e-mail for the five gift choices.
Seniors chose between a scholarship for one urban and one rural student that would have lived together in a cross-cultural experiment, a wall-sized aquarium for the Student Union, a graduate school advising program for UNC seniors, a jumbotron huge TV screen for Kenan Stadium or a contribution to the Henry/Copeland Permanent Art Collection in the Student Union.
The aquarium won by a close margin with 166 votes, with the jumbotron close behind with 139 votes. The scholarship received 85 votes, the graduate advising program received 70 votes and the art collection received 10 votes.
While senior class officers were excited about the unique gift idea, they were more pleased by the level of participation of the senior class. "We're all really excited how many people voted," said Senior Class Vice President Sherilynn Black.
Senior Class President Jason Cowley said the committee would begin working immediately to make the aquarium a reality. "I think this is a neat, dynamic gift," he said. "I'm excited about laying out a design."
Cowley said the aquarium will be paid for mostly by funds to be solicited from the senior class. He said the aquarium will complement the renovations of the Union to be completed in 2002. "It's going to be pretty nice for Carolina students in the future," he said. "It's going to set the Union apart from the norm."
While Cowley said this year's gift differed from traditional choices, he said he thought it was a creative one. "It's what the class wanted," he said. "That's the number one thing we wanted to take care of."
The University Editor can be reached at udesk@unc.edu.
