ASG considers presenting $10,000 grant to ASU

Due to a source error, the original version of this story incorrectly states the cost of the association’s last advocacy trip to Washington, D.C. It cost the association $6,000. Other expenses were paid for by participants. The Daily Tar Heel apologizes for the error.

CHARLOTTE — Student leaders gathered Saturday in Charlotte to discuss funding allocations and lobbying tactics for the academic year.

Members of the UNC Association of Student Governments discussed awarding a grant to Appalachian State University to help the campus in an international competition.

The association, made up of student delegates from all 17 UNC-system schools, meets monthly at a different campus throughout the state. Travel costs and officer stipends are paid for with an annual $1 student fee from all system students.

Members proposed using ASG’s pool of money meant for campus innovation grants — a total of $10,000 — to a particular school instead of multiple ones.

In past years, selected campuses have received up to $1,000 each from the grant.

But Atul Bhula, the association’s president, said he could raise that limit if needed.

This year, ASG might allot the entire fund to ASU for a project its students entered in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon competition.

“It’s a huge competition,” said Lauren Estes, ASU’s student body president. “It’s the equivalent of winning a national football championship.”

The contest includes a mix of international collegiate teams competing to design and build energy-efficient solar-powered houses. ASU is the only university from North Carolina competing.

“This is not just an Appalachian thing,” said Bhula, who is an MBA student at ASU. “This is our state.”

Estes said once the competition is over, ASU’s team will travel across the state showcasing the house. But the house is currently in Washington, D.C., waiting to be judged, and Estes said the team lacks the money to move it back to North Carolina when the competition ends this week.

“At this point, we’re scraping the bottom of the barrel with funding,” she said.

Members also debated the association’s lobbying efforts.

Kevin Kimball, a delegate from UNC-CH, sponsored the Keep It Local Act — a bill that would prevent ASG from lobbying at the federal level to save money.

ASG’s last advocacy trip to Washington, D.C., in January 2009 cost the association $26,000, with costs from participants bringing the total to more than $50,000.

And some members said they want to focus on being effective at the state level.

“We haven’t perfected what ASG does in North Carolinian politics,” said Mary Cooper, UNC-CH’s student body president.

But Bhula is planning to take about 20 students to Washington this spring to lobby for higher education.

The legislative and public affairs committee tabled Kimball’s bill until next month.

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