TO THE EDITOR:
In a letter regarding the failed request by the College Republicans to bring Ann Coulter to campus, Anthony Dent makes the blatantly inaccurate claim that the University doesn’t support intellectual diversity because Student Congress denied the $20,000 request.
I voted in favor of this request after an impressive presentation from the College Republicans treasurer (and as a representative of a traditionally conservative district).
The largest roadblock for the petition was not partisan politics, but rather that College Republicans were required to abstain from voting to prevent conflicts of interest. This procedural stifling took away key votes, leading to an abnormally high amount of abstentions.
In a time of glaring budget cuts, it’s hard to believe that this failed request can cause such controversy — it was the largest request made this semester by several thousand dollars.
If Dent would like UNC to support “intellectual diversity,” then he ought to seek out the TAs who have lost positions and explain to them that he would prefer more than 10 percent of Congress’ budget go toward an event accommodating fewer than 1,000 students. He needs to take facts into account before accusing Student Congress, or the University, of anything.
David L. Hamrick
UNC Student Congress
District 5 (Greek Housing)
