TO THE EDITOR:
This Wednesday, UNC students are coming together to make history. Student Power UNC Chapel Hill is a student coalition, forged with the purpose of uniting students and groups across campus to connect our various issues behind a united vision to hold our university accountable to ideals of equality and justice.
We are holding an assembly, open to all students and members of the Carolina community, on Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the Campus Y in order to address issues of pertinent concern and urgency.
Thousands of us have expressed a desire for gender non-specific housing on our campus. We have mobilized to ask our university to divest from coal and uphold environmental sustainability.
We have consistently requested recognition of our violent racialized past, particularly in regards to the Confederate monument on our campus.
Students from all over the state have argued for an increased voice at the Board of Governors — the body that makes decisions about tuition and other policies for the entire UNC system.
Yet students and workers have no vote, no speaking time at meetings, and little power over these decisions that directly impact our lives.
For all these reasons and more students are coming together to forge a coalition to push UNC to enact policies in line with our hopes and ideals.
We have a rich legacy of student activism at UNC and across N.C. and history shows us that when students organize together we can win. We hope you’ll join us!
Mackenzie Thomas ’13
Co-President
Campus Y
Member of UNC Student Power Coalition
