Minority leadership conference causes conflict in ASG

A minority male leadership conference in Chapel Hill this week has sparked conflict within the UNC-system Association of Student Governments.

ASG President Cameron Carswell announced Thursday that she removed Cameron Moore, co-founder of the Minority Male Academic and Leadership Enrichment Initiative, from his position as the association’s director of leadership development after he refused to resign.

Moore received a stipend of $1,500 from the association.

He was charged in August with planning a systemwide leadership conference for minority males.

But Carswell said his leadership did not represent the association well, and he did not properly use student fees.

He was allocated $4,000 to present the conference, Carswell said. The association is funded by an annual $1 student fee.

Moore said $4,000 was not enough, and he was told to look for outside sponsors. UNC’s Multicultural Affairs and Diversity Outreach helped to provide funding.

Carswell said Moore’s planned budget was $16,000, which ASG could not afford.

“I was accused of not taking student advocacy into opinion and being more concerned about the numbers,” she said.

In the association’s recurring budget, $6,500 is allocated for discretionary advocacy.

Moore said when he spoke to the association’s chief financial officer a week ago, he had not been told to set aside the $4,000.

“It turned into a lot of political games, which I’m really not into,” Moore said. “This conference was about supporting minority males.”

Carswell said she discovered that Moore had been communicating with members of the UNC-system General Administration without relaying information back to her. She said Moore sent unprofessional emails to members.

But Moore said he struggled to garner support from General Administration, which was planning a minority male mentoring program.

“General Administration was playing political games,” he said, adding that he didn’t think he was unprofessional. “I can’t help it if you get offended by something I said.”

The conference kicked off Thursday and will continue today, but Moore said without the association’s support, he had to pay for some expenses himself — and some schools that wanted to attend were deterred by the confusion.

“This all happened in the last 48 to 72 hours,” he said. “It’s pretty much people getting their feelings hurt and trying to be malicious.”

Moore said he hoped any interested minority student would still reach out to him, via themaleinitiative.org.

“I’m still here, nobody can stop that,” he said.

Carswell said the situation was “grotesquely disappointing,” and the association would brainstorm new ways to advocate for minority students.

“Sometimes I think there’s a dismissal of minority students because they make up a small portion of the university, but they’re some of the brightest (and) most diverse students,” she said.

The association, which is composed of schools across the UNC system, will meet this weekend at Fayetteville State University.

Christy Lambden, UNC student body president-elect, said he will be going to next month’s meeting.

“I think the association needs significant reforms, and I really am looking forward to working with them,” he said.

Contact the desk editor at state@dailytarheel.com.