Candidates offer new ideas for CAA presidency

Both candidates for president of the Carolina Athletic Association have several goals in common — one being to change the lottery system for men’s basketball tickets.

But juniors Stefon Walters and Allison Hill have different ideas about how to accomplish those goals.

Under Walters’ ticketing plan, students would be able to sign up as a group of up to 15, but the lottery would still be based on individual selection. Students in the same group would be guaranteed the same seating phase, if they were given tickets.

Hill also wants to reform the ticket lottery and said the best way to do so would be to make sure students who enter lotteries consistently without receiving tickets do get tickets eventually, rather than having to wait multiple games without getting tickets.

Both candidates also said they want to increase communication and outreach to students.

“One of the main ideas of my platform is really around bridging the gap between the CAA and the general student body,” Walters said.

Hill said she wants to increase involvement and communication with students.

“I know with a lot of students I’ve talked to, a lot of them don’t know what CAA is,” she said.

Walters said he plans to restructure the CAA cabinet.

“I have a feeling that if you disperse the responsibilities, it will make it easier to get the work done, versus having work loaded on certain cabinet members,” he said.

“It opens up room for efficiency. The less you have to worry about, the more time you can put into making sure things get accomplished.”

Walters said he also plans to improve communication by introducing public relations chairmen to each CAA committee, as well as introducing a CAA newsletter both online and in print.

He said the more students are informed, the more efficient the CAA will be.

Hill said she wants to encourage student ideas to be brought before the CAA and the athletic department, while also promoting ways for students to get involved on campus throughout the school year.

One of her plans involves a beginning of the year kick-off event for the student body to find out more about the CAA.

“I know when I was a freshman, I wanted to know how to get involved, but applications were in the spring and I wasn’t able to do it then,” she said.

Both candidates also said they want to increase awareness about all sports teams on campus alongside more visible teams like men’s basketball and football.

Johnathan Flynn, the current CAA president, said the job is a two-part task, consisting of event planning on one hand and being the student voice in athletic matters on the other hand.

“One of the things we always discuss is increasing student awareness of CAA and what we do,” Flynn said.

“There are plenty of students who are aware, but others don’t know what CAA is. One goal is to keep students aware of what the rules — like basketball lottery rule — are,” he said.

Flynn said that at the end of the day, representing the CAA is about keeping students happy, but also representing the athletic department.

Contact the desk editor at university@dailytarheel.com.