BOG protestors focused on the drop-add policy and housing

“Whose university? Our University!” students chanted on their march to protest at the first day of the monthly UNC-system Board of Governors meeting.

About 30 students representing groups including Student Power, the Sierra Student Coalition and the Gender Non-Specific Housing Coalition, marched from the Pit to Spangler Building on Raleigh Street.

They were protesting issues like the shortening of the course drop period to 10 days from eight weeks and the board’s decision in August to ban gender-neutral housing after the UNC Board of Trustees had passed the housing plan last year.

Kevin Claybren, a leader in the gender-neutral housing campaign, said he attended the board meeting as a supporter of other groups, like the Sierra Student Coalition, which is advocating for coal endowment.

“All these decisions, like the add-drop policy, can be struck down by the BOG — just like with the gender-neutral housing,” he said.

The board members met Thursday for a series of board committee meetings. The full board will reconvene today at 9 a.m.

The system Association of Student Governments President Robert Nunnery updated the board’s university governance committee about finding alternatives to gender-neutral housing.

Nunnery, system General Administration members and UNC students have been discussing alternatives, which include a housing application option where students indicate if they’d like to participate in a diverse living situation, and a diverse living-learning community for LGBT students.

Nunnery said ASG would take students’ concerns into account and write a resolution.

In an interview, Nunnery said he hopes to have the resolution passed by the association by its February meeting. The ideas will be shown to the board, but Nunnery said ultimately, it will be up to the campuses to implement the ideas — which he is hopeful will happen by next academic year, he said.

Dylan Su-Chun Mott, an organizer for the rally, said he thinks the board has been unresponsive to the voices of its main constituents.

“The BOG is not taking the student voices into account,” he said. “They’re making decisions about other interests.”

Nunnery had told the committee members that students were not only disappointed in the policy change but also felt as if their voices were not heard.

Protestor Ping Nguyen said he was fighting for transparency in the board.

“The BOG is ignoring the deans, the students. They just push it aside and move on with their agenda,” he said.

Senior writer Madeline Will contributed reporting.

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