TO THE EDITOR:
Rep. Root asks: why should UNC withdraw from the Association of Student Governments? Because the students he and I represent deserve a student advocacy organization that spends its time and their money effectively.
When ASG met this past October and effectively spent $3,000 of students’ money only to pass neither resolutions nor plan any advocacy trips, UNC-CH students can start to put together why this may not be the case.
I speak for many in student government in wishing that this meeting was an exception. We all share a dedication to shared governance for the fruits it bears for those we represent; we would not have
joined student government otherwise.
When only 9 percent of a student advocacy organization’s budget goes toward student advocacy, however, something is fundamentally wrong. Time and time again, ASG has failed to internally fix these programs, and it is not from lack of dedication or an absence of effort by UNC-Chapel Hill’s delegation this year or in prior years.
It is a consequence of flawed institutional design that impedes ASG’s good intentions. The organization’s bloated membership, constrictive rules and procedures and purposeless leadership structure all prevent ASG from fulfilling its mission of productive shared governance.
I speak candidly in saying that tentative talks have already begun between administrators and students about the potential for an alternative UNC-system student advocacy organization if UNC students do vote yes. A call from our student body for change is exactly the impetus these discussions need.
Representative Root misleads his readers in his fatalist remarks that students do not wield power over their situation. Vote “yes” this Friday to move ASG in a new direction: advocating for you.
John Guzek ’14
Student Congress
Speaker Pro-Tempore
