Like many student organizations, every year the UNC Association of Student Governments elects a new leader. ASG is made up of all 17 UNC-system schools, and therefore can reach from a wide pool of applicants from across the state. But this year a single pair of students is running unopposed.
Alex Parker, the North Carolina State University student body president and Leigh Whittaker, the UNC-Asheville student body president, are running together for president and vice president, respectively.
Parker and Whittaker will have their work cut out for them. ASG has been dealt the stereotype of being ineffective, unproductive and a serious misuse of funds. Now the pair will have the not so insignificant task of bearing that burden and turning the ship around.
UNC-Chapel Hill’s relationship with ASG in particular has been rocky for the past few years to say the very least. In both 2012 and 2013 through referendums, students narrowly decided to remain in the organization.
UNC is now firmly ensconced in ASG for the foreseeable future, but the fact remains that our school has tried to jump ship recently enough that the stigma remains.
Parker and Whittaker need to stake their ground now by ensuring that their platform, which will be introduced in March, is relevant to the needs of all 17 schools by making the most feasible and actionable plan possible.
The ASG website cites high tuition prices, gender-neutral housing and student accessibility to voting among the most important priorities to tackle for students in the UNC-system.
Parker and Whittaker would be wise to continue the work of current president Robert Nunnery by taking up those causes. But one of the most important things an incoming leader can do is take stock of what works and what doesn’t and make improvements.
One of ASG’s largest problems in the recent past has been its difficulty to meet quorum.
