Association of Student Government to get new officers

New leaders and fresh internal reforms are on the agenda for this weekend’s UNC-system Association of Student Governments meeting at Winston-Salem State University.

Alex Parker, student body president of N.C. State University, and Leigh Whittaker, UNC-Asheville’s student body president, are running unopposed for president and vice president.

ASG, which is funded by a $1 annual student fee, is a student advocacy organization composed of delegates from all 17 UNC-system schools.

UNC-CH’s delegate to ASG, Student Congress Speaker Connor Brady, who nominated the two candidates, expressed support for them as well as the reform resolutions.

“I believe that Alex and Leigh will plan advocacy efforts, empower students from all over North Carolina and be a part of a new direction for an organization that so far has been a hindrance to real progress,” Brady said. “Alex currently represents a large university, and Leigh a small one. That mix will ensure that no school in our system is forgotten and all voices will be brought to the table.”

Andrew Powell, UNC-CH’s student body president-elect, does not plan to attend this weekend’s meeting because he has not yet taken office.

But Powell said he is excited to work with ASG, particularly with its new leaders.

“I’ve heard great things about the candidates,” he said. “I know that they’ll do a good job of coming together and representing students all across the state.”

One reform resolution would authorize ASG to purchase iClickers to track how delegates vote, which would be posted online for public access — a move Brady supports.

Another resolution would support changing UNC-system student identification cards to potentially meet higher standards at the polls after North Carolina’s voter ID law banned college IDs at the voting booth.

“I recognize that this is an opportunity to ensure that students have the proper identification to vote prior to the enactment of the voter identification law,” Brady said.

But ASG President Robert Nunnery remains uncertain of the resolution’s success.

“We are trying to move towards making our campus IDs more accountable and more official,” he said. “The goal is to eventually petition the legislature to include college IDs as permissible IDs in the new voter ID law.”

Another resolution would request that the State Board of Elections reconsider Watauga County Board of Elections’ decision to move early voting off of Appalachian State University’s campus.

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