Powell officially takes helm as student body president

Student Body President Andrew Powell said he is ready to lead what he called the nation’s best public university — and will do so with students in mind.

In a ceremony to inaugurate Powell and members of Student Government, including Graduate and Professional Student Federation President Shelby Dawkins-Law and Student Congress members, the junior addressed his plans for the forthcoming year.

“We have an opportunity now to direct the narrative at UNC, and we must seize that opportunity now,” he said. “We can act in the face of unprecedented challenges to continue to make good on the promise that Carolina has made ever since 1789.”

Powell, who replaced Christy Lambden as president Tuesday, said in an interview that his priorities include preventing tuition increases. But he also said he wants to prevent instances of another issue campus has been grappling with — sexual assault.

“The sexual assault task force is wrapping up their recommendations by the end of the year, and we want to be engaged at the end of that process so that we can see those implemented as soon as possible,” he said.

Powell said that his main priorities as he takes office include sexual assault and violence prevention, the blended learning initiative and student government reform efforts.

“All three of them we will be working on contemporaneously,” he said.

But Powell stressed the importance of continuing to work against sexual violence. He said he supports the initiative to get new fraternity members and chapter executive boards One Act trained.

“We are also making preparations for the Greek One Act trainings which will be rolled out in a bigger way in the fall,” he said.

Wilson Parker , director of state and external affairs for the Powell administration, said he believes that Powell’s team is working to accomplish the goals he outlined in his platform. He said these goals include maintaining UNC’s affordability and protecting students.

“We’ve got to take steps to make UNC a safer environment,” Parker said.

As a candidate, Powell was known for his plans to bring the flipped classroom model to large lectures. He said he will finish forming the team that will strive to implement his blended learning initiative. His administration plans to put out applications for external appointments and policy chairs this week.

“Another big priority heading into the summer is the blended learning initiative. We’re doing a lot of the work right now talking with a bunch of different stakeholders on campus to lay the groundwork heading into the summer,” he said.

Powell’s vice president Kyle Villemain said their approach must include listening to the campus community.

“We need to make sure that we have an approach that gets feedback from students and faculty and changes the approach based on that feedback. It’s not just a gather feedback and move ahead,” he said.

Villemain said that he has already learned a lot about student government in the past few weeks.

“We’re getting a really good understanding of all the different levers of student government and how they interact with each other and the tools at our disposal to represent the student body,” he said.

Powell said he has learned from the Lambden administration, and its members have helped him prepare for his role.

He said he is eager to begin his tenure.

“I am so impressed by the team that has come together of executive branch officers,” he said, “and I am incredibly excited to begin working with them in earnest.”

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