CORRECTION: Due to an author error, a previous version of this letter incorrectly identified graduate student David Goldberg’s position on the Student Safety and Security Committee. Goldberg was and continues to be a member of the committee. There is no vice chairman of the committee. The letter has been updated to reflect this change. The Daily Tar Heel apologizes for the error.
TO THE EDITOR:
Like David Goldberg, I’d like to help Student Congress set the record straight on the abysmal record of the 2013-14 safety and security committee. (UNC Student Congress Sets Limits on Funding, Sept. 24)
Until Congress passed a bill prohibiting it, SSSC meetings took place via email last year. No public discussion or debate was held regarding thousands of dollars of student fees, just emailed votes with no record or paper trail whatsoever.
The SSSC held an April 15 meeting with Buzz Rides on its agenda. Those minutes include only the positive comments in favor of Buzz Rides. Members of the committee and those speaking in public comment questioning the legality of funding a for-profit are left off of the minutes. Not exactly the “full and complete” minutes the Student Code requires.
At perhaps its most famous meeting on May 6, the SSSC, without proper meeting notice and without quorum, held one final meeting on Buzz Rides. If an illegal meeting wasn’t enough, nearly $15,000 was allocated to a for-profit business when questions continued to swirl on the legality of the action.
Though he spoke out on emailed votes and violations of meeting laws last fall, SSSC member David Goldberg said little about the SSSC’s illegal meeting on May 6 and nothing about their incomplete April 15 minutes.
Considering the SSSC has very few records of their work last year (outside of lawsuits and Daily Tar Heel articles) I’m happy to provide this clarification so Congress can truly set the record straight.
Connor Brady
