Opinion: Student Congress should seek consistency

CORRECTION: A previous version of this editorial incorrectly identified the last session for which Student Congress posted its minutes to its website. It was in November 2013. The editorial also incorrectly stated that awarding funding for food for Honor System Outreach constituted a violation of the Student Code. The group was able to get the funding because two-thirds of full Congress voted to grant the exception, which is allowed under the code. The Daily Tar Heel apologizes for the errors.

S tudent Congress is one of the three branches that delivers on the promise of self governance for UNC students — a promise to, in the words of the student code, “enrich each student’s experience at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.”

Lately, the student legislative body has had trouble living up to that promise.

The realities of this commitment are often blurred between student government representatives’ obligation to students and the code under which they are bound to operate. For the sake of the betterment of the campus, members of Student Congress ought to rededicate themselves to the spirit of pursuing the student body’s interests.

Student Congress is bound to operate under the UNC student code — a 100-plus-page document that details procedures for everything from the amount of money certain groups on campus may receive according to the nature of the group, to the manner in which executive branch nominations are carried out and confirmed.

The trouble with Student Congress’ relationship to the student code, to put it simply, is a lack of consistency. For example, under section 103, “The minutes of all Student Congress meetings shall be published to the Student Congress website no later than seven days after approval by the Student Congress.”

Unfortunately, upon visiting the Student Congress website, no such minutes are found. The last minutes Student Congress posted were from November 2013.

Regarding the appointment process, which Student Congress oversees, Congress members recently decided during the meeting itself to block a well-qualified appointee for the solicitor general position within the judicial branch because of a minute discrepancy within the Student Code determining how many positions legal officers may hold.

Recently, Student Congress has come under fire because of inconsistencies within the methods used to allocate funds to student groups. Groups that received certain amounts of money last spring faced drastic budget cuts this fall without warning.

Many groups of 25 students or fewer received less than 60 percent of their requested budgets. Other groups were forced to cut food expenses out of their requested budget, as is customary for student groups. Honor System Outreach, a branch of student government, was awarded money for food just this week — a clear break from the spirit of the student code. The group was able to get the funding because two-thirds of full Congress voted to grant the exception, which is allowed under the Student Code.

Turnover within Congress each year surely contributes to inconsistent interpretation of the student code. Congress replaces many, if not most, of its members every year — a practice obviously not conducive to enforcing policies consistently and presenting a stable front to the student body.

The state of Student Congress may be described as a sort of quiet ineptitude. It has yet to produce front-page scandals or be criticized by any loud voices on campus, something many other groups on campus cannot say about themselves. But with multiple members of Congress yet to show up to a vote this year, the group is far from perfect.

One cause of the lack of commitment among Congress members could be the manner in which representatives are elected. Members are elected according to housing districts.

Because so few students live in the same place from year to year, many representatives are elected to represent a housing district they won’t call home during their term. This causes an obvious lack of accountability to constituents and may explain Congress members’ lack of engagement.

A solution to the districting problem may be to elect Congress members according to their academic affiliation.

Regardless, for the sake of Student Congress’ future, representatives should affirm both their commitment to the Student Code and to serve the UNC student body.