Two vie for student body president slot on first day

Juniors Tyler Jacon and Houston Summers declared their candidacies for student body president on Monday.

Jacon believes there should be more responsibility given to those in student government.

“Just in the past year, I’ve seen a lot of things in student government I want to change,” said Jacon, the former chairman of the Student Safety and Security Committee of Student Congress. “I want to empower the student governance institution so we’re taken more seriously.”

Jacon was taken to the Student Supreme Court in 2014 after he approved the funding of Buzz Rides, a for-profit student startup, with student fees. Buzz Rides eventually lost its funding when it was found that the meeting that approved its funding did not meet quorum.

Jacon said he will win with a well-written platform that focuses on relevant policy changes, particularly on sexual assault on campus and faculty retention.

Junior track and field athlete Houston Summers also declared his candidacy Monday.

Summers is currently an executive member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Council, which advises Chancellor Carol Folt on topics related to student-athletes.

Summers declined to comment for this story on Monday.

The 2014 student body president runoff election between Andrew Powell and Emilio Vicente saw 7,000 students vote — the most since Mary Cooper was elected in 2011.

Before anyone can vote for the candidates, they must qualify for the ballot.

Once all candidates have officially declared their candidacy, they are required to obtain a certain amount of signatures depending on the position they are running for.

“Starting on Tuesday night at 11:59, you can start your campaign,” said Alex Piasecki,chairman of the Board of Elections.

A minimum of 1250 signatures are required to be on the ballot for student body president. The candidates’ lists of signatures are due to the Board of Elections on Feb. 3.

“You are not a certified candidate until petitions are in,” Piasecki said.

Candidates must also turn in a spreadsheet with the name and PID of each person who gave a signature.

There are two more meetings on Tuesday where potential candidates can declare their candidacy.

university@dailytarheel.com

CORRECTION: Due to a source error, a previous version of this story incorrectly identified one committee in which Houston Summers is involved as two separate athletics committees. Summers is an executive member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Council. The story has been updated to reflect this change. The Daily Tar Heel apologizes for the error.