Opinion: UNC student government needs a unified website

As of now, the three branches of student government — the executive branch, student congress and the honor system — have three separate websites without any clear indication of how they work together.

Each branch’s website gives information about its main functions, duties and officers. The websites are helpful in explaining how each body operates and how students can get involved. The sites also have the necessary contact information of the students involved with each branch.

However, the executive branch website is the only one of the three that mentions any of the other branches of government, but the mentions are just links to the other two websites, not an explanation of how the executive branch works with student congress and the honor system.

If a first-year student wanted to learn about the interworkings of student government, the student would have to go to the student government suite in the Student Union Annex to see an infographic that explains how the three branches of student government are related.

The three branches of student government have different functions, duties and officers, but that is not a good reason for UNC’s separate student government websites. Each group does operate independently, but the groups should also show how they work together. For this reason, the branches should work together to create a website for all of student government.

For the Honor System specifically, it makes sense to have the website as the part of the Office of Student Conduct’s website, as the Honor System works closely with that office. According to Honor System Outreach Coordinator Josh Green, having supplementary information on a unified student government website would be a helpful resource for students.

Other schools, like the University of Virginia, have one website for their student council, with separate tabs for their executive board, cabinet and representative body.

Even Duke University has one website for its student government with similar tabs for its executive board, senate and cabinet. For both of these schools, students can go to one website and find all the information they need to know about their student government, instead of having to navigate three different ones.

The UVA and Duke websites are easily searchable on Google. In fact, the top result is a centralized website that connects all branches. But when “UNC student government” is searched, only individual links to the executive branch and student congress websites appear. Worse, the honor system does not appear in the first several pages.

Separate websites demonstrate a lack of unification in student government to those who are not involved. It seems as if each branch operates completely independently from the other two.

For these reasons, a unified student government website should be created, with different pages for the different branches. That way, students looking for information on student government can find it more easily, and student government can present a unified front for UNC’s student governance.

Student government is an important part of student life at UNC. It is important that it is made more accessible and understandable to the entire student body.