TO THE EDITOR:
On Thursday, The Daily Tar Heel’s editorial board published an editorial calling for student leaders to fight for self-governance. Their central claim was that Vice Chancellor Crisp’s memo on separation is overreach. As such, they urged student leaders not to capitulate.
Their editorial is false, inflammatory and based on incorrect information and manipulation of data.
The reality is that the student government must act in accordance with the Separation Memo. UNC-system policy gives the Chancellor “complete executive authority” and the power to delegate that authority as they choose, including to student governments. Stating otherwise is either a demonstration of woeful ignorance of policy or intentional deception. Besides misinforming their audience about the UNC system, the members of the editorial board also misrepresent the election data by stating that the current system is the “popular will.” The majority of voters chose separation, not once, but twice. The second time, the referendum only failed by 41 votes, with 65.97 percent of the vote.
Additionally, they rewrite UNC’s history through omission. There is precedence. The administration stepped in for fairer representative governance in 1971 with the foundation of the GPSF.
And that brings me to my final point: The editorial board presents this as a great scandal, endangering self-governance. Yet, whose self-governance? Graduate and professional students are not fairly represented under the current system. The real scandal here is that the DTH editorial staff affects the moral high ground while asking for one-third of the student body to continue to tolerate a system that exploits their fees while ignoring their interests.
Brian Coussens
GPSF Vice President of Internal Affairs
