Once again, the Editorial Board is left disappointed by Student Government.
We’ll admit the Board tends to be cynical about most matters, but we tried to be optimistic about this election. We assumed that, after witnessing pure chaos within the administration, student government would learn from their mistakes and run clean, respectable elections.
We thought that everyone was playing fair — that candidates knew what they were getting into with these elections, and that they were prepared to confront the student body with their past, present and future endeavors.
Weren’t we mistaken.
Campus has already dealt with the early retirement of its vice chancellor, resignation of the UNC-system president and early exit from its chancellor, all in one of the most contentious academic years in recent history. An interim UNC-system president chose an interim chancellor. We deserve some stability in leadership, even if it may be from a student government which, admittedly, often plays a symbolic role.
The student body presidential candidates did not provide that for the student body, who every candidate claimed to serve. This election reinforced the mistrust the student body has toward Student Government.
The night of the Campus Y debate where Jane Tullis openly denounced Savannah Putnam’s use of the n-word, we learned of Tullis’ association with a 2015 social media post. The post, which featured Tullis and a friend posing with cornrows, contained a racially-insensitive comment by Tullis: “Straight Outta Compton or straight out of prison?”
On the night before elections, Jack Noble was “found guilty of five violations: three counts of misrepresentation, one count of falsification and a location violation,” according to an article by The Daily Tar Heel. All four of the cases were brought forward by individuals affiliated with the Martin campaign — one of whom was Martin’s campaign manager. Make of that what you will. Furthermore, the timing of the accusations —right before voting began —is suspicious. Although Noble was found guilty for the charges, the violations ultimately boil down to petty, subjective semantics.
Worst of all, the day elections took place, allegations arose against Tarik Woods regarding abuse of power and directed misogyny toward fellow female members of the student government. Although Woods apologized, he excused his behavior by blaming his “aggressive leadership style” claiming he “wasn’t aware” of the effects his actions had for his female peers. Sure, Tarik.
