Daily Tar Heel senior writer Amanda Albright attended the Student Voices and Social Justice student body president forum on Tuesday.
She fact-checked some of the claims made by the candidates. This list will be updated periodically throughout the campaign:
Claim: David Marsh said to increase CAPS’ resources students "need to have unlimited mental health resources for any issue you are having on campus.”
Fact-check: IMPROBABLE.
In an interview with The Daily Tar Heel in March, Allen O’Barr, leader of UNC’s Counseling and Psychological Services, said "it is almost impossible to provide long-term psychotherapy to this size population.”
Claim: Summers said financial aid for undocumented students doesn’t exist and scholarships are hard to come by.
Fact-check: HALF-TRUE.
Though the federal government does not offer financial aid to undocumented students, there are private scholarships are available to undocumented students. Some states do offer in-state tuition to undocumented students. North Carolina does not offer this.
Claim: Summers said there was little student voice after the release of the Wainstein report. "I saw a lot of those issues on campus ... Everyone was silent. There was a lack of communication — a lack of understanding, but most importantly, a lack of student voice — legitimate student voice."
Fact-check: DEBATABLE.
Student Body President Andrew Powell held a student-led forum for students. The Black Student Movement also held an event that administrators and students attended. Students also protested the racial undertones of the report.
Claim: Kathryn Walker said: "We have labeled sexual assault as a Greek issue. This is something we need to fix for all students. I want to advocate for all student organizations, fix it for everyone. (I want to say), here are the programs that have worked...here's how we're going to do this for every student on campus. We're going to make sure every student is Safe Zone trained, One Act trained."
Fact-check: DIFFICULT TO IMPLEMENT.
Former Student Body President candidate Emilio Vicente also proposed requiring every freshman to receive One Act training. But a coordinator of the program said the One Act program has a lack of resources to extend the training to that many people.
Claim: Walker said students have to advocate with the UNC Board of Governors in order to change the name of Saunders Hall.
Fact-check: FALSE.
If students want the name of Saunders Hall changed, they will have to advocate UNC’s Board of Trustees as well as the Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on Naming University Facilities and Units. The Board of Governors is not involved in the decision.
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