On Tuesday night, the Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies announced their endorsement for student body presidential candidate Wilson Sink after hosting a debate between Sink and candidate John Taylor. Staff writer Karli Krasnipol highlighted certain questions from the debate:
What do you think is the biggest issue of the Houston Summers administration? How do you plan to combat it?
Taylor said many people don’t understand what student government does.
“I’m not saying that this is a Houston Summers problem, but it is something that he, like many other presidents, has faced,” Taylor said.
“And so I will have to face this problem, as well, in just getting student government out there in the community as a visible force.”
Wilson said he applauds the Summers administration for some of the work they’ve done, including increasing early voter registration by 193 percent.
“However, I think that a large critique of the Summers administration, and many student government administrations, is that there’s too much talk and not enough action,” Sink said.
“And that’s what my administration wants us to do, is act in tangible ways to change the face of this University.”
What makes you an accurate representation of the student body?
“No person, no single individual, can in one body represent every single person. That’s impossible. That’s the problem with having one executive officer,” Sink said. “What a leader can do, though, is listen.”
Sink said he is very qualified to represent the student body because of all of his campus involvement, such as being a member of external affairs, working with the environmental affairs committee, serving on town committees, serving in Young Democrats, being involved in the Greek system and speaking with people in the Pit.
Taylor said he’s had a lot of experiences here in North Carolina, growing up in rural North Carolina and moving to the more urban Chapel Hill area.
“I have not experienced everything, of course, and there are things that I cannot experience just because of who I am,” Taylor said.
Taylor said to be an effective student body president, you do have to incorporate many different ideas.
Should Silent Sam stay?
Taylor said there is a lot we can learn from Silent Sam.
“I feel like we cannot forget who we have been. We cannot forget what we have the potential to become,” Taylor said.
“I think Silent Sam represents, if nothing else, an ever-present reminder of who we were a few generations ago.”
Sink said student government has no power to remove Silent Sam, but we can work to learn from it.
“That starts with contextualization,” Sink said.
Sink said he also wants to ensure that students are able to express their feelings and have the opportunity to celebrate the lives that Silent Sam doesn’t necessarily celebrate.
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