Page 6
Black Ink
September 13, 1984
Does Student Government
Reach Your Needs?
by Addison Sweeney
Contributing Writer
Of all campus organizations, there
is one that is student organized spe
cifically to reach the needs and con
cerns of all students on campus. This
organization, divided into three
branches—Executive, Legislative, and
Judiciary, is Student Government. In
addition to reaching student needs,
another chief purpose is to represent
students and their concerns to the
faculty, administration, and other
governments—campus, state, or na
tional. As a matter of fact, student
government is now establishing ties on
an international level through a six-
year old AAUS (American Associa
tion of University Students). This
organization is set-up for the sole pur
pose of exchanging problems and
solutions with colleges and universities
around the United States and more
recently the world. Our campus links
to the AAUS through the student
government, especially since Paul
Parker, our Student Government
President, is also President of AAUS.
Although all three of the branches
are important for student affairs pro
bably the most popular of the three is
the Executive branch which is headed
by Paul Parker. Its responsibility is to
express and represent the concerns of
students, and to actively seek better
communications with members of the
university and the community. Such
actions from the Executive branch like
negotiating with Davis Library ad
ministrators to change library hours so
that students have longer study time
on nights when study time is in higher
demand, reflect this branch’s repre
sentation of student’s concern. This
increased library time went into effect
August 20, 1984 and will schedule the
library to open an hour later (12:00
a.m., instead of 11:00 p.m.).
After two years of negotiations and
planning, the undergraduate library
officials agreed to house and fund a
textbook reserve library, effective
spring semester 1985, so that students
unable to buy their books at the
beginning of the semester will be able
to check out books needed to keep up
with their classes.
In addition, this year, there are Na
tional Student Savings Cards that will
allow students, faculty, and adminis
trators to receive discounts from
twenty-two Chapel Hill area mer
chants. Those are just a few examples
of how the executive branch has
worked for students.
On the other hand, the legislative
branch, better known as the Campus
Governing Council (CGC), is broken
down into three committees—the
Rules and Judiciary , the Finance
Committee, and the Student Affairs
Committee. The head of this branch is
Reggie Holley—Speaker of CGC. The
most popular of its committees, the
Finance Committee, is responsible for
appropriating an estimated quarter of
a million dollars received yearly from
student fees. This money is used for
other campus organizations and
groups. The sad thing about appropri
ating money this year is scarcity.
Accordmg to Holley, this is especially
bad news for groups which are just
beginning or that are not well
established because the organizations
which are established will most likely
l?e first to receive money (even though
there will be some cuts made). His
solution to the problem is a fee
increase. “We need a fee increase
because everybody should receive his
fair share,” says Holley.
The more legislative part of what
the CGC does however"sp", deals
with changes in the laws of student
government (which is done under the
Rules and Judiciary committee), as
well as creating positions of various
issues of student concern and voicing
those positions to the appropriate
University officials or, if needed, even
the North Carolina General Assembly
(which is done under the Student
Affairs Committee). In a recent
interview, Holley explained to me
some of the issues on which he
expects the Student Affairs
Committee to develop positions. ONe
of the two issues that Reggie expects
is the new alcohol policy—which
includes a discussion on the new
drinking age of 21. In addition,
Holley also “hopes that the
committee will come out with a strong
statement in support of Minority
Hiring.” This issue has been raised
for years. “I don’t think that the
university is doing all that it can to
hire more minorities. Maybe I’m
expecting too much or I am looking
for things to happen overnight, but
I’m sure that the university could find
and attract qualified minorities
around this community and the
state.” Holley added that many of the
black professors are in the African/
Afro-American Studies department
but bery few are in the others. He
stated “I think that something should
be done to hire more blacks in other
departments.
The Judiciary branch is headed by
the attorney general, Keith Johnson..^
Its, primary purpose is to protect
students and their rights on campus.
Most honor code violations are first
reported to this branch and examined
by the attorney general or one of the
assistants to determine whether or not
the case should be heard. Most
students who are accused of honor
court violations usually seek help from
the attorney general or his assistants.
The courts total membership incor
porates 30 students who are chosen in
the spring. According to The Instru
ment of Student Judicial Governance,
a booklet which contains the Code of
Student Conduct, “at least twelve
members shall be of the male sex and
at least twelve members shall be of the
female sex. At least eight members
shall not be of the majority race, and
at least eight members shall not be of
the minority race.” But according to
the ruling of the Durham County
Superior Court, this rule may be
reverse discrimination. However, the
‘instTumOTt holds that “If requested by
the defendant, provision shall be made
For racial or sexual representation (but j
not both) on the trial court, as follows:
a) At least three of the five members
of the trial court, shall be of the same
sex as the defendant;
b) When a defendant is not a mem
ber of the majority race, at least three
of the five members of the trial court
shall not be of the majority race;
c) When a defendant is a member of
the majority race, at least three of the
five members of the trial court shall be
of the majority race. (p. 19, Sec. 4
c.e.)
When asked what he thought would be
done since the court has handed down
the decision. Student Government
President, Paul Parker said that he
thought that the university would ap
peal the decision; “For the same
reasons that Chancellor Ferebee
Taylor took up this issue ten years
ago, I think that we should still fight
for it.” Noting that with any final
decision made by the courts, the
ramifications would not stop at stu
dent government. But Parker added
that he has no intention of taking that
appeal out of the constitution. “I
think it is important to safeguard the
rights of minorities.”
Altogether these branches—the
Executive, the Legislative, and the
Judiciary—work to represent the con
cerns and needs of the students of this
university. Each is distinct and impor
tant in the functioning of student
affairs.
Getting involved in these branches is
not very difficult. All it takes is usually
filling out an application and possibly
going through an interview—which
are usually available in the spring. For
those of you who have an interest in
becoming involved with student gov
ernment, visit 217 in the Student
Union, where all three branches are
located, and ask them if there are any
positions open, or watch for adver
tisements in the near future for
openings □
Dip^ Deliven^ &
T ake-Out
115 N. Graham St.
942-7454
‘‘Well bring a taste of the South to youV^
We deliver home-cooked box meals.
Deliver 11 am-1:30 pm Mon.-Sat.
' 4 pm-i0 pm ■ •
A >■ '*>>. i>s te. * V-. V V V V V V ■> V > V'V * ** V * V V W V ^