Newspapers / Black Ink (Black Student … / Nov. 1, 1998, edition 1 / Page 7
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something that I was really concerned about when I ran for office. Now, instead of closing at 6 pm on Friday and Saturday, it stays open until 10 pm. I believe Cobb [computer lab] is going to be open 24- hours. There are a few safety matters that have to be worked out, but that’s something that’s set. A lot of people probably know about the Carolina Computing Initiative (CCI, a requirement that will make it mandatory for every incoming freshman in the year of 2000 to have a laptop computer) and many students were upset with the way the CCI happened. Students weren’t involved in the process. When a lot of this was happening I was not in office, I was running for this office. Unfortunately there is a period of transition that occurs between the time of inauguration and election. When I came into office, I was really kind of sideswiped with this, but we worked really hard to make sure students were involved in that process. It went from being a process where no students were involved to one where there are about one or two students on each committee. We really got students involved and wanted to make CCI an initiative that students would be happy with and proud to support. I think that we’ve gotten to that point. There are major changes in advising. It has been an issue that students have been working for a long period of time, and we kept up the momentum this year. With the restructuring of Arts & Sciences, we really had a chance to give some input into what we wanted to see happen. There are ten new full-time advisors, and students have been involved with this process for a long period of time. We’re finally seeing some major changes. We’re also trying to add a mentoring component. Students want to have that aspect there. It’s going very well so far. I’ve also created an Information and Technology Committee to really keep track of all the technology on campus and to make sure that students are involved in it. We as a University are push ing towards a new wave; people are really excited and focused on technology. Technology is one of those areas that moves so fast sometimes that you leave people behind, especially in areas where economics is an issue. So, while we want to keep track of all the new technology that’s coming in, we want to make sure we don’t leave students behind just liecause they can’t afford to keep up with that technology. That’s part of the reason the com mittee was created to help us focus on technology and realize what a big role it plays in our life at the university. Something that we’re actually working on now is on-line regis tration. On-line registration wouldn’t completely just replace telephone registration, but it’s definitely more efficient. We’re working on that now. We’re doing a few test cases in the next few weeks. About a fourth of the senior class is going to partici pated in a test case of on-line registration this semester. B.W.: As far as race relations and gender issues, have you experienced any adversity because of your race or sex so far? R.W.: I knew you were going to ask me that. On one end, a lot of times I feel (and this isn’t necessarily by administrators or anyone in particular, just in general, because I am the second woman to be in this office and the first Black woman) like I con stantly have to prove my worth and prove that the work that my office is doing is acceptable. It’s hard to pin-point where those feelings come from, but it’s something I constantly face, in deal ing with other people in student government and people outside of the office. I don’t think that people necessarily say, “Oh she’s a Black woman, we have to get on her. We have to make sure that she’s doing her job right.” One example I’ll use is the editorial that was written about me in the newspaper [DTH] at the beginning of the year. I really felt that it was an attack that didn’t need to be made. We’d been doing work all summer and it really made it look like we weren’t doing anything. The person that wrote the editorial hadn’t been here all summer. I felt like it was an unfair assess ment of what had been going on. During the summer, we worked with a reduced staff There were maybe ten people who were here all summer compared to 150 during the school year. So I felt like I had to come back and prove myself to people and voice the fact that you shouldn’t believe everything you read. We are doing work. The unfortunate thing is that even though it’s only one person’s opinion, administrators, people outside of the university, people over in general administration, and people at other universities read it. It’s something we have to constant ly prove that we are doing our job and we’re doing what needs to be done. Actually, I’ve had a couple of cases of just out and out being treated wrong. Honestly, it’s something you almost expect to come with a position like this one. Every student body president (SBP) who’s been in this office has gone through some stuff. Everyone in this office has had to prove that the work that they’re doing is accurate and adequate for the people who elect ed them. It comes with the territory and maybe it may just be me just trying to push myself harder and make sure that we are doing more than what’s expected. On one end I think a lot of SBP’s have gone through it. Because I am the second woman and the first black woman I feel like if I mess this job up, it will mess up the chances for another young woman who wants to be in here one day. “runnin’ thangs” The Black Ink 7
Black Ink (Black Student Movement, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
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Nov. 1, 1998, edition 1
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