V October I, IWI
Opinion
Speaker Moore
Answers Critics
Speaker of Student Congress Tim
Moore appears on the outside to be
somewhat of a soft-spoken individ
ual. So, why is there controversy
surrounding his name? The answer
stems from events that took place
during the meetings of the summer
Student Congress.
Moore was the chief sponsor of
a summer resolution to persuade
the full Student Congress to defund
the Carolina Gay and Lesbian
Association. Days after the meet
ing, two members of Congress filed
a suit alleging that Moore illegally
appointed several members to the
summer congress.
Next, Chief Justice Mark Bibbs
put a restraining order on the
Congress until the case could be
heard; the trial was postponed
because only two of the three judges
needed to hear a case were present.
This month, the student Supreme
Court ruled for neither party in the
suit, instead citing a flaw in the
student code.
In the meantime, Moore, a trans
fer student from Campbell Univer
sity, was advised to learn how UNC
operated in a Daily Tar Heel edito
rial criticizing the summer resolu
tion. The DTH'stop cartoonist, Alex
DeGrand, drew cartoons depicting
Moore as a short, chubby character
"coming out of the closet” against
gay rights. Another DeGrand car
toon hinted that Moore and Bibbs
were in cahoots in regard to the
delayed court hearing.
If Moore has been under the
gun, you wouldn’t know it; the re
served Student Congress Speaker
seems unperturbed by his critics.
The Black Ink caught up with him
last week to get his side of the story.
Ink Associate Editor Corey Brown
conducted the interview.
BLACK INK: How did you get
started in Student Government? And
more specifically, your present
position as Speaker?
MOORE: I ran for congress in
District 21, which is an off-campus
district, then I ran for speaker in
April and won. The reason I be
came interested was last year I was
a junior transfer student and I wasn’ t
very involved with a lot of things
that went on within the University
itself. I saw this as a chance to do
just that.
INK:What are some of your re
sponsibilities as speaker?
MOORE: Well, I conduct a lot of
administrative duties. For instance,
1 make sure that meetings are sched
uled and make sure that we have a
place to meet; I determine the agenda
and assign numbers to bills. A lot of
technical things like that, but 1 also
serve as a legislator and introduce
measures to the congress, if I so
desire.
INK:With these duties in mind,
congress members Andrew Cohen
(Dist. 6) and Michael Kolb (Dist. 1)
questioned the legality of the 11
summer appointments and filed a
lawsuit Will you elaborate on this?
MOORE: The question of appoint
ing the summer members results in
an ambiguity in the code. There’s a
clause in the Student Government
Code that is essentially our by-laws,
which states that summer congress
shall consist of all regularly-elected
and appointed members. The for
mer speaker appointed a summer
congress and I simply followed that
precedent. However, questions
arose as to whether that was appro
priate. People asked exactly what
‘appointed’ in the context of the
code meant. As a result a court case
came out of that The ruling turned
out that the code was very ambigu
ous and that no one was at fault; it
was totally an error in the coding.
Right now congress is amending
that section so that it will clearly
spell out what the appointment pro
cedure is. If the bill passes the
speaker will be able to appoint
members with the approval and
consent of congress.
INK: In reference to the court case,
do you see that as a personal attack
from the gentlemen that filed the
suit?
MOORE: Like anything else that
goes on in Congress or any govern
ing body you have to keep it sepa
rate from personal matters. I dis
agreed obviously with Mr. Cohen
and Mr. Kolb but by no means do I
consider it a personal attack, nor do
I have any personal negative feel
ings towards them. They chose a
r o W
T
Myron B. l*iiis{Hlack Ink
Speaker of Student Congress, Tim Moore, responded to questions last week
constructive way to address a con
cern they had and I admire them for
that. I think in the long run the court
case has been beneficial in ways
because it caused Congress to go
through and amend the holes that
we have in this code.
INK: Your personal relationship
with Chief Justice Mark Bibbs has
also been brought out as having an
influenceover the delay in ruling on
these appointments. Will you ex
plain your viewpoint of this situ
ation?
MOORE: Thedelay was notreally
a problem of Chief Justice Bibbs.
The delay was simply that for the
court to hear a case there has to be at
least three justices on the court.
This summer, one justice was out of
the country and the Student body
president had not yet appointed
judges to the supreme court to be
pulled so they had to wait for the
other judge to get back.
INK: The main driving force be
hind the conu-oversy surrounding
events during summer congress was
the proposal to defund the Carolina
Gay and Lesbian Association for
’92. Can you explain why this par
ticular group was targeted?
MOORE: The reason the CGLA
has been cited for defunding is there
appears to be a question of legality
in the Student Government Coue
There’s a clause which spells out
that the Student Congress will not
fund {wograms that are inconsistent
with rules and regulations of the
University and or the laws from the
state of North Carolina. Under that
clause within the laws we operate
under, a lot of students have ques
tions as to what exactly the purpose
of the CGLA was and did their
purpose violate this. Thai’s where
the question came up and was the
driving force behind the CGLA
defunding.
INK: Have you had any contact
with members of the CGLA? Have
they confronted you on your resolu
tion?
MOORE: No, I haven’t had any
members come up to me, but I’ve
had folks from both sides say differ
ent things tome. It’sjustamatterof
opinion on how student fees should
be spent. I’m willing to talk about it
to anyone. 1 think it’s good for
constructive dialogue.
INK; Is it possible that this mode of
thinking will spread and lead to the
defunding of other minority groups?
MOORE: No, 1 don’t believe it
will. A lot of folks don’t see the
CGLA as a minority group, they see
it as a group based on a chosen
lifestyle. And aside from the ques
tion of legality it’s just improper to
fund a group based on sexual life
style. So no 1 don’t expect it will
spread to other minority groups.
There’s no question of legality there.
INK: Speaking of allocating funds,
how have budget cuts affected Stu
dent Congress?
MOORE: The student congress
itself is not directly affected by the
budget cuts. Revenue for the Stu
dent Congress comes solely from
the student activity fees that arc
charged in addition to tuition. Pres
ently the fee is $45 and will not
change because of a fee morato
rium imposed by President C.D.
Spangler. Now a lot of folks would
like to see fees cut some because
students have to pay a tuition in
crease and so there’s been talk lo
lower fees to ease the financial
burden as much as possible.
INK: On a lighter note, Alex
DeGrand- cartoonist for The Daily
Tar Heel- has poked fun at you and
some of your views on issues. What
do you think of that?
MOORE: Mr. DcGrand’s a car
toonist; I’m not and I’m certainly
not going to tell another individual
how to do their line of work. Mr.
DeGrand is certainly entitled to his
opinion and I’m glad that he is
expressing that. I’ve got no prob
lems with that.
INK: In closing, is there anything
else you would like to add?
MOORE: 1 just want to encourage
you students, if you have a problem,
to speak with your elected repre
sentative of congress bccause we’re
here to service you. I justencourage
students to take advantage of the
resources here. There are 32 mem
bers of Congress, although pres
ently it’s 25, and they’re all willing
to work with their constituents, and
1 know they look forward to hearing
from people in need.