North Carolina Newspapers

2 Wednesday, February 8,1995 Editor's Note: The candidates for Student Congress in districts 1 to 16 will be profiled in the Thursday edition of The Daily Tar Heel. BY ADAM GUSMAN UNIVERSrTY EDITOR AND JULIE CORBIN ASSISTANT UNIVERSITY EDITOR Students will vote for their Student Congress representatives during Tuesday’s campus elections. Below are the candidates running for office in Districts 17 through 23. A total of 21 candidates are running for 16 open Student Congress seats, although candi dates in four of the districts are running unopposed. Districts 17,18,20 and 22 have two open seats. Dist. 23 also has two open seats, but there is only one candidate running. District 21 has three open seats. Dis trict 19 also has three open seats, but there are only two candidates running. Dist. 17 is comprised ofMorrison and Craige residence halls. Dist. 18 covers students who live in Hinton James and Ehringhaus residence halls. Dist. 19 comprises students who live north and east of the intersection of Franklin and Columbia streets and south of Estes Drive. All other points northeast of that in tersection are included in Dist. 23. Dist. 20 covers the area south and east of the Franklin/Columbia intersection, while the area southwest of the intersec tion is represented by Dist. 21, and stu dents to the northwest of the intersection are in Dist. 22. Dist. 17 (2 seats) Michael Barbee Michael Barbee, a junior psychology major from Morrisville.saidhe wanted to boost security on cam pus. This might in clude installing se curity guards in the dorms, Barbee said. He said he thought Student Congress represen- MICHAEL BARBEE tatives did not always accurately reflect the needs of their constituents. “When people are elected as repre sentatives and go in, they do what they want rather than what the students want,” he said. “We as candidates must repre sent our students.” Barbee said he thought it was impor tant for congress representatives not to be closed-minded even when they faced controversial issues. “Everyone has their own opinions, but you have to be open minded,” he said. Barbee said he thought he would rep resent diverse interests. Scott Hammack Scott Hammack is a freshman politi cal science and history double major from Kensington, Md. He said he had decided to run for Student Congress because his represen tatives had not communicated with their constituents. “I realized a couple of weeks ago that ISSUE FROM PAGE 1 and efficiency, leaders said. Battle said students who oppose his ideas and goals have tried to discredit his administration with allegations of unethi cal conduct. “You have a lot of individuals who are going to do things to distract you,” he said. “They can’t attack your program, they can’t attack what you’ve done, so they attack your character. "Battle said he has tried to ignore the charges and continue to pursue the goals of his administration. “I’ve heard a lot of rumors and shots in the dark since I’ve been here,” he said. “If you spent all your time chasing down those, you’d have a squeaky clean cabinet, but you’d get nothing done for the student body.” “We know people may not always agree with us,” he said. “But anyone who comes up and talks to us knows that we are de cent, ethical individuals.” Charles-Pierre said people tended to remember accusations even if they had TIME: 9am-3pm PLACE: Student Stores ' DEPOSIT S2O t|Sßgfc ■r “Offically Licensed Carolina Ring Dealer” wRTC/i rved lie Student Stores a rtoiweo V college jewelry |BIBB Special Payment Plans Available 7 V college jewelry Student Congress Candidates Districts 17-23 after attending UNC for more than a semester I had no idea who my representatives were,” Hammack said. He said better communication between represen tatives and con stituents would be his main concern. SCOTT HAMMACK Hammack suggested a weekly meet ing with his constituents informing them of upcoming issues and suggested a weekly e-mail bulletin. He also said he wanted to eliminate the SIOO minimum on the A La Carte Plan currently required of students who live on campus. Student Body President George Battle said his request to elimi nate that requirement would come be fore the University’s Board of Trustees in March. Hammack said there should be an increase in campus safety. “There should be increased foot patrols on South Cam pus,” he said. “I’d also like to increase the number of emergency phones and increase the hours of Point-to-Point ser vice if financially feasible.” Luchara Sayles Luchara Sayles is a freshman double major in biology and African-American studies from Greenville. She said her focus would be to in crease student involvement and aware ness. “My main concern is bringing stu dents back to student government,” Sayles said. “We need to have students aware of what’s going on and have them actively involved with appropriation of funding. She said she was also interested in improving living conditions on South Campus, including the possibility of bringing cable and the Internet to the South Cam pus residence halls. Sayles said she would make herself accessible to students with face-to-face meetings and a suggestion box where her constituents could give ideas about how to improve student government. George Jason Jolley Jason Jolley is a freshman political science and eco nomics double major from Shelby. He said he was running for Stu dent Congress be cause he wanted to make a difference on campus. “On South Campus, we’re of ten ignored, in my JASON JOLLEY opinion, because we’re so far away,” Jolley said. He said he wanted to expand Point to-Point service to South Campus by changing one of the shuttles from day time service for University faculty and staffto continuous service between South Campus and the libraries. “This would eliminate the wait for people on South Campus. They often call Point-to-Point for a half hour and are unable to get through.” Jolley said expanding the service would not cost anything, as it would been disproved. “It’s too bad that our society and our community here is stuck on what people toss around,” he said. “But when they catch it in their hands and look at it, there’s nothing there. “I don’t think it’s a question of ethics— it’s using (the concept of) ethics for your own mischievous ends.” Battle said he has found the caveat “power corrupts” false. “I see no reason to abandon the things that got me here, like my personal charac ter, my rapport with people and my code of ethics.” But Battle said no student body presi dent could ensure that each cabinet mem ber always acted ethically. “You have to maintain some sort of institutional guidelines, but, just being re alistic, you can't watch everything,” he said. “You have to lead by example.” Ultimately, it is up to students to elect ethical leaders and make sure obligations are met, he said. “Students need to keep an eye on their leaders and make sure that what they’re CAMPUS ELECTIONS simply be a reassigning of the already existing shuttles. He also said that another important issue was awareness. He also said he would post minutes of congress meet ings and of representatives’ voting records. “I didn’t even know who my congressperson was,” Jolley said. “I’d like to see student government do more for students.” Dist. 18 (2 seats) Christopher Burris Christopher Burris, a freshman com munications major from Asheville, said he had been inspired to run for student government precisely because he had realized that he did not know that much about it. “The more I talked to people around here, the more I realized that they didn’t know about student government, ” Burris said. “We need to make sure that people really know what’s going on.” Burris said he wanted to have better communication with the constituents in his district. "Student Congress affects all students on this campus in a big way,” he said. He also said that students should feel freer about going into Suite C in order to voice their concerns. “Suite C is kind of cold right now,” Burris said. He also said the time and day of local government meetings should be varied so that more people could attend at least some of the meetings. “Right now, I have another commit ment during the local government meet ings, so I can never go,” Burris said. Tanisha Caldwell Tanisha Caldwell, a freshman biol- ogy major from Clinton, said she became interested in student govern ment when she served as student body president in her high school. She said she thought the best way to have one’s voice heard was to get involved di- TANISHA CALDWELL rectly by joining student government. “Students need the government to speak for them,” Caldwell said. “That’s the way student government should be, but over time it has come to be that people are there (in Student Congress) for their own interests. “We need to show people that student government is there to help them,” she said. Caldwell said the best way to ac complish this was to meet with constitu ents face to face. Caldwell also said campus security should be improved. She said the resi dence halls should not be so accessible to nonresidents. Donovan Garner Donovan Gamer, a freshman applied sciences major from Newport, said he had decided to ran for Student Congress because he wanted to better represent the students in Ehringhaus and Hinton James. Gamer said he would accomplish this by talking with his constituents. He also said congress could increase its effective ness by eliminating the political games doing is in (students’) best interest. If it’s not, kick them out. It’s that kind of vigi lance that will ensure ethics.” Battle also urged students to hold them selves to the same standards that they ex pected student officials to meet. “Leaders are just as good as the people they lead,” he said. “Students should hold their leaders to just as high a standard as they hold themselves. “If you demand that leaders be on this level, then you need to be on that level too. And it’s the leaders’ job to rise to those expectations.” ■ ■■ Political science Professor Richard Richardson said ethics codes served as checks on the individual decisions and actions of a person in public office. These codes are necessary in a democracy, but specific restrictions sometimes clog politi cal processes, he said. “It gets in the way of expedient govern ment,” he said. “But then, democracy is not efficient. If you really want an efficient govern ment, you would have officials acting with and internal investigations. “In Student Congress, they haven’t gotten a lot accomplished this year,” Gamer said. “All the games are taking away from what we need to do.” He said he would also focus on chang ingthe UNC Student Government Code. “There’s been a lot of griping about the Student (Government) Code. There have been some recommendations for changes that could be made to make it clearer,” he said. Student Congress and the executive branch need to have a better relation- ship, Gamer said. “The relationship this year wasn’t what it needed to be.lfthere’sagood relationship, it makes forasmooth student govern ment.” Terri Lawson Terri Lawson was unavailable for comment. TERRI LAWSON Dist. 19 (3 seats) Roy Granato Roy Granato, a junior political sci- ence major from Gastonia, said he would like to con tinue the work that he had done dur ing the past three years as a Student Congress represen tative. “I’ve kept a fair and level head through some ROY GRANATO pretty tough things, ’’ he said. “I’m ethics chair this year, and I feel I’ve done a good job representing students, and I’ve kept in close communication.” Since Dist. 19 covers many fraternity and sorority houses, Granato said that if he were elected for next year, he wanted to work to improve Greek representa tion at UNC. He also wants to better communication between the Greek com munity and the University’s administra tion. He said that he would like to see Greek representatives on the Chancellor’s Advisory Committee and that he would like to improve coopera tion between the administration and Greeks in general. “I want to show the good things... all you hear is the bad.” Amy Hanson Amy Hanson could not be reached for comment. Dist. 20 (2 seats) Adam Bernard Adam Bernard, a junior geography major from Roslyn, N.Y., is an incum bent Student Congress candidate. He was unavailable for comment. Thomas Blackwell Thomas Blackwell, a sophomore En glish major from Valdese, said he wanted to re-evaluate me way student fees were spent. “Student fees are pretty important to me. I want to make sure that students aren’t getting ripped off,” he said. He said he would like to see the P2P Express extended to fraternity houses out any sort of check on their behavior.” Ethics codes do not preclude effective government, Richardson said. “I think it slows things, but I don’t think it has a negative overall effect on government be ing able to operate.” ■ ■■ Roy Granato, chairman of the ethics committee of Student Congress, said his committee has been abused this year. Some Congress members have filed ethics charges to oppose people and opinions they dis agree with, he said, rather than to fight unethical behavior. “If someone doesn’t act the way you want, take them to the ethics committee. What for? Oh, we’ll find something.” Granato said members of liberal and conservative factions in Congress have al lowed partisan animosity to supersede their real responsibility serving their con stituents. Charges ofethical violations have served as political ammunition, he said. These ethics cases have gotten in the way of an effective Congress, Granato said. “The reason this year we haven’t done much good is that everyone is so con near campus. “If elected, I will see what I can do to improve the student body and try to answer the concerns of my constituents, ” Blackwell said. Dist. 21 (3 seats) Chimißoyd Chimi Boyd, a junior psychology major from Durham, said she had de cided to ran for Student Congress in order to reform it from the inside. Boyd said that from her position as president of the Black Student Move ment she had seen a need for simplifica tion of the Student Government Code and for better communication between congress representatives and their con stituents. She also said she wanted to make sure that the process for allocating funds to student groups was scrupulously fair. “I’ve seen a lot of the way that con gress is run through being president of the BSM,” she said. “Things need to be changed.” Edward Edgeriy May Edward Edgeriy May is a sophomore biol ogy major from Greensboro. May said that his main concern was increasing stu dent involvement in and awareness EDWARD MAY of student government. “I feel like most people in my district don’t know what’s going on in student government,” May said. “I’d like to get them more involved.” May said better communication would ensure that students knew what was happening at the University. “It seems overall they aren’t really aware of what’s going on in this school beyond athletics and academics,” May said. Jonathan Bradford Smith Jonathan Bradford Smith was unavail able for comment. David Snider Jr. David Snider Jr. was unavailable for comment. Charles Walters Charles Walters was unavailable for comment. Adrienne Renee Wilkerson Renee Wilkerson, a sophomore double major in African-American stud ies and political science from Fayetteville, is an incumbent candidate. She said she thought her experience would help her serve better as a congress representative next year “I feel like I got a feel for it last year in my first congress term,” Wilkerson said. “I can do a little more to be a part of it and have a little more insight and a little more voice.” Wilkerson also said minority repre sentation in congress was important. She served on the student affairs com mittee this past term. “I noticed from congress in this past session that funding of the groups was very important,” she said. ■ “The process is good, but individuals have a tendency to put personal needs before the needs of the greater body and cemed about investigating someone, get ting the dirt on them, and kicking them out,” he said. “They’re being immature. “Congress this year has been inefficient and unproductive, and it’s all because of a lack of communication,” he said. “No one wants to work with each other.” Ethics in student government involves serving constituents and working to im prove UNC rather than harping on details of the Student Code, Granato said. “Why must you follow the code so strictly?” he asked. “No one cares about the University anymore; they’re just out to get everyone. “You should be (in Congress) for one reason to give to the University. You shouldn’t be using student government as an arena for your political games.” Granato said the student code is not at fault, but that it is necessarily ambiguous in order to apply to a variety of situations and time periods and thus is exploitable. ■ ■■ But Lyon said that many ethical viola tions in student government had been over looked. 0% Daily (Ear Heel the students. The entire body of congress works well.” iSßfe MSI I HSSk J| Dist. 2212 seats) Julie Gasperini Julie Gasperini, a sophomore from Greenville, is ma joring in social studies education. Shesaid that she JUUE GASPERINI had decided to ran for re-election be cause she had enjoyed her service to the student body during the last year and a half. Because few incumbents are running, Gasperini said, she believes that her knowledge about Student Congress will be useful to the new representatives. Gasperini said she wanted to improve campus safety if she were elected Feb. 14. She also said she wanted to simplify the Student Government Code because she thought that it was too complicated as it stood. “Both students and representatives have problems with understand ing what’s ex pected of them,” Gasperini said. She also be lieves that reform ingthe code would lessen quarrels among members of student govern ment in all branches. AIMEEPEABODY “The merits ofthebill are not what we debate over,” she said. “We debate things like quorum, and little rules.” Aimee Peabody Aimee Peabody could not be reached for com ment. Dist. 23 (2 seats) Deborah Evans Deborah Evans, DEBORAHEVANS a junior English and political science double major from Greenville, is an in cumbent candidate. She was elected Oct. 12 in the special elections, and she served on the finance committee during her term. Evans said she thought her experi ence would benefit her during a second term. “I decided to ran again because it really does take a while to get an under standing ofhow the code works and how student government works,” she said. “I’ve been in my district for a while now two years —and I’ve gotten a feel for what people in my district want. ” Asa representative of an off-campus district, Evans said she would especially support funding of student organizations that were aimed at the entire University community and not just at the residence halls. She also said she would be interested in extending the Point-to-Point service farther off campus. “This year is the worst I’ve ever seen for ethical violations,” he said. “There are a lot of people who aren’t doing their job, who aren’t serving their constituents, and that’s definitely unethi cal. If they don’t take it seriously, they should resign. “We’ve got a Code, and we’re supposed to follow it, but some people try to circum vent the rules,” he said. Lyon said some members who had ex ceeded the allowed number of meeting absences had not been thrown out of Con fess. Other members have voted on bills in which they have a personal interest without being investigated, he said. Ultimately, Lyon and Granato blamed each other and Speaker Monica Cloud for poor communication in Congress and con troversies over ethics. “Ourleadership has been pitiful,” Lyon said. “I give the fault to ourleadership and our ethics committee chair.” Granato said, “All our problems this year stem from a lack of communication between the finance committee chairman and the speaker.”