North Carolina Newspapers

f Iff Sail ®ar Uerl Lacey Hawthorne No greater formula for success exists than proven experience combined with strong vision. It is because I possess both these characteristics that I am uniquely qualified to be your next SBP. Throughout my term in Student Congress and my experience in the exec utive branch as student body secretary and as an executive assistant, I have worked to improve food service, stu dent-faculty relations and I am current • ly leading die University effort to reform advising.. n ' As SBP the completion of advising reform ' will be my highest ~ priority. I also intend to pursue inany new ideas for UNC. As an individual I am powerless to V implement these ideas, but with Lacsy Hawthorne your support we cannot and will not be denied. Let’s build together. Strengthening oar academic foundations ■ Advising reform: I am leading campus efforts to reform advising by working for: fewer students per advisor, full-time advisors and a stronger link between advising and career services ■ Implement online registration: Decrease dependency on Caroline. ■ Carolina career network: A pro gram to match students with young alumni in their prospective career field to facilitate career planning through ■ one-on-one interaction. Senring student needs ■ Textbook rental (save student money): A common sense change that allows you to save money by renting your textbooks instead of buying them. ■ Student parking: Fight for equal access to parking for students. ■ Explore transportation alterna tives: Point-2-Point service to nearby apartments and Greek houses, extension of Chapel HiH Transit bus hours and a wiffi local cab corn fames provide reduced.rates for stu . dents to discourage drunk driving. ■ Housekeepers: To ensure a clean ' living and learning environment for all, 'I will open communication lines between housekeepers and the adminis • tration. ■ Low-cost remote storage: Not all 'of us'are from the Chapel Hill area, i Access affordable storage is a necessity ‘ for many of us. ■ Keep residence halls open: open residence halls over extended breaks, such as Fall Break. Keep residence halls The student body needs a strong leader to forcefully advocate for student interests. I have the experience of tack ling problems that lack easy answers. Below are feasible solutions to improve the lives of students. Executive branch action The roots of the executive branch lie in student self-government. Therefore, the executive branch needs to be acces sible to individual students. I propose encouraging student questions and par ticipation in the executive branch with: ■ A Student Concern Committee to respond to problems and questions gath ered through a telephone Hotline. ■ A monthly student government newsletter highlighting the progress of student government. Academic concerns We attend a first-rate institution with academics at its core. I am a proponent of programs that actively engage stu dents in their learning experience. With this goal in mind I propose to: ■ Extend pass/D/fail declaration. ■ Allow no weekend reading days. ■ Instituting a more team-oriented approach to advising, pairing freshmen with both faculty and student advisers. ■ Establish Undergraduate Research Fellowships: allotting money to under graduate research modeling die success ful program at the University of Texas. ■ Implement a student internship program. ■ Increase student-faculty interac tion through departmental events. Student living issues The UNC campus could better serve the student experience. I support the fol lowing changes to reduce inconve niences associated with college life: ■ 24-hour operation of Health Sciences, Davis and School of Law libraries. ■ Improved housekeeping and main tenance in residence halls. " ■ More trash cans and recycling bins at building entrances. STUDENT ELECTIONS 'CSV Elections *9B Elections *9B Student Body President Platforms open longer for those of us with late exams. ■ Encourage the creation of a 24- hour rape crisis hotline. ■ Cable: Now that cable is coming, we must have a say in its programming Increase the number of Internet jacks in classrooms and libraries. Rghtiug for students ■ Tuition freeze program: I will lobby the General Assembly to imple ment a program freezing your tuition rates when you enter Carolina; thus pre venting any increases during your stay. ■ Demand equal enforcement of alcohol laws. ■ Fight to reduce the open contain er violation from a misdemeanor to an infraction. ■ Improve town safety: Better light ing on town streets and bar paths and call boxes at off-campus locations ■ Housing search engine: I will cre ate an online search engine linked to the University home page which locates housing for students. ■ Student representation: I will lobby for the creation of non-voting stu dent seats on both the Chapel Hill Town Council and the Carrboro Board of Aldermen. Uniting UNC communities ■ Council for Common Ground: A conversation on affirmative action: A solution-oriented approach which brings together representatives from both sides of the affirmative action debate to col lectively discuss ways of finding a solu tion. It is time for students to speak with a united voice and find our own solution before the state mandates one for us. ■ Greek life: Provide student gov ernment support to the Greek commu nity in its pursuit of autonomy from the University. Students, not administrators, should run the Greek system. ■ Learning the ropes: A year-long peer mentorship program coupling interested upperclassmen with incoming freshmen to ease the transition from high school to college. ■ Support the education drive of the Sonja H. Stone Black Cultural Center. ■ Faculty-student interaction: Create majors associations which include students and faculty of each department to encourage interaction beyond the classroom. ■ Graduate speakers bureau: A pro gram to link graduate students with communities needing expertise in their respective fields of study. If you have any questions please visit our Web page at http://www.unc.edu/~lhawthor. Charlie Roederer ■ Renovate study lounges in residence halls. Transportation and parking concerns We lack a com prehensive system to provide stu dents with easy access to all parts of campus. I insist Charlie Roederer that students be given improved trans portation options including: ■ Extension of bus hours to serve off-campus students. ■ Improving accessibility to Kenan- Flagler Business School through more frequent bus or shuttle service. ■ Ensuring a free U-Bus running in both directions. ■ Improving bicycle lanes to cam pus; combating any proposal forcing stu dents to pay for night-time parking per mits. Safety matten The UNC campus is our home away from home, where we should feel safe walking to class in the morning, from the library at night and at all other times. To achieve this I will: ■ Reduce drunken driving by imple menting safe transportation options, similar to systems at Wake Forest University and the University of Texas. ■ Improve lighting particularly at bus stops, apartment complexes and McCorkle Place. ■ Add SAFE Escorts’ services at other highly used facilities. Technology concerns Computer facilities fail to meet stu dent demand. The changing technologi cal environment of the 21st century necessitates that all students have access to updated computers. We need: ■ Extended hours at computer facil ities. ■ Increased state appropriations for technology. OP-ED From today until Wednesday, The Daily Tar Heel will present candidate platforms for the Feb. 10 student body elections. Today, we will present the student body presi dent platforms. Senior class president and vice president, as well as Graduate and Professional Student Federation president platforms will run on Tuesday; Residence Hall Association and Carolina Athletic Association presidents’ platforms will run on Wednesday. Endorsements by the DTH will begin on Thursday, so watch this space for fur ther developments. Danny Siegle Why do I have to walk to school in the rain while the Point-2-Point shuttles are safe and dry? Why does privately owned Granville Towers get P2P ser vices while my apartment complex does not? If East Carolina University can swing a free student bus system, why can’t we? If N.C. State University gets a monorail, do we get a Mystery Mountain? Where is Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride? Would you be able to afford a computer with financial aid if it became mandato ry? Would you want a computer that would only be I Danny Siegle useful for Oregon Trail in four years? Should you ford the river or hire an Indian? Should that be Native American? Are you computer illiterate? With direct Internet access to your rooms, would you like to see more stu dent input in our administration? Have you ever e-mailed anyone in the N.C. General Assembly? Do you understand how the University works? Why do you think the SBP can fix your residence hall stove? Wouldn’t you prefer to know whom better to contact? Why do students always use the word like? Why can’t people make definite statements and stuff? And what is this stuff? Muffins? How many advisers have you had at UNC? How often have you been assigned an adviser and found that he was on sabbatical near Lake Titicaca? How many advisers might as well be on sabbatical? When you see your profes sors on campus, do you wave? Do you recognize them? Why must all freshmen take huge, spirit-crushing classes? Would time off school make you more focused? Where would you lie to go? Do you know how to get there? Are internships just like in Dilbert? How does coffee affect the intellectual cli- ■ More online campus resources including registration for classes and a complete “Carolina Course Review” cataloging students’ evaluations of courses and professors. ■ A centralized tracking system of all campus events incorporated into an informational Web page to aid in event planning. Establishing a voice in government Asa large portion of the Chapel Hill and Carrboro population, students need to exercise their voices in town and state matters. I plan to mobilize individuals to form a coalition for student rights out side the University beginning by: ■ Fighting all tuition and fee increas es at both University and state levels. ■ Establishing “Students Vote,” a program to register students to vote at Carolina Testing and Orientation Program Session. ■ Working to reduce the open-con tainer violation from a misdemeanor to an infraction. ■ Providing a system to distribute comprehensive information and evalu ation of off-campus housing. Graduate student issues Graduate students are an integral part of the University community and deserve more support. I will work for: ■ Higher teaching and research assis tants’ stipends and more tuition remis sions to recruit and retain higher caliber graduate students. ■ Increased respect for graduate stu dents. Greek issues A fraternity member myself, I under stand how Greeks are inappropriately blamed for many campus problems. I propose to use the student body presi dent’s office to support the Greek com munity and ensure that realistic stan dards are established for self-gover nance. I firmly believe in preserving the integrity of the Greek system at UNC. If you have any questions or com ments, please contact me at 933-5708. mate? Are we experiencing a cold or warm front? How come we have a Student Union but we’re not unionized? Why do you need a catapult to get from Hamilton Hall to Davis Library? Why do you need to swim to Greenlaw Hall? Should every student be issued a Utility Belt to avoid construction and sinkholes? Why isn’t construction more sensitive to student needs? Since when is roasted corn a balanced meal? Why is eating on Franklin Street cheaper than eating on campus? Why is Cafe Asia (named changed to prevent endorse ment) so good? How equitably are student fees dis tributed? Do off-campus students pay for services they don’t have access to? Are on-campus students promised ser vices they don’t receive? How hard is it to get toilet paper in Morrison Residence Hall? Do students pay for ser vices they don’t want? If students from Mill Creek Apartments steal Christmas ornaments, does Mill Creek have to have a dry rush? Why must we choose between the trees of Coker Woods and a black cul tural center? Is the University trying to drive a wedge between environmental ists and those that believe in a black cul tural center? Why do we want a black cultural center in a location that will flood as much as the Student Recreation Center? How hard would it be to switch two letters in SRC for a quick solution? Why is the University eager to do con struction everywhere but the BCC? What’s with all these acronyms? Who oversees University Police? Do they have guns, too? Why does TTie Daily Tar Heel think it runs the election? Why was the dead line for platforms moved up a day with 16 hours notice? Why don’t we just turn in our platforms to them and have them decide? Do we? If you have any answers to these questions please e-mail danny@email.unc.edu or rintin@email.unc.edu “Our responsibility as privileged human beings is to pay back for the opportunities we’ve received.” - Kathryn Anastos. This quote reflects why I am running for student body president. If elected, I will give back to Carolina all of the won derful opportunities that have been afforded to me. Guided by representation and ser vice, the five points of my platform offer a clear outline for a successful student government. Role of Student Government: accountability to stud outs ■ Send student government newslet ters to on-campus residents and place on reserve in libraries. ■ Schedule office hours in residence halls and Lenoir Dining Hall. ■ The Student Organization Council (SOC) will serve as a network between existing campus groups and a resource for students interested in starting orga nizations. ■ Accountability sessions will serve as an opportunity for open dialogue between the SBP and the campus. ■ Work with the Elections Board to start a “Get out the vote” campaign to increase campus election voter turnout. University community ■ Graduate Student Issues: advo cate affordable transportation to and from the new off-campus child care location; work to give health insurance to more graduate students, establish a standard for technological resources within graduate departments; decrease possible disparities of such resources. ■ Sonja H. Stone Black Cultural Center: continue to co-sponsor pro grams to educate the campus on the BCC mission and assist the BCC in its fund-raising efforts. WoMQH't ifftiftf ■ Encourage the University to open the Women’s Center in a timely fashion. ■ Co-sponsor programs with the Women’s Center to raise awareness of Anne Neville Too many times, students fall through the cracks, not knowing where to turn at a large university. Look around you. How many doors are closed? How many of your questions go unanswered? Student government must enable you to find solutions that’s what it is for. My vision of student gov ernment is about opening doors, from the time you apply to the day you grad uate. These are the key points on our plan of action: Opening the duen Students are entitled to every resource at our University. To utilize these resources, you first have to know where to look. Our student gov ernment will be the place to start. m Student input with sur veys, small meet ings and e-mail. ■ Going door to-door to find out what students are really concerned about. ■ Student gov- Anne Neville ernment must be accessible. In order to ensure this goal, we will hold office hours on South Campus and at Granville Towers at least once a week. ■ Recruit a diverse student govern ment. Advising Answers lie outside Steele Building. We will support reform in traditional advising methods and will seek innova tive approaches. ■ Freshmen should have the option of registering with their advisers real advising for those who need it most. ■ Upperclassmen Pairing Program: Pairing older students with incoming freshmen to supplement academic advising. Students are the most valuable resource at our university. Not only seniors, but sophomores and juniors can also guide freshman through the UP Program. ■ Continue improvements to regis tration through online registration and more Caroline lines. Tuition As student body secretary, I fought against tuition increases first-hand. We must form a strong foundation to com bat unfair tuition increases. Here’s how we do it: ■ Create a Student Network to mobilize students against unfair tuition increases during the summer and school year. Reyna Walters women’s issues. Greek Issues ■ Bridge the gap between Inter fraternity, Pan- Hellenic and National Pan- Hellenic councils. ■ Work with the Chancellor’s Committee on Greek Affairs to Reyna Walters tackle liability and rush issues. ■ Coordinate on-campus service projects. Other concerns ■ Affirmative action: continue the objective research started this year and facilitate dialogue between various orga nizations. ■ Improve orientation programs to ease international and transfer student transition. ■ Initiate Research, Information, Development and Dissemination to deal with difficult issues effectively. Student Services ■ Libraries: create a student adviso ry committee on libraries to ensure a stu dent voice in the Undergraduate Library renovation; extend weekend library operating hours. ■ Technology: publicize campus Internet resources, increase computer lab hours. ■ Student Health: examine after hour fees and weekend service horns to assess what is fair and reasonable. ■ Campus Resources: advocate awareness of University Career Services and the Learning Center by sponsoring a series of programs with these offices, expand campus services for sexual assault survivors by advocating interac tion between Orange County Rape Crisis Center and Student Psychological Services; create a liaison to Disability Services; develop a consumer guide for out-of-state students. ■ Safety and Security: advocate Monday, February 2,1998 ■ Increase student interaction with state legislators through Legislative Days and a strengthened Student Ambassador Program, our frontline against any state policies unfavorable to UNC. ■ Combat future increases, including retroactive increases, which are unac ceptable. Studaut Eh ■ Off Campus Housing Department: Administrators must rec ognize that housing problems do not stop at the edge of campus. ■ Carolina Culture: I started this program to bring talents of performing groups into the spotlight. We will con tinue weekly performances on Polk Place. ■ Bolster student self-governance in the Greek Community. ■ Support Technology Initiatives with funding that does not unfairly bur den students. Ariiliiiirt ■ Student input: Include students on new faculty hiring committees. ■ The Black Cultural Center: Continued support of the BCC’s mis sion and fund raising for a freestanding center. ■ Minor in American Indian Studies: With North Carolina having a high population of American Indians, there is a need for this addition to cur riculum. ■ Continue to support affirmative action policies at UNC. This requires a definitive stance. ■ Develop more issue-oriented classes like the current Nike Seminar. Tom mixtions ■ Bike Paths: There is a need for them on and off campus; it’s that sim ple. ■ Security: Lobby the town to install lights in heavy student traffic areas. ■ Parking: Fight to keep student parking spaces available and oppose proposals limiting student access to parking. ■ Town Council Days: Increase interaction between students and town council members to further the already existing relationship. Student Government is uniquely positioned within the University. We must use our access to help other stu dents and student groups to better achieve their goals. I have the experi ence, the perspective and the innovation to successfully carry out this platform and begin to open these doors. Please visit our Web site at www.unc.edu/~neville. more funding for the campus security officer; work with safety officer to imple ment more RAD training sessions on campus. ■ Transportation: fight to maintain student parking spaces; work to increase P2P drivers; open P2P telephone lines to offer transportation to and from Student Health Service. External ralatioM ■ Local Concerns: improve lighting on poorly-lit streets (e.g., Rosemary and Hillsborough streets); implement a “Town Council Day” to provide a time for students to meet with Town Council officials. ■ State Relations: improve the Student Ambassador Program; evaluate tactics used in legislative efforts; work to prevent unreasonable tuition increases. ■ Voter Registration and Education: register voters to prepare for the upcoming election year; provide objective voter education through “GOTV.” Academic Affairs ■ Advising: implement a mentoring program with community leaders for graduate students; bring the advising consultant to UNC; implement gradu ate/undergraduate mentoring program. ■ Faculty/Student Relations: encourage more faculty/student inter action on University Day; push the University to hire and give tenure to more people of color and women; implement more “Dinner Discussions” with faculty and students. ■ Academic Policies: push for revi sions of the Pass/D/Fail options; inves tigate problems in majors and minors; tackle possible curriculum reform options. Through my involvement in various campus organizations, I have been pre pared for the office of student body pres ident. From joining a sorority to fighting for graduate student health insurance, I have had experiences both outside and inside student government. 11