Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / Feb. 16, 1988, edition 1 / Page 5
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The Daily Tar Heel Tuesday, February 16, 19885 mdy pr out camdlafe n v r-i o p mm. I ? t 4 i . X I Y.: ( V;- s ft i 11 -- 1 1 i " " i i i - i i i . . I 1 ' "" - - ------ - l m 9 a i I n 4 . -t ..g I,,- j ' 1 U 'S I? V Jody Beasley: "I've seen a whole lot of people falling through cracks and things not getting done. I have the energy, creativity and experience to change that. " Brien Lewis: " want to make Student Govern ment work better. I think the only way we can get anything done is with a more efficient and effective govern ment. " Kevin Martin: "Student Gov ernment should be active in making decisions and not just reactive to decisions already made. " David Maynard: "I believe that we 're having problems with the town right now. These prob lems have to be solved this year, and I feel I possess the knowledge that it takes to solve them. " Keith Poston: " want to give students a choice. In the past, all the candidates have been talking about the same things. I'm running as a typical student. " Sandy Rierson: " want to really make a contribution to UNC. I want to give some of what I've gotten out of this university back. " Bill Yelverton: " want to see student concerns respected at all levels of decision making that can affect our lives. We need a progressive and active Student Government to accomplish this. " Compiled by senior writers Mark Folk and Justin McGuire CGLA funding Beasley said that although he is in favor of CGLA funding, only subsistence funding should be given to the group. When CGLA goes through the budget process in the spring, congress should allocate only funds necessary for the group to operate, such as office supplies, telephone and printing costs, he said. Congress should not, however, allocate funds for activities that promote "gayness," because that is what the student body objects to, Beasley said. "It's a rational solution to an emotional problem," Beasley said. Lewis said he is in favor of CGLA funding and that defunding the group would be very dangerous. The distinction that needs to be made is between funding and defunding any organization, Lewis said. If congress defunds CGLA, then it will be discrimination, he said. "CGLA came to congress last year with a budget saying, 'We want to do a newsletter, we want to have speakers' and so on," Lewis said. "We gave them the funds to do those programs, and they've done them." Martin said he is in favor of CGLA funding and he thinks it's important for congress to consider a group's purpose when consider ing funding, rather than its members. The CGLA should be funded because it provides AIDS aware ness programs and support servi ces, Martin said. The group is concerned about other student groups at the University, he said. It is important for the different campus organizations to be sup portive of each other, Martin said. "Any student group that is concerned about the whole student body needs to be funded," Martin said. Maynard said he is against CGLA funding because he believes the organization advocates immoral behavior. Maynard said he wants to set up an AIDS awareness program within Student Government. The awareness program run by CGLA isn't effective, because the majority of UNC students don't pay much attention to it, he said. Maynard said congress shouldn't fund the CGLA based on the argument that the group represents a minority. "The minority argument is wrong," Maynard said. "People are not born gay. I think that being gay is morally wrong." Poston said he is opposed to CGLA funding because he feels most students are against using their student fees to fund the group. Poston said he would veto any budget that allocates any money to CGLA. The group is not a legit imate minority, he said, because it lobbies for homosexual rights. Poston said he would be in favor of funding CGLA if it were a support group or wanted to organ ize an AIDS education program. "If you want to have a group that is just for homosexual support, then let's fund it," Poston said. "But let's not fund a gay club that promotes homosexuality. Rierson said she is in favor of CGLA funding because she feels the group is a legitimate student organization. Homosexuality shouldn't be an issue when deciding whether or not to fund CGLA, because the group doesnt promote homosexuality. Congress should look at the purpose of the different groups instead of who the group's members are when deciding which groups to fund, Rierson said. "The moral issue does not deserve to be discussed here," Rierson said. "I can't understand why the issue of homosexuality keeps coming up, because that's not why they're getting funded." Yelverton said he is in favor of funding the CGLA, and taking funds away from the group would constitute discrimination against a minority group. Yelverton encouraged the audience at one of the forums not to vote for the referendum that will gauge student opinion on the issue of CGLA funding. He said he would do everything possible to ensure the survival of the CGLA if it ever got defunded. "As student body president, I think you're responsible for rights of students on this campus," Yelverton said. 'The president should protect the rights of all minorities at UNC." UNCtown relationship Beasley said relations with the town are strained because students only become concerned with town issues that have a direct effect on them. Students have to work with the University and the town on mut ually beneficial projects in the community, Beasley said. Members of UNC Greek organi zations could participate in projects with the town of Chapel Hill, he said. "WeVe got to work together and be with them (Chapel Hill resi dents) every other 360 days of the year, not just when we've got a problem, he said. Lewis said he likes the student liaison position on the town coun cil, but feels it will only be effective if there is extensive communication between the liaison and Student Government. To increase communication, Lewis said he would create the position of minister of intergover mental affairs in his executive branch. This officer would be responsible for keeping track of all governing bodies relevant to Stu dent Government, including the town council, the Student Congress and the Residence Hall Associa tion, he said. Martin said strides have already been made in improving relations between the University and the town during Brian Bailey's administration. Working as a presidential aide to Bailey has given him the expe rience in dealing with the town council that is necessary to con tinue improving those relations, he said. The liaison position will also help improve relations, he said. Problems such as the noise ordinance came up because stu dents did not know what was going on, Martin said. "We have to make sure Student Government is involved in all the decision-making that's going on." Maynard has made UNC's rela tionship with the town a major theme of his campaign. The liaison position will not be effective, he said, and he has proposed a plan to get a student elected to the town council within four years. His plan would involve register ing students to vote by having freshman orientation counselors take freshmen to the Union to register to vote. Setting up a central campus polling site would be another step in the plan, Maynard said. "We are no longer a college town," Maynard said. "We are a college and a town. The two must be united again." Poston said he thinks it is a bad idea to threaten to run town council members out of office by electing students to the council. Students have to have respect for the res idents of Chapel Hill and realize they will live here their entire lives while students are only here for four or five years, he said. UNC students should work with students in secondary schools in the community to help improve the University's image in the town, Poston said. "Let's make a positive image and then well talk about getting some one elected to town council, if we still think it's necessary," he said. Rierson said a camDus-wide voting district would increase student voting in the long run, but having a student on town council would not be effective because students would have only one vote on the council. The recently created liaison position could be a positive step, but it will only be effective if Student Government keeps in touch with the liaison, she said. "We have to get a person (liai son) in there speaking up for student concerns, before problems are to a point where things are already decided and problems are beyond our control," Rierson said. Yelverton said town residents should respect students on issues that directly affect them, and students should show the town they are concerned with important town issues. Town growth is an example of an issue that students should be concerned about, because it directly affects them, he said. "(I want to) appoint responsible student liaisons to the Chapel Hill Town Council and students to sit on the Chapel Hill and Carrboro planning boards to address issues of zoning, growth and the noise ordinance at their roots," Yelverton said. Minority recruitment Beasley said Student Govern ment's Minority Concerns Com mittee should work more closely with the University's minority concerns program if the situation is to improve. But the University's program shouldn't overshadow the student run committee, Beasley said. "We've had two different pro grams shooting for the same goal, but not using common resources," Beasley said. "But we have to make sure that we (students) remain an integral part of any minority recruitment program on this campus." Lewis said that before heavy recruiting outside the University can take place, the administration needs to make minority students at UNC feel more comfortable. UNC can improve recruitment by creating more programs like Project Uplift and by improving the Black Cultural Center, he said. "It's pretty hard to start thinking about how we're going to improve recruitment when the people who are here now are saying, 'Look, you shouldn't come here,' " Lewis said. "We've got to improve things around here if we're going to attract more minority students." Martin said the different grouos working on minority recruitment need to communicate more effi ciently if the problem is to improve. Also, administrators should supervise Student Government's Minority Concerns Committee, he said. Although the committee would be controlled by the administra tion, he said students would still have a strong say in its activities. "With the changeover in Student Government, there's a danger that this committee may not get put as high on the agenda as it was this year," Martin said. "We need to put it under the administration to ensure that it does." Maynard said UNC should improve the environment for minority students if it wants to increase its minority population. The University cannot increase its minority population if it doesn't improve conditions for minority students at UNC first, he said. Conducting a survey of the problems faced by minority stu dents and working more closely with the different minority groups on campus would improve UNC's atmosphere for minority students. "If we don't have people here happy, then I dont see how we can make outsiders come in and be happy," Maynard said. "We need to clean up shop at home first." Poston said a co-op program in which UNC students would go into area schools and work with younger students would help increase minority recruitment. In addition to recruiting more minority students, Poston said he would like to see an increase in the number of minority faculty members. This is a real problem on this campus, he said. "I'm a third-year student here, and IVe yet to have one minority teacher," Poston said. "You should be able to go into any department at this university and be able to find a black faculty member." Rierson said the University needs to do a better job of keeping minority students at UNC if it wants to improve recruitment. The minority recruitment pro gram should continue to expand and possibly become a permanent part of the admissions office, she said. "The real problem is that as long as you've got half of the minority students that come to Carolina either going somewhere else or dropping out before they grad.uate, minority recruitment is always going to be a problem," Rierson said. "We need to do something to keep minority students here." Yelverton said that although he likes the program in which UNC minority students recruit minorities at different high schools, there's a problem finding enough money for it. "I'd like to see the admissions office, the College of Arts and Sciences or the administration in the general college pay for it," Yelverton said. "This (minority recruitment) is something that everyone is concerned about." Student government should work more with the Black Student Movement and other minority groups to improve recruitment, he said. Chancellor search Beasley said the issue of whether the University should focus on research or on undergraduate education should be determined when the next chancellor takes over. The chancellor can help the two functions complement each other, Beasley said. Bringing in undergraduate stu dents to help professors with research would be one way of having both areas work together, he said. "Research and undergraduate education don't have to be mut ually exclusive," Beasley said. Lewis said the chancellor must be an open-minded person who realizes that the University exists primarily for education. UNC's educational environment is important and should be addressed, he said, because stu dents go to college not only for classes but for the college experience. Also, Lewis said, the chancellor should not just rely on the student body president for student opinion but should go to groups such as the Student Congress, the Resi dence Hall Association and the Black Student Movement. Martin also addressed the prob lem of research vs. education but said there are other issues for which the chancellor should be responsible. The new chancellor should have a good sense of the balances between the alumni and the admin istration, between research and education, between the University and the town and between athletics and academics, he said. The new chancellor should also have a background in education, he said. "The chancellor has to be open to student input and have a good line of communication with all student leaders and students." Maynard said he thinks the next chancellor should be open-minded and should be selected from outside the UNC system. Coming from outside the univer sity system would ensure that the chancellor owes no favors to present administrators, has student interests in mind and focuses on education, he said. Maynard said making education a priority and not letting research take precedence is an important task for the chancellor. "When a university goes to research, sometimes undergradu ate education gets sold out," he said. Poston said the new chancellor has to be an open-minded educator with experience in the UNC system, not a businessman. Poston also said he would like to see the new chancellor work with UNC-system president CD. Spangler to expand the UNC system to include students in N.C. public schools, beginning at the kindergarten level. Public education in North Carol ina does not create students who want to go to college, he said. "We have an excellent university system (in North Carolina), but we're sorely lacking at the high school level," Poston said. Rierson said students sh mild have input in the selection of the i new cnanceiior, and the chancellor should make an effort to involve the student body president and students in the decision-making process. "We have a great opportunity to establish a new tradition of student input in administrative decisions," she said. The chancellor should place more emphasis on undergraduate education and rewarding excel lence in undergraduate teaching, she said. The chancellor also has to he flexible and willing to consider student opimons, she said. Yelverton has said the role of the next student body president will be crucial because he or she will be the first to deal with the new chancellor and will determine how administrators deal with Student Government for the next several years. The chancellor should work for a sense of balance between three components of the University: the administration, the faculty and the students, Yelverton said. Student opinion should be con sidered equal to the other two components, he said "The chancellor has to work well to facilitate the education that the University works for," he said. i
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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Feb. 16, 1988, edition 1
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