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SOURCE: The Daily Tar Heel
02.26.07
Amid turmoil, ASG gets back to work
By: Alexander Trowbridge, Staff Writer
GREENSBORO -Despite a tumultuous January meeting, the UNC-system Association of Student Governments was able to resume normal business during its meeting Friday and Saturday.
On Thursday, John Noor, student body president of UNC-Asheville, resigned his post as chairman of the council of student body presidents and withdrew his campus from the ASG, saying the group was ineffective and unproductive.
His resignation came after a walkout of the historically black colleges and universities, along with UNC-Pembroke and UNC-Chapel Hill, during last month's meeting due to differences in priorities and varying expectations of respect.
Though UNC-A can refuse to send a delegation to the ASG meetings, schools cannot dissolve their membership with the group and still are required to pay the $1 fee.
The council of student body presidents voted unanimously for Cole Jones, student body president of East Carolina University, to replace Noor as the council's chairman.
The student body presidents said their meeting ran smoothly under the direction of Jones.
But UNC-Charlotte Student Body President Ben Comstock said he expects Jones as the chairman to be assertive and completely objective.
The ASG passed the long-debated Environmental Sustainability Resolution, the brainchild of Noor, which calls for the system to adopt environmentally sustainable policies and practices.
The ASG also met with system Board of Governors Chairman Jim Phillips, who offered suggestions about how the association could improve its relationship with the BOG.
Phillips said the board does not know very much about the association, except what it hears from ASG President Derek Pantiel.
He told the association that he'd like to see some more diversity in the group's expressed concerns.
"We hear about you only about tuition," Phillips told the ASG.
"(Show) us interest in things other than your pocketbook," he said. "It would increase your credibility."
The advice came a month after the ASG passed a textbook policy proposal, an issue Phillips said still is limited only to students' economic concerns.
"Coming to our meetings would be a good idea," Phillips said. "The more you can come, the more we interact with you."
Aside from his recommendations, Phillips demonstrated the ASG's importance as the BOG's student connection by taking the time to explain the board's plan to study how UNC-CH can best serve the changing needs of the state.
"How we go about this and the input you give us is really, really important," Phillips said.
Stephen Moore, ASG vice president for government relations, expressed excitement about student participation in the plan, which is scheduled to take effect June 2008.
"This is big," Moore said. "We haven't jumped on studies in the past, but this is one we can be involved with from the beginning."
The ASG will hold its next event Friday night in Raleigh where it will present the lifetime achievement award to Benjamin Ruffin, the first black BOG chairman and an N.C. Central University graduate.
The association also will present the Sanders Advocacy Award to Brad Wilson, another former BOG chairman and current member, for being a strong advocate for students during board meetings.
