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SOURCE: The Daily Tar Heel
02.27.07
Progress over pettiness
EDITORIAL
The Association of Student Governments is garnering headlines once again. And just like last time, it is not for its successful initiatives but for the actions of its immature and divisive members.
On Thursday, the student body president of UNC-Asheville, John Noor, resigned his post as chairman of the council of student body presidents and announced the withdrawal of UNC-Asheville from the ASG.
This follows the walkout of the historically black universities, UNC-Chapel Hill and UNC-Pembroke representatives at last month's meeting.
Noor stated in his resignation letter, "It is my opinion that the association must be entirely redesigned from the bottom up or dissolved."
While he might be right that concrete changes are needed, his resignation is not a positive step toward that end. Instead he wasted more time airing his complaints with no intention of enacting change.
Practically speaking, Noor's resignation affects little if anything. His presidency will end soon, and presumably the issue will be revisited by the new SBP. UNC-Asheville will not be exempt from the $1 mandatory student fee and will simply lack representation.
Noor's criticisms do not lack weight. The ASG has the potential to be a force to be reckoned with. Its budget is more than $166,000 but is not always used in the most productive ways.
The ASG does need reforms; the group should focus its energies on feasible tasks and tackle those effectively and efficiently. The textbook rental bill is an example of the type of efforts the ASG should be making. The association now needs to work cooperatively with the Board of Governors to ensure that the rental program can be realized.
The ASG meeting this weekend also was an excellent opportunity to strengthen communication, with BOG Chairman Jim Phillips in attendance. Instead, he was shown a divided ASG that was losing representation of one of the system schools.
It would be hard for Phillips or any other BOG member to take this group seriously after the antics displayed of late.
Phillips did suggest the ASG diversify its interests and not focus purely on financial issues. This idea should be seriously considered if only to show a desire to work with the BOG.
In the past, we thought of the ASG as just a waste, but this year it's reached a new level of incompetence by lobbying the Supreme Court (take POLI 100, and you'll figure out why this is a stupid idea), staging walk-outs and dealing with major resignations, all of which have blocked worthwhile initiatives from receiving attention. Ironically, Noor's Environmental Sustainability Resolution was adopted at this weekend's meeting but has been overshadowed by his resignation.
We hope to see the ASG grow up and get something done; $166,000 is a lot of money to waste. We would also like to remind Noor that if he wants to see changes in the ASG, he should make a proposal, not just give up and resign.
