Association of Students Government will meet this weekend to discuss issues

Amid this weekend’s discussions on tuition, clean energy, internal reform and the grading scale, the nominees for the next president and vice president of the UNC-system Association of Student Governments will step forward.

The association, which is funded by an annual $1 student fee, is composed of student delegates from across the state. This weekend it will assemble at N.C. State University.

The association’s elections will take place in March.

ASG President, Robert Nunnery, said he wants the group to form a stance on using tuition revenue for need-based financial aid.

Nunnery said he also wants to inform the group that the UNC-system Board of Governors has been receiving requests to begin an initiative to allow undocumented students who have been living in North Carolina to pay in-state tuition rates.

The association passed a resolution last month that supported the board in asking the legislature to let the board establish in-state tuition rates for military students.

Nunnery said he wants to encourage the association and the board to keep this a priority, rather than in-state tuition for undocumented students.

Internal reform, a long-debated topic in the association, will also be on the table this weekend, with an initiative headed by NCSU Student Body President Alex Parker.

Parker said he has received input on the reform from all the UNC-system student body presidents, including ideas for limiting delegates to three per school and requiring that at least one delegate be an underclassman or graduate student.

Shelby Hudspeth, director of state and external affairs for UNC-CH’s executive branch, will be proxying for Student Body President Christy Lambden at this weekend’s meeting. She said she will take an active role in restructuring discussions.

Student Body President-elect Andrew Powell also expressed interest in reform.

“There has been waste in how ASG has used money that comes from our students, and if our money is being wasted by an organization that should be advocating for us, I think that’s a shame,” Powell said.

Powell said he thinks that UNC-CH will need to continue to hold ASG accountable, but he is optimistic for future progress.

“I want to approach working with ASG with the full hope that we can be a very effective advocate of students across the system,” he said.

The group will also discuss standardizing the UNC system’s grading scale. Last month, the group tabled discussion on a resolution that proposes the UNC system add an A-plus to its grading scale on every campus.

Antonio Reid, the vice president of academics and university governance for ASG, whose committee is heading the initiative, said the resolution is in its final draft and will be ready to present to the general assembly Saturday.

According to the current draft, the addition of an A-plus to the grading system would enable students to raise their grades back to a 4.0 even if they receive a grade lower than A.

NCSU will also present a clean energy resolution that calls upon Duke Energy Progress to partner with the UNC system to meet carbon-reduction goals. Hudspeth said UNC-CH will vote in support of this bill.

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