Student body president candidates spout eco-knowledge in environmental debate

From the University’s reliance on coal to rising sea levels — nothing was off limits for student body president candidates on Thursday.

The candidates vied for the votes of environmentalists at the Student Body President Environmental Forum in Manning Hall.

The forum was sponsored by some of the environmental groups on campus, including UNC Sierra Student Coalition, A Drink For Tomorrow and Student Environmental Action Coalition.

Sophomore Schuyler Cornell, Student Environmental Action Coalition executive member, said the environment is an extremely relevant part of her college experience.

“For me, at least, this issue is so important. It’s how I understand every other issue, through an environmental lens,” she said.

All three candidates wanted the executive branch to collaborate more with campus environmental groups.

Candidate Houston Summers, who received an endorsement from the Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies after the group’s debate Wednesday, focused on advocacy, education and athletics to help in achieving his immense amount of environmental goals.

Summers, who has more environment-related platform points than his two competitors combined, stressed the success of athletics in terms of A Drink For Tomorrow, a student organization that aims to combat the global water crisis.

“I think we can continue this with our next food theme and really involve athletics as a forum, as a place, to make sure that everyone that attends all of our events,” Summers said.

“This could be upwards to 500,000 individuals in our community and our state, to make sure they understand the implications that these issues have not only on Carolina, but on our surrounding community.”

Candidate Kathryn Walker emphasized the connection between safety and sustainability, as well as how groups can collaborate to solve environmental issues.

“The resource we need to focus on to be sustainable is people,” Walker said.

She said she is not an expert in environmental issues.

“I don’t think that people expect the student body president to be an expert in every single issue, but they expect us to be a leader,” she said.

Candidate David Marsh spent much of his time on his specific environmental ideas, such as utilizing a program called Tar Heel Bikes and creating a unified composting system.

“I absolutely think having a bike-sharing program on campus would be beneficial, not only to our university and our students, but also to the Town of Chapel Hill as a whole,” he said.

Junior Emily Wheeler, executive member of the Student Environmental Action Coalition, said she thought this event was beneficial for the environmental health of UNC’s campus.

“One of those three people is going to be our president, and so, if anything, this reminded the candidates that there are people on this campus who really care about this.”

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