October Report recaps progress

The student body president’s annual October Report was presented to Student Congress on Wednesday, two weeks later than expected.

The 112-page report, which highlights the administration’s progress during the past six months, builds upon the J.J. Raynor administration’s Summer Report, which was released Sept. 10.

Student Body Secretary Andrew Daub said the report embodies two themes of student government this year: ownership and transparency.

The document also included updates on all of student government’s ongoing projects.

Most prestigious is the “Carolina: Best Place to Teach, Learn and Discover” project, a campuswide discussion that seeks to gain student and faculty input about how to improve the UNC experience.

Raynor and Trustee John Ellison held open forums on campus and are beginning to visit each residence hall. The report said they hope to hear from 2,000 students by the end of the semester.

“We’re creating an open dialogue about how we want to change UNC,” Daub said.

“I think that is going to be the big gem looking both forward and backward.”

Raynor said the goal next semester will be to address the concerns expressed at these forums.

Daub said that project has not been their only success in the past two months. He listed Halloween as another student government highlight.

“A lot of the feedback we received was that the changes we made were by and large quite successful,” he said.

During the Halloween celebration, student government worked with town officials to ensure that SafeRide routes were still available.

They also stationed about 25 “spotters” throughout campus to help students in need get home or get medical help.

Other highlights of the report focused on transportation and safety.

The safety and security committee is working to get more blue lights approved and installed by the town in a timely manner.

Raynor said the town recently approved nine blue lights on McCauley Street.

Raynor’s plan for a late-night bus route from Chapel Hill to Carrboro also is in the works.

According to the report, the C2C, fashioned after the P2P, could begin running as soon as next semester, provided that the necessary money is secured without increasing student fees.

The October Report was supposed to be released to Student Congress at its first meeting after Oct. 14, as mandated by the Student Code.

Raynor said there was confusion regarding the deadline. Most recent administrations also have missed the deadline.

Although her administration has accomplished many of its platform planks, Raynor said those achievements are just the beginning.

“You don’t live by your platform,” she said. “You have to go above and beyond your platform. You have to be responsive to needs since platforms are static documents.”



Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.