Correciton (November 17, 2010): Due to a reporting error, a previous version of this story incorrectly stated the number of districts reserved for graduate students. Three districts are reserved. The story has been updated to reflect the correction. The Daily Tar Heel apologizes for the error.
A bill proposed to realign Student Congress seats passed at Tuesday night’s Student Congress meeting.
The bill, which was sponsored by Speaker Deanna Santoro, will change districts so each member of Student Congress will represent about the same number of students. Districts will now be divided into four geographic sections, along with an at-large district for freshmen and three districts reserved for graduate students.
District 1 will include residence halls north of South Road; district 2 will include the Odum and Ram Village communities, Baity Hill and dormitories south of Manning Drive; and District 3 will include residence halls between South Road and Manning Drive. District 4 comprises Greek and off-campus housing.
The bill passed with a vote of 20-10 with 1 abstaining. Some dissenters wanted to table the bill for further discussion.
In her appeal for passage, Santoro said the current system does not equally represent students. With her bill, Santoro said there would be more competition between districts.
But not all students were pleased with the changes.
Residence Hall Association President Ryan Collins said he was concerned about the bill’s representation of on-campus students.
“I did not see it as practical in any stance,” he said, of the bill’s original form.