Currently, a total of 10 districts in UNC's graduate and undergraduate schools are without representation in Congress, leading Student Body President Justin Young to call for a special election.
According to Speaker Mark Townsend, the Student Code calls for student government to hold a special election every month until all the seats in Congress are filled. But there have been empty seats in Congress for years, he said.
"In my three years, we've never had a full Student Congress," Townsend said. "Student Congress has 37 seats, and the most I've seen is about 31."
The Congress has so many open seats because many students view student government with little interest, Townsend said. "There does tend to be a lot of voter apathy," he said. "People don't tend to pay a lot of attention to student government."
Young said the key to increasing student participation in Congress lies in promoting student awareness of student government. "To bring about more student representation, we just need more active involvement ... and to publicize it more," Young said.
But Townsend said this was the first year student government had used mass e-mails to inform students about the empty seats but said this did not seem to improve student interest. "We tried mass e-mailings, hitting people up at C-TOPS before they even get here," he said. "There's not a whole lot we can do."
Some members maintain that increased student involvement in Congress is a must. "There definitely needs to be a change," Young said. "Congress is a very important student organization. ... They do a lot for the student body, and they just need to get the student body more involved."
Students running for special elections are under the same requirements as those running for a regular election. They must fill out an application form and get at least 10 signatures from students in their respective district.
Districts are determined by where students live and include both on- and off-campus sites.
