Congress Won't Fill Positions

At Monday's Student Congress Finance Committee meeting, committee Chairman Tony Larson said Speaker Mark Townsend has failed to make appointments to the boards of WXYC and the Carolina Union Activities Board.

The boards for WXYC and CUAB each have two seats allotted to Congress, all of which remain empty.

Larson said Congress has representation on these boards because, unlike other campus groups, CUAB, WXYC and Student Television automatically receive congressional funding every year.

Combined, the three groups receive $4.88 in student fees from each undergraduate student and $4.03 from each graduate student. Of these amounts, 79 percent goes to CUAB.

Only one seat out the five allotted to Congress by these three groups -- a position on the STV board of directors -- has been filled.

Larson said congressional representation on the boards is one of the only ways Congress can keep track of how the student fee money is spent.

"We can't micromanage everything, but we need to keep in touch with what's going on," Larson said.

Townsend said he is not going to fill the four vacant positions because the appointments would last only until inauguration in early April. "It'd be kind of pointless to do it now," he said.

Townsend also questioned why Larson brought up the issue of the vacant posts at Monday's meeting, which was meant to deal with a possible student fee increase to fund all student organizations.

Larson said the vacancies are the result of a lack of communication between Townsend and the three student groups.

But Bill Burton, chairman of student educational broadcasting for WXYC, said the vacancies are typical and result from the fact that filling board positions is a low priority for Congress speakers.

"About 245 things come first," Burton said.

Townsend also said other issues like parking and tuition were given higher priority than filling the slots. "It got lost in the shuffle with everything else," he said.

CUAB President Krisi Young said that not only are the two Congress positions vacant but Townsend also has not attended CUAB meetings, even though the speaker is automatically a member of CUAB's board of directors.

Townsend said he and Young have had trouble communicating about the CUAB appointments. Townsend said he has asked Young to make recommendations for the two positions but that CUAB has been unable to find someone for the job.

But Young said the job of finding people to sit on the board of directors is solely that of the speaker. "It's not my responsibility," she said.

Townsend said he is working to make sure the next speaker will have an easier time making the appointments.

Larson also said it is important that Townsend's successor be more persistent in finding students to fill the positions on the various boards of directors.

"The next speaker needs to be sure to make all the appointments."

The University Editor can be reached at udesk@unc.edu.