The arrangement is largely informal, but Student Body Vice President Aaron Hiller said he hopes that by January, the relationship between SACC and the BOT will become more official.
SACC was created for the benefit of the chancellor, providing him with a direct link to informed members of the student body. The setup also allows students to voice their opinions and to be heard by the administration.
A Student Advisory Committee to the Board of Trustees was instituted several years ago, but it was entirely separate from SACC. Because the two groups did not have enough contact, they often had conflicting information, Hiller said. When the late Chancellor Michael Hooker died in 1999, the largely ineffective SACBOT stopped meeting.
Hiller said SACC is incredibly strong this year, so to avoid discrepancies, SACBOT was recreated as a separate committee made up of SACC members.
Each member of SACC was assigned an individual trustee based on compatibility. The students will advise their trustee counterparts on pressing campus issues and also will voice any personal concerns.
"They are there to speak their opinions," Hiller said. "They are the most informed persons on three or four topics that I could find on campus."
Although he will be leaving the BOT in January for a seat in the N.C. Senate, Trustee Richard Stevens said he fully intends to make use of his adviser whenever he has a question. The BOT makes decisions that directly affect the students of UNC, and although the student body president has been a part of the BOT, Stevens said, "It will be very helpful to have student contact."
The next step for SACBOT members is to forge strong relationships with the BOT, making trustees feel comfortable contacting their student advisers whenever they have a question.
"What all of us are planning on doing is just putting out an open invitation," said SACBOT member Tim Diette, a graduate student in economics. "Let them address whatever is on their mind."
