Bowles says ASG acted too soon

UNC-system President Erskine Bowles said that the UNC-system Association of Student Governments should not have gotten involved in tuition discussions as early as it did.

The group comprised of student leaders from across the state passed a tuition resolution last weekend but its results will remain shelved until early next year.

The ASG funded by a $1 fee from every student enrolled in a UNC-system school outlined student-requested percent increases on tuition for each university at its monthly meeting last weekend.

The UNC-system Board of Governors informally requested ASG's input following discussion of a tuition freeze at its October meeting.

However in an e-mail Tuesday to BOG Chairwoman Hannah Gage" Bowles said he didn't think the BOG should have asked for the ASG's opinion until after tuition request numbers had come in from all the universities.

 ""That's not the way I think business should be done"" he stated in the e-mail. This University has an orderly process on tuition decisions. I've worked hard to instill this process.""

Multiple attempts to contact UNC General Administration were unsuccessful.

Leroy Lail" chairman of the BOG budget and finance committee" said the BOG decided to defer the October tuition discussions until individual universities' task forces finish gathering material.

""It's not too soon"" he said of the ASG resolution. We decided to wait until we'd had the opportunity to evaluate all the data.""

The process will be finished in February. Bowles will then make a formal recommendation to the BOG.

Lail said the ASG resolution would still be taken into account when the BOG starts to deliberate.

""We like to hear from the students" we really do" he said.

ASG President Greg Doucette, who is N.C. State University's Senate President, said that although he understands Bowles's concern, he is glad the association addressed the issue early.

His concern was that we're making our decision prior to getting all the facts"" Doucette said of Bowles's reaction. What I conveyed to him was that whether or not students can afford the increase is independent of whether increases are justified and needed.""

UNC-Greensboro's delegation voted for a tuition cap different from the one their student body president had lobbied for on the school's tuition task force" whose decision on tuition wasn't final at the time.

At the ASG meeting UNC-G passed a 2 percent increase cap rather than the 6.5 percent cap their university recommended" UNC-G Student Body President Michael Tuso said.

""They knew that that was going to be on the table" Tuso said. For our specific purposes" the delegation used the 2 percent as a symbolic representation.""

Bowles" in the e-mail to Gage" cited that discrepancy as an example of why ASG may have acted too soon.

 ""I don't think it can be classified as a failure if the association is advocating for what the students want" Tuso said.

Doucette said the association was simply fulfilling its duty to represent UNC-system students.

I stand by my opinion to the board to the President and to anyone in the association that our product is valid" he said.

I have little doubt that what they see now would have been they would have seen had we adopted this in January.""



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