Students might vote on ASG involvement

Students could have an opportunity to decide whether they want UNC representatives to continue to be part of the Association of Student Governments.

Several members of Student Congress are working to put a referendum before students on whether to withdraw UNC’s delegates and financial support from the group.

The association coordinates activities between the 17 UNC-system schools and provides a student voice on the Board of Governors.

Representatives proposing the referendum have different views about the value of participating in the association, but all want to put the question before the student body.

A Student Congress committee will consider the resolution, which would have to be approved by the full Congress before it appeared on a ballot, tonight.

It’s unclear if UNC could officially withdraw financial support even if the student body voted to do so.

All UNC-system students pay a $1 fee to ASG, and four members of student government are supposed to represent UNC-Chapel Hill.

But if students were to vote to withdraw, the organization would still collect fees from every student and technically represent them, ASG President Greg Doucette said.

“If you’re a part of the UNC system, you’re a part of ASG,” he said.

UNC’s participation is governed by state law, the UNC-system’s Policy Manual and the ASG Constitution, Doucette said. A student vote couldn’t change those documents, he said.

Students would have to approach the Board of Governors, which oversees the UNC system, and the N.C. General Assembly.

But Student Congress member Anthony Dent said his priority is to allow students to participate in the decision-making process.

“Our overarching goal is to remedy the fact that over the past four decades, the student body hasn’t been given the opportunity to participate,” he said.

The University has had a complex relationship with the organization, which has suffered from accusations of inefficiency and scandal in recent years.

Congress member Justin Crowder said he is not concerned with the feasibility of withdrawing from ASG.

“I think a referendum is necessary to make our involvement in ASG legitimate,” Crowder said.

Dent and fellow Congress member Zach Dexter previously introduced legislation that would have placed the resolution on the ballot, but it was thrown out due to technicalities.

Crowder and fellow member Saang Lee are trying to pass similar legislation at tonight’s rules and judiciary committee meeting.

Senior Ron Bilbao, who has participated in ASG, said he thinks the students should be able to choose whether UNC participates.

“It’s their fees that are going toward the organization,” he said.

But Bilbao also said the student body did provide input on the issue through the election of the student body president, who decides whether to support ASG.

Student Body President Jasmin Jones said she trusts that students will have enough information to vote if it comes to that point.

“I will help them understand,” she said.



Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.