Student government to hold forum on celebrations

TO THE EDITOR:

Since the beginning of this summer, student government has been working on a plan to enhance celebrations on Franklin Street. These celebrations are among students’ most memorable Carolina experiences, and we want to make sure they’re as memorable as they can be.

However, we want to make sure those memories are of UNC chants, not UNC Hospitals.

After the championship game last April, two students were arrested, 10 were taken to UNC Hospitals and 16 more were treated for on-site injuries. The town and University split the more than $200,000 cost to clean up the street afterward.

We don’t believe that fun and safety are mutually exclusive, and with a little creativity and some student input, we can find ways to increase both.

Our ultimate goal is to find ways to enhance these celebrations with alternatives to fire and town destruction, and this is where we need students’ help.

What would you like to do on Franklin after a big win? We’d like to have a DJ, put up screens showing playbacks of the game and hit around an absurd quantity of beach balls. But we need to hear from you, too.

Come out to our town hall forum this Wednesday, Jan. 27, at 7 p.m. in the Union Auditorium.

We will have panelists from student government, the Carolina Athletic Association, Student Affairs, UNC Hospitals and the Department of Public Safety there to answer questions about the celebration plans and to hear students voice their own ideas for enhancing Franklin Street celebrations.



Jasmin Jones
Student Body President