At her first Board of Trustees meeting as student body president, Jasmin Jones took an unpopular stand.
When the board began discussing a proposed pedestrian bridge over South Road, Jones, the sole student voice on the board, made a point of expressing her opposition.
It didn’t go over very well.
“It was almost the most miserable experience I’ve ever had. I definitely cried. I cried after it,” she said.
Facing vocal opposition, Jones cast the lone dissenting vote against the proposed site for the bridge.
But as her communication skills blossomed, the board came to respect the stance of Jones, whose presidency ends tonight.
This particular success is symbolic of her personality, one made up of passion and determination, that allowed her to achieve her two primary objectives — building relationships and constantly representing the student body.
Accomplished
- Promote the “Orange Band Project” focused on creating dialogue on campus between all students
- Create a public relations team for student government.
- Create a “Carolina Market” in the Pit.In the Works
Put OneCard machines in dorms.Unaccomplished
- Expand P2P shuttle transportation locations.
- Create a Web page for Greek organizations to load pictures from their service projects and submit completed blogs.
- Create a community service publication.
Attend the Inauguration
5:30 p.m. today in the Great Hall of the Student Union
All individuals elected to posts in student government in February’s elections, as well as the appointed executive branch officers and other positions, will be
inaugurated. These posts include the
student body president and vice president, and senior class officers.
Leaving a legacy
In contrast to past student body presidents, Jones did not achieve a signature project from her platform to which one could point as her administration’s legacy.
Instead, Jones said her administration’s greatest accomplishment was the improvement of relationships between student government and other bodies, especially the town of Chapel Hill.
She achieved this by meeting with Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt and asking the Town of Chapel Hill to consider allowing a student representative to sit on different government boards, Jones said.
She paid more attention to being the representative of student opinion than accomplishing specific platform points, said Margaret Jablonski, the vice chancellor for student affairs.
With regards to the proposed South Road bridge project, Jones and her administration conducted a survey of student opinion. Jones said a sizable majority of respondents were not in favor, and she brought this information to the board.
“Now they know it’s students who don’t like it,” she said.
Tuition increases were another issue that required a broad survey of student opinion. Jones’ platform stressed its importance and pledged to inform students of the details of the process.
But Jones said she was not as successful as she hoped to be in informing students, stating that the establishment of a public relations team provided invaluable help but faced difficulties because it was newly created.
An energy, a maturation
Jones entered her term with boundless energy but admittedly limited knowledge of how to be successful. She will leave the post having fulfilled both qualities, said those who worked closely with her.
“I think Jasmin probably grew as much as any student body president I’ve seen,” said Bob Winston, board chairman and a member since 2003.
“I think she came in strong and probably wasn’t prepared for the parliamentary part of being on the board. She knew what she wanted to get done, but she didn’t know how. Toward the end she knew both.”
Jablonski and Winston said Jones’ personality helped her persevere and made her a persuasive leader.
“In general, people really liked and enjoyed working with Jasmin. You wanted to help her accomplish whatever she was trying to do,” Jablonski said.
Winston said this quality made her an effective board member.
“When somebody smiles when they talk, you can tell,” he said. “I try to tell people in my business to do that. She does that.”
Several students’ impressions of Jones were positive and were strongly influenced by her personality.
“From what I’ve seen of her, she’s always really friendly, really helpful, always open to ideas,” said Lauren Houston, a freshman journalism major. “I think those are very important qualities for a student body president.”
Student Body President-elect Hogan Medlin, who is being inaugurated tonight, said he thinks Jones connected with students, making it a point to have a meal plan to be around other students.
“She brought student government to a student level,” he said.
Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
