SBP and Vice President bring fresh perspective

Student government has a new dynamic duo.

As they move into their offices, Student Body President Hogan Medlin and his vice president, Holly Boardman, will bring more than new faces.

They will also bring a more policy-oriented style than that of the administration of Jasmin Jones and David Bevevino during the 2009-10 academic year.

While Jones had a background in event planning with the Carolina Union Activities Board, Medlin said he enters the office with experience that will enable him to step into the traditional role of the vice president — articulating policy.

“You’ll see me more involved in policy than the president has been in previous years,” Medlin said.

And with the development of the University’s Academic Plan and improving academic advising on the agenda, Medlin said a policy-oriented executive team is what student government needs.

As vice president last year, David Bevevino took on an expansive list of responsibilities, becoming a “co-president,” Jones said.
“Literally, he did just as much as I did,” she said.

This “co-president” perception was based on Jones’s reliance on Bevevino’s knowledge, which Medlin said was grounded in the nuts and bolts of campus institutions.

“Jasmin was very good at rhetoric and policy-oriented through (Bevevino),” Medlin said.

This distinction will be more blurred in the current administration because both Medlin and Boardman have a deeper background in University policy.

“Students may notice a difference in the vice president as a policy person and there being a more shared balance between the president and vice president,” Medlin said.

Medlin said he plans to give special attention to the Greek system review as well as any issue in which he can provide balance.
But one of Medlin’s strengths is to persuade others to support his initiatives, Boardman said. She described her role as one behind the scenes, working to ensure the feasibility of those initiatives.

Like Bevevino, Boardman has worked in policy-centered areas of the University as co-chairwoman of the academic affairs committee and chairwoman of the student academic advising board.

“What I really enjoy doing is the background,” she said.

Medlin said he will rely on Boardman’s knowledge of issues such as tuition, and has given her the lead role in matters of academic policy, including increasing accessibility to advising.

Bevevino said Medlin’s own experience in policy might affect the administration’s priorities and its reaction to unforeseen events.
“If you do have a more nuts and bolts type leader, that can change interactions with cabinet and with other organizations,” Bevevino said.
“You never really know what’s going to come up.”

Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.