Graduate students at UNC have a lot on their plate. They are forced to balance paying for school, teaching classes, writing dissertations and lobbying for department funding, all on top of taking strenuous classes. But graduate students should take the upcoming election as an opportunity to do their part in student government.
Student Congress may seem too narrowly focused on undergraduate issues, but that is precisely the reason graduate students need to have their say.
The students also have a responsibility to represent their constituents and serve their University. And the fact that a second special election for Student Congress was needed in just the first ten weeks of school to fill vacant seats means the graduate student community has to step up.
Two special elections have not been scheduled this close together since 2006.
Because approximately one-third of students at UNC are graduate students, the student body’s Constitution requires that a proportionate amount of graduate students are represented in Student Congress.
Of the six leadership positions in the Congress, two of them are held by graduate students.
But of the six vacant seats in the upcoming election, five of them are reserved for graduate students.
Many of the vacancies were created by students who felt they could not manage the time commitment required for serving in the body.
We understand that graduate students have different priorities and that Student Congress is generally catered to undergraduates. Most graduate students live off campus and many have part-time jobs or families.
