Students petition for the Union

Students today will see one more petition popping up around campus.

Student Union officials and volunteers looking to add a proposed renovation to the Feb. 8 ballot will be asking for support, joining student body president hopefuls in a scramble for signatures.

Student Congress voted Tuesday against letting students vote on a plan to fund the UCommons project — a renovation for the bottom floor of the Student Union.

The funding plan, which would require that students pay $16 more in student fees each year for 30 years, can only come on the ballot if volunteers get signatures from at least 10 percent — or 2,939 members — of the student body no later than Feb. 2.

If they are successful, Student Body President Hogan Medlin would direct the Board of Elections to add the referendum to the ballot. The fee will be implemented if 2.5 percent of the student body votes on the measure and a majority vote in its favor.

About 20 members of the Carolina Union Activities Board, along with other student volunteers, plan to collect the signatures by making presentations to student groups and campaigning in the Pit.

“In the past, we’ve found that the more communication and information students receive, the more positive the reception of ideas,” said Megan Johnson, who has overseen about $1,300 in marketing the plan.

“We have extra cards from our marketing efforts thus far that students can take stacks of and distribute,” she added.

The campaigning will begin in earnest later this week after a CUAB meeting on Friday, where students will devise a strategy to place the referendum on the ballot.

Graduate students have emerged as the most ardent opponents to the fee. On Tuesday, graduate student and President Pro Tempore Alex Mills argued that the renovation was unnecessary, particularly for graduate students who rarely use the Student Union.

“It’s not on graduate students’ list of concerns,” he said.

CUAB President Tyler Mills said he anticipated the Student Congress decision Tuesday after the bill was recommended unfavorably by the student affairs committee last week.

With the cost of construction materials at a historic low, Don Luse, director of the Student Union, said Friday that now is the time to complete a much-needed renovation.

He said Phase 2 of the project — the portion that students would be able to vote on — will cost more than $10 million, and include a performance space, a food option and flexible meeting areas. Phase 1, which will bring a Wendy’s and meeting rooms to the east wing, is already scheduled and will cost more than $5 million.

“It’s a value proposition that students have to make. Is what we are giving them worth what they are paying?” he said.

“The important thing is to show students what they will get for the increase (in student fees) and then to let them make the decision.”

Contact the University Editor at university@dailytarheel.com.