Graduate student drops out of school board race

CORRECTION: The original version of this story incorrectly states that students must establish domicile in North Carolina for 12 months without attending college to qualify for in-state tuition. In fact, students may attend school during that year and still qualify. The Daily Tar Heel apologizes for the error.

UNC graduate student Brian Bower officially withdrew from the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Board of Education race last week.

Bower, a Ph.D. student originally from Ohio, never intended to serve on the board and was running solely to prove his North Carolina residency to receive lower in-state tuition.

In an statement Tuesday, Bower said he withdrew because the graduate school granted him in-state tuition, and he did not want to jeopardize the re-election of Jamezetta Bedford, who was thought to be running unopposed until the Orange County Board of Elections realized it had made a mistake.

Bedford said she appreciated Bower’s withdrawal.

“It was considerate, once there was that confusion, for him to really clarify that he had no intention of serving,” she said.

Although his first two applications for in-state tuition were denied, Bower resubmitted this semester and was approved.

According to state law, a person must live in North Carolina for at least a year while not attending school and present evidence that he or she is not in the state only to attend college.

Leslie Lerea, the associate dean for student affairs of the graduate school, said when they review applications they consider factors including the individual’s financial independence and actions to become incorporated in the state.

Lerea said she couldn’t speak to the specifics of Bower’s application, but his candidacy wasn’t the deciding factor in his approval.

“It’s a combination of everything,” she said. “It alone would not confer one way or another.”

Gerry Cohen was elected to the Chapel Hill Board of Aldermen in 1973 as a second-year law student and had been in a similar position as Bower — although he said he ran with different intentions.

Cohen, who is orginally from Connecticut, was approved for in-state tuition in 1975.

“Once I got elected, I thought I might as well try to get in-state tuition,” he said.

Cohen said no connection exists in the law’s wording between running for office and proving residency for tuition purposes — but that doesn’t always hold true in practice.

“I think that reading the rules literally, I shouldn’t have been given in-state tuition,” he said.

Lerea emphasized the distinction between residency rules for elections and having an established in-state home for tuition.
“Being a resident of North Carolina doesn’t mean that you’ve established a permanent domicile,” she said. “You can have a number of residences, but only one domicile.”

Cohen said if other students follow in Bower’s footsteps, it could threaten local elections.

“If his strategy worked, I suppose we’d have several thousand people paying the $5 filing fee,” he said. “It’s a distortion of the process.”

Incumbent candidate Mia Day Burroughs said she would rather have people file who are serious about running.

“I hope that his filing in this way was not the only reason he was granted in-state tuition and would hope that the University would make that clear, so other people won’t feel compelled to use the electoral system for their own ends,” she said.

Because the ballots were printed two weeks ago, Bower’s name will still appear, said Tracy Reams, director of the Orange County Board of Elections. But any votes cast for Bower won’t be counted.

Burroughs said Bower’s withdrawal doesn’t mean much since he’s still on the ballot.

“It’s not likely to have an impact, but you never know.”

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