TO THE EDITOR:
Despite the fact that students have been protesting since October, UNC-system President Thomas Ross did not find out until now that students don’t like having their tuition raised during an economic recession.
If we had acted sooner, Ross would have had plenty of time work on an elaborate excuse as to why tuition must be raised. But he and our dear chancellor cannot suffer even the slightest pay cut.
Given more time, he could have perfected the excuse until all of us were won over. But due to our inaction and this startling turn of events, Ross must now go through the painful process of coming up with an excuse. I, for one, support our system president and hope he can get us through these dark times.
Stephen Duncan ’14
Political science
TO THE EDITOR:
UNC students expect ASG to work for the best interests of all students. However, ASG serves as a puppet to UNC-system President Thomas Ross by endorsing his 9.9 percent tuition increase. Considering the loans that a student will be paying off 20 years from now compounded with 20 percent interest rates, a 9.9 percent increase is unnecessary and unwarranted.
Instead of fighting for our best interests, members of ASG are taking extravagant vacations to Washington, D.C., lodging in lavish hotels across the state, dining on upscale meals, and allocating thousands of dollars in grant money (your money) to Appalachian State University, which just so happens to be the university attended by the ASG president.
UNC is the second largest school in the system, yet we have the same amount of delegates as the UNC School of the Arts. Where’s our voice?
Enough is enough. This Tuesday, Student Congress will vote on a resolution I have co-sponsored that would allow UNC students to vote in a special election to determine whether UNC should remain a member of ASG.
I urge all of you to visit Student Congress’ website at congress.unc.edu, find your respective representatives and email them outlining your support of this resolution. Students should have a right to determine what is best for them instead of an unresponsive body of student government.
Kyle Hall ’12
Political science
Student Congress
District 1
