Student Power demands input in 5-year plan

The UNC system’s Board of Governors will meet today to discuss how to move forward with the system’s five-year strategic plan.

But the N.C. Student Power Union has submitted an agenda of its own for the meeting.

On Tuesday, student activists from across the state sent a letter to UNC-system chancellors.

In the letter, the group demanded greater input in the strategic planning process, the removal of conservative political figure Art Pope from the strategic planning committee and the reinstatement of a policy that required a minimum 25 percent of new tuition revenue to be allocated to need-based financial aid — which was removed at the board’s meeting last month.

Juan Miranda, a graduate student from UNC-Greensboro and member of the union, said the group is calling for more diversity on the planning committee.

“We would like to see a committee with more members of the community, more students and faculty,” Miranda said. “We would just like to see a committee that is more representative in general.”

The union has criticized the presence of corporate interests on the committee, such as Pope, CEO of the retail stores conglomerate Variety Wholesalers, Inc.

Tuesday’s letter follows another letter sent late last month that asked for a response and meeting with the committee by Friday.

In email responses to the group, UNC-system President Thomas Ross said system leaders are working closely with the system’s faculty and staff assembly’s and the UNC Association of Student Governments to represent the interests of all groups.

But Ross said he does not think the committee will be able to meet with the group before Friday because of the meetings and prior commitments this week.

Miranda said he was not surprised by the “generic response” to the union’s call for a re-evaluation of the strategic planning committee.

The board’s agenda for today’s meeting includes two discussions regarding the development of the system’s five-year strategic plan that will compare other state and campus-based approaches to strategic planning.

The committee’s goals for the strategic plan include maximizing efficiency at universities and graduating more students with the skills necessary to be competitive in the global workforce. The committee aims to present a final proposal to the board in January.

Joni Worthington, spokeswoman for the system, said the board is looking at how others have approached strategic planning to examine what has worked and learn from their mistakes.

“It is important for the board to approach its own strategic planning with some context,” she said.

Alanna Davis, a member of UNC-CH’s Student Power chapter, said group members’ work is still important no matter how the committee responds.

“Student organizing has the power to create change — even if the leadership of the universities do not cooperate,” she said.

Contact the state editor at state@dailytarheel.com.