SBP hopefuls share stormy history
The headline on the lead story in the Sept. 21, 2004, edition of The Daily Tar Heel told readers that something pretty important had just happened: "Student body secretary gives up post." A few weeks later, on Oct. 11, another story of import hit the DTH: "Allred chosen to fill office." The articles explained how Bernard Holloway had left the office of student body secretary and how James Allred had filled the open spot. They explained that Holloway left the office due to personal reasons and that Allred's positive attitude enabled him to get the post. They explained how the moves affected the student body. But there was just one problem: They didn't explain what really happened. The real story is one of deceit and loyalty, of pride and hurt feelings. The main characters don't agree on its details. And 24 hours before polls are set to open in this year's campus elections, it could shed a whole new light on the race between Holloway and Allred for student body president. Calabria and his officer corps say they couldn't trust Holloway and had to ask him to resign for the good of the student body. Allred faces questions about his closeness to other University administrators, notably his father, and about his relationship with Calabria. Those ideas have loomed over this year's race. Calabria and Allred have suggested that Holloway's ambition gets in the way of his ability to lead. Holloway's camp suggests that Calabria's accusations are untrue and that he might have capitalized on his rocky relationship with Holloway to install Allred - a "prodigal son," in Holloway's words - as secretary. A forced resignation By late August, just two weeks after school had started, things had gone sour between Calabria and Holloway. Specifically, Calabria and his officer corps were angry that Holloway had told the DTH about a "constituent response system" that they hadn't heard about. According to a letter to the DTH that was never sent or published but that outlines the reasons for Holloway's forced resignation, many student leaders also became angry when they read about the constituent response system in the newspaper. Many of them had been named as participants even though they had never heard of the system - leading Calabria's officer corps to determine that Holloway had done only minimal work on the project. In a recent interview Calabria explained why he became so upset with Holloway at the time. "It is irresponsible to lie to the DTH," he said, "but even worse to lie to those you're working with and for." Holloway says that his work on the system was an outgrowth of his work on Calabria's platform and that the DTH misrepresented the progress he'd made. It was "in-progress, ongoing stuff," he said, and Calabria's officers didn't seem to understand that. "Their questioning quickly turned into interrogation of my motives," Holloway said. "It made me uncomfortable." That night, Calabria told Holloway he would have to resign unless he owned up to his behavior and changed some of what Calabria said were his negative habits - including taking credit for others' actions, neglecting Student Code updates, being dishonest toward others and unlocking the doors to officers' offices. It was a unanimous choice among the officers. Holloway stepped down Sept. 20. He says Calabria didn't talk to him about his complaints before asking him to step down. "I didn't do anything wrong," he said. "But it wouldn't have been worth it to sit there and work with four people who didn't want to work with me." Lingering questions Those four people - Calabria, Student Body Vice President Alexa Kleysteuber, Chief of Staff Tre Jones and Treasurer Natalie Russell - were more than happy to work with Allred. "I'm not usually the type who's going to park the proverbial car in the Pit," Allred said, comparing himself with Holloway. (Former Student Body President Justin Young once parked a car in the Pit to protest what he thought were unfair student parking policies.) But the degree to which Allred has acted for himself has come under question. During campaign forums questioners have asked Allred about his relationship with his father, Steve, UNC's executive associate provost. And Holloway suggested in an interview that James Allred's unwillingness to push buttons helped him in the secretary post. Allred says he's willing to stand up to his father on issues ranging from tuition to funding for the C-START student-teaching program. "I've never had a problem critiquing my father," he said, adding that the two have learned to separate their work life from their family life. When the Calabria administration prepared its presentation to the Board of Trustees last year opposing the administration's tuition plan, Allred said, that pitted him directly against his father, who helped to defend that plan. There are also questions about how much Calabria's friends, including Allred, knew about Holloway's resignation - and how much they kept quiet. Allred told the DTH that when he applied for the secretary position, he thought Holloway had resigned for personal reasons. It wasn't until later, he said, that he came to know that Holloway had been asked to step down. Even now, Allred said, he doesn't know most of the details. "I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I really don't know almost anything," he said. The other people who got an interview for the secretary post - DTH columnist Ginny Franks, Student Congress Rep. Anisa Mohanty and Brian Phelps - knew Holloway had been asked to resign, but they weren't sure about the details, Mohanty said. She also confirmed that Allred didn't know what had happened until after he took office. Two people close to the Calabria administration at the time suggested that it's highly unlikely that Allred didn't know what had happened, but both Mohanty and Allred said that's not the case. Mohanty saw no need to tell Allred what had happened, she said, because she ran in the same circle of friends as him and thought he would find out what had happened. Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.