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(03/21/07 4:00am)
Student Congress sharply reduced spending for campus publications Tuesday night with the passage of the third section of the Cap Act, which limits public funding of magazines to two issues per semester.
Speaker Luke Farley displayed pictures of thousands of outdated magazines left at distribution centers around campus before the vote on the controversial bill, which Congress members said was motivated both by a budget crunch and a desire to reduce governmental inefficiency.
The bill, which was considered several hours into the night's meeting, allows publications to receive matching funds from Congress if they generate revenue for additional issues.
Earlier in the meeting the body killed the first two sections of the Cap Act by a narrow margin.
They voted to uphold two presidential vetoes of the bills, which were passed earlier this month.
The first bill would have limited speaker funding requests to $6,000 each, while the second would have enacted a $10,000 limit per concert.
Farley and Allred read opposing statements addressing the bills, although the body's rules forbid it from further debating the legislation before the vote.
Farley, who had earlier hailed the bills as a hallmark example of cooperation between the executive branch and Student Congress, said Allred's last-minute veto of the bills highlights the strong tensions between the branches.
"I find the timing of the veto incredibly suspect and to be completely politically motivated," he said. Tuesday's meeting was the body's last regular gathering before new members are sworn in April 3.
Allred said he received about a dozen e-mails from students opposing the legislation.
"When talking to students, they all seem to agree there are enough small, focused events on campus," he said. "What they want is larger events."
Congress also passed a resolution encouraging University investment managers to divest from holdings in companies that do business in the Sudan.
"There had been a lot of student outcry to call for a resolution like this, to encourage the administration to work more diligently on doing that," said Rep. Cindy Plante, who sponsored the bill.
"The goal of this resolution in this body is to add to the momentum of what the executive branch has already done."
Allred said he plans to present the issue to the Board of Trustees at its Thursday meeting.
Several representatives also unsuccessfully pushed to reconsider allocations to the Carolina Athletic Association, which were cut in half, before the body's annual budget was finalized.
The budget amounted to about $369,000.
Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
(02/28/07 5:00am)
Student Congress came within a hairbreadth of ejecting the Carolina Athletic Association from the purview of student government Tuesday night.
In a vote breaking an eight-to-eight tie, Speaker Luke Farley chose to kill the bill rather than accept an amendment that would have salvaged student body elections for the post of CAA president.
The vote came shortly after Student Body President James Allred left the meeting in protest. Congress adviser Jon Curtis also left the meeting at the same time.
The bill was drafted in response to a Student Supreme Court case brought against Congress by CAA earlier this month after representatives passed legislation that revoked their access to privileged tickets to varsity men's basketball games.
CAA, which helps distribute basketball tickets and oversees Carolina Fever, won the case, arguing that it derived its authority from the Department of Athletics rather than the student body.
"After close examination, I am of the opinion that CAA, in its current form, serves sometimes contradictory constituencies, and as such has no place in the Student Code," Chief Justice Matt Liles wrote in the opinion of the Court.
Congress' bill would have stricken Title VII, which outlines rules concerning CAA, and removed some other references to CAA in the Code.
"This legislation is just the bitter recognition that we don't have any authority over them," Farley said at Tuesday's meeting.
But CAA President Rachel High circulated a letter strongly requesting that the CAA remain in the Code for purposes of student elections.
"The CAA president is, indeed, the voice of the students when it comes to athletics," she wrote. "For that reason, the CAA should remain in Title VI of the Code."
Student affairs committee chairman Tyler Younts said High's request "baffled" him.
"In court they argued that their authority came from the administration via the athletic department, and therefore we couldn't regulate them," he said.
Finance committee chairman Val Tenyotkin introduced the amendment to leave allowances for the election of the CAA president in the Code.
Tenyotkin and other representatives advocated working with the CAA in a deliberative process to create a new Title VII that would recognize that CAA's authority is derived from University administrators in some duties and from students in others.
Allred and Curtis named other organizations, such as the Residence Hall Association, senior class officers and the executive branch of student government that operate under similar principles.
But those opposing the amendment argued that CAA has too strongly refused students' authority to be accepted as part of student government and that the amendment wasn't in compliance with the Court's ruling.
Allred strongly criticized Congress' actions - drawing harsh responses from several Congress members.
"I think it's important that the student body understand that Congress has undertaken a concerted campaign to consolidate power and gain control over virtually all other branches of student government," Allred said.
He cited quotes from Farley and Congress' lack of participation on boards - such as the Student Ticket Review Board - to back up his claim.
Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
(02/19/07 5:00am)
The Student Supreme Court's ruling against Student Congress last week could turn out to be a landmark case.
The decision, which was released late Thursday, nullified legislation Congress passed last semester to deprive student government officials and Carolina Athletic Association members of tickets granted to them outside of the general student lottery.
"I'm definitely pleased that we got a precedent set for keeping student tickets out of the Student Code," said Rachel High, president of the CAA, which brought the case against Congress.
CAA cabinet members receive a total of 28 student-only tickets to all men's home basketball games.
The decision could prompt Congress to remove CAA from the Code and puts a damper on Speaker Luke Farley's avowed initiative to expand the power of Congress.
"In deciding this issue the Court deals with not only the limits of Congressional power, but also the limits of our own power and the very derivation of student government itself," Chief Justice Matt Liles wrote in the opinion of the Court.
The ruling introduces the notion of student rights and, specifically, the right of students to accept basketball tickets if granted them.
"There is no 'student bill of rights,' but the right to be eligible to receive tickets to athletic, specifically basketball games, is as undeniable a right as you can find in student politics," Liles wrote.
The Court defined Congress' power as ultimately coming from the student body.
The Court ruled that because Congress is not delegated power over ticket distribution, it cannot legislate how tickets will be distributed by the Department of Athletics.
Although Title VII of the Student Code outlines how tickets will be distributed, Congress traditionally has changed the Code to reflect current athletics department policy, rather than to dictate to the department how to distribute tickets.
The Court's decision renders that practice unconstitutional.
"After close examination, I am of the opinion that CAA, in its current form, serves sometimes contradictory constituencies, and as such has no place in the Student Code," Liles wrote.
The CAA first was brought partially under the auspices of Congress in 2001, when the organization's president was accused of maintaining a "slush fund" of men's basketball tickets and rigging the distribution process.
Farley said Congress likely will consider legislating CAA out of the Code in the wake of the decision.
The Court's decision also forbids Congress from determining before-the-fact impeachable offenses for student government officials, which the body had implemented in the ticket legislation to punish those who didn't comply.
Farley was critical of some aspects of the Court's ruling.
"I think the Court was gravely mistaken in striking down the portion of the law that prohibits Congress from making laws relative to accepting tickets," he said, citing its purview over ethics regulations for student government members.
He also was critical of the motives of CAA officials.
"I think students really should take note that the members of CAA, in an attempt to save their tickets, have appealed to working for the athletics department and not the students."
Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
(02/13/07 5:00am)
Student Congress races for some districts have been hotly disputed this year, and about a dozen write-in candidates have entered the fray.
But for the first time in recent memory, the Congress competition has transcended old-fashioned dorm-storming and flier-posting.
Two opposing rhetorics have emerged, casting the nature of Congress and the legacy of Congress' leaders in different lights - and, for some, signaling that the stakes are higher this year than in the past.
Thirteen students have banded together to run as a slate, calling themselves "Progressive Students for Student Congress."
The group was organized by the campus political affairs committee of Young Democrats, which invited students to run regardless of their political views, under the auspices of combating what they see as partisanship in Congress.
"Something that we're really working for is nonpartisanship in Congress because over the past couple of years, it's become really divided over party lines," said Amanda Vaughn, co-chairwoman of the committee.
But Congress incumbents who oppose the group apply the same criticism to slate members - just one of many points on which the groups diverge.
Rep. Tim Nichols, a self-avowed conservative, turned down an offer to run on the progressive slate.
"There shouldn't be partisanship like that," he said.
"It should be everybody going by themselves. I don't believe we should try to create these different alignments."
Those opposing the progressive group say they aren't an organized faction.
"I would say there is a somewhat conservatively-oriented group of people," said Rep. C.P. Helms, also an incumbent. "By no means are all the people I would put in the conservative group Republican."
Many have pointed to Speaker Luke Farley as the ringleader of that conservative faction.
Finance committee chairman Val Tenyotkin is the ranking member of the progressive slate.
In a move that has surprised opponents, Tenyotkin has publicly declared his intent to run for speaker of Student Congress, a position self-selected by the body.
"Our Congress resembles the real Congress," Tenyotkin said. "We have these head people who lead the vote. If you vote against them, you get punished; if you vote with them, you get rewarded. It's really disappointing that it's happening."
Tenyotkin, along with others, has criticized the trend among Congress leaders toward greater involvement in the affairs of student groups and other student government bodies.
Rather than resorting to accusations of partisanship, Tenyotkin said he believes the divide in Congress - which is manifested as a pronounced rift on many issues - is a result of some representatives voting simply based on the views of faction leaders.
"It shifted from parties to these little cliques," he said.
He has been highly critical of the direction in which the leaders of what he sees as the opposing faction have led Congress.
"We don't want to threaten student groups by not approving their bylaws or constitutions. . We don't want to abuse Congress' power over anything unless there's a dire need," he said.
"I want to prevent Congress from going down the path which leads it to a situation, a lawsuit, or makes its members look like fools."
Other leaders in Congress - such as student affairs committee chairman Tyler Younts, who is also considering a run for Speaker - say that Congress' actions have been admirable and deny charges of intentional block voting.
"I think this Congress more than previous Congresses has been focused on what the students want and what the students need, whereas in previous Congresses we may have been focused on things like stipends, which I'll admit, a lot of students don't care about," Younts said.
"I guess any time you try to change things and make things better, other people are going to oppose that," Younts said in response to criticism from progressive slate members.
"As far as stepping on people's toes, I mean, I guess if you were going to do what the administrators want all the time, you might as well not have a student government."
Student Body President James Allred refrained from broadly criticizing Congress leadership but did say that some actions have been hypocritical.
"Certainly Congress has been very interested in issues regarding the Union Board of Directors, so to not show up for any of the interviews for selection of the president is just baffling to me," Allred said.
Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
(01/31/07 5:00am)
A sharply divided Student Congress mandated term limits for some Carolina Union Board of Directors members Tuesday night, acting against the advice of campus administrators, Student Body President James Allred, and the board itself.
In December the board voluntarily changed its bylaws to allow any student group to apply for one of four positions on the 21-member board. Terms would last one year, and could be renewed indefinitely by a subcommitte of the board.
Previously, the positions were permanently allocated to the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender-Straight Alliance; the Black Student Movement; the Residence Hall Association; and the Association of International Students.
Congress' student affairs committee reviewed the changes Sunday, citing a section of Title I of the Student Code that states that the composition of the board shall be "established" by Congress.
Despite opposition from both Allred and Carolina Union Board of Directors President Erika Stallings, the committee drafted a resolution approving the change contingent upon the board adding term limits of two years for the rotating student groups - and implicitly asserting Congress' supposed authority to determine board membership.
That authority is in question because some board members have stated that they believe the Code doesn't give Congress ongoing authority over board membership after the initial creation of the board.
Others, such as Associate Director for Student Activities and Student Organizations Jon Curtis and Allred, said such authority is questionable or highly ill-advised despite the language of the Code.
About an hour before the meeting, Curtis sent an e-mail to each Congress member specifically - avoiding the typical, more public channel of the Congress listserv - to advise them against passing the resolution.
"Further actions are not necessary and, because they push 'too far,' come with an enormous risk - the possible intervention into student self-governance and the role of Congress," Curtis wrote.
Farley said other officials met with him and recounted a 1973 incident in which administrators stepped in in a similar situation - apparently warning him against supporting the resolution. Those officials included Margaret Jablonski, vice chancellor for student affairs; Don Luse, director of the Student Union; and representatives of UNC's legal team.
But in a decisive vote on an amendment that would have relaxed the resolution's term limit stipulation, Farley, who also holds a seat on the Union board, cast the tiebreaker that ended a 10-10 split among representatives.
For their part, Congress members spent most of the night discussing the merits of the term limits themselves - a topic of debate Allred attempted to steer them away from.
"We'd like to give all the student groups equal opportunity to be on (the board)," Rep. Charissa Lloyd said, adding that term limits would help accomplish that.
Rep. Val Tenyotkin disagreed.
"Why do we need it?" he asked of the term limit rule.
Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
(01/29/07 5:00am)
Students running for campus offices face many hurdles, such as attending forums, publicizing their campaigns and forming knowledgeable opinions on the issues.
But they also face potential pitfalls under Title VI of the Student Code, which governs campus elections and subjects candidates to financial regulations, among others.
Campaigns for each office are allotted and reimbursed a specific amount of money, ranging from up to $400 for student body president campaigns to $20 for Student Congress campaigns.
Typical expenses include A-frame plywood signs for student body president campaigns, fliers and other publicity materials.
Surpassing the spending limit is grounds for immediate disqualification. Because fines doled out by the Board of Elections for myriad violations count toward that limit, staying under it can be tricky.
A violation near the end of an election can disqualify candidates, even though they are granted a 5 percent allowance for fines exceeding their spending limits.
Especially problematic for candidates are inexperienced campaign workers, who are more likely to commit a violation - such as wearing a campaign button in a computer lab or creating misleading fliers.
"That's where you can really get in trouble, if you have a careless campaign worker, and we fine you a certain amount for them getting an egregious violation," said Jim Brewer, chairman of the elections board. "That can really affect how your campaign financial statement goes."
Kevin Cline, treasurer for Caroline Spencer's student body president campaign, said $50 has been set aside in case of fines.
Only two fines have been issued so far in the current election - $5 and $25, both to student body president candidate Jon Kite, for campaign rules violations - but at least two other violations are under investigation by the elections board.
Last year student body president candidate Bernard Holloway omitted about $80 in shipping charges and taxes from his financial statement, though the error wasn't discovered until after he lost the election. An Honor Court hearing later determined that the error was made without malicious intent.
Student Body Treasurer Anisa Mohanty, who audits candidates' financial statements after elections, said mistakes in tallying up expenditures are common.
But Brewer said intentional cheating on financial statements is also a problem.
"People think they can beat the system, and they're in the trenches, and they think they can falsify something, but we can easily tell."
For the first time, the elections board has asked candidates to submit a spending total each Tuesday until campaigns are concluded to help candidates avoid mistakes and to head off cheating.
But the board has decided not to enforce the rule, which isn't in the Student Code and already has been disregarded by many candidates.
Mohanty said she expects this election season to be particularly problematic.
"Given this year's field of candidates, there's not much experience in the field of campaigning," she said. "I feel like there's going to be a lot of Title VI problems coming up."
Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
Campaign spending limits
Student body president: $400
Carolina Athletic Association president: $400
Residence Hall Association president: $250
Graduate and Professional Student Federation president: $250
Senior class officers: $150
Student Congress: $20
(01/17/07 5:00am)
Student Congress members, sailing through unfamiliar waters, voted unanimously to "support" Denny Lyons to fill the Residence Hall Association's top post Tuesday night.
After announcing plans to study abroad this semester, outgoing RHA President William Thompson recommended Lyons, the organization's treasurer, to fill his seat.
Without provisions for handling a vacancy in RHA offices provided for in the Student Code, Congress members planned to approve the recommendation - even though it bypasses Thompson's second-in-command, RHA Vice President Ryan Coffield.
But during the meeting, some representatives raised concerns that RHA succession matters are under the jurisdiction of the RHA, not Congress.
"If they really want to subject themselves to our vote, that's fine," Congress Speaker Luke Farley said.
"I appreciate the interest in legitimacy. Everybody knows I'm interested in protecting Congress' authority, but I'm not interested in expanding authority where we don't have any."
The group came to a consensus by deciding to change the word "approve" in the resolution to "support."
Congress members also had discussed amending the Code to include succession provisions for the RHA post but threw out that idea after determining that the issue is an internal RHA matter. Lyons said the RHA is in the process of creating specific succession rules.
Earlier in Tuesday night's meeting, Rep. Caroline Spencer announced her resignation from the position of rules and judiciary committee chairwoman to run for student body president. She will remain a member of Congress as she competes against Eve Carson, Nick Neptune and Jon Kite for the position.
Rep. Quentin Ruiz-Esparza, the sole nominee to succeed Spencer, will serve as the new rules and judiciary chairman.
A significant proportion of the meeting was spent discussing a finance bill to appropriate almost $5,000 to the First Amendment Law Review to hold a symposium - causing the meeting to run about half an hour longer than Farley's one-hour target length.
Finance committee chairman Val Tenyotkin and Student Body Treasurer Anisa Mohanty pushed for the bill, saying similar requests had been approved earlier in the year and that the Congress coffers could handle the blow.
But other members - also pointing to the budget - said the price tag was simply too large.
"It doesn't matter what's happened in the past. . This is too expensive for too few people," Ruiz-Esparza said.
Eventually the bill passed, with several dissenters.
Other legislation approved by Congress members releases the Graduate and Professional Student Federation president from delivering a set number of speeches each year, but requires him or her to address the student body at Congress' request.
Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
(11/29/06 5:00am)
This article incorrectly infers that the Department of Public Safety is responsible for installing emergency light call boxes. Additionally, due to a reporting error, the story incorrectly states that Student Body President James Allred said DPS doesn't listen to the student government committee responsible for the boxes. The comment was made in reference to a lighting tour that DPS did not take part in. The Daily Tar Heel apologizes for the error.
(10/30/06 5:00am)
The Student Supreme Court tried two cases involving the Board of Elections on Sunday night in its first session in about a year.
In McLamb v. Board of Elections the Court upheld the board's decision to hold a re-election for vacant off-campus Student Congress seats.
It withheld its verdict in the second case, Board of Elections v. Student Congress, using a Student Code requirement that verdicts be delayed until the day after the trial except in emergencies.
In that case, the board said Congress' Facebook Protection Act violates the Student Code.
In the first case, Congress candidate Stephanie McLamb challenged the board's decision to redo an Oct. 17 special election in district six, in which she was the second highest vote-getter.
McLamb had hoped to be awarded one of the two open seats in the off-campus district in lieu of becoming a candidate in Tuesday's re-election.
The elections board decided to hold a re-election after finding that candidate Jessica Thompson, the top vote-getter in the election, illegally solicited votes by handing out candy.
Congress Rep. Tyler Younts, McLamb's counsel, said the board's decision to hold a re-election in light of a campaign violation conflicts with its decision not to do so in the South Campus election.
"In district three you had very close votes," Younts said, pointing out that the margins of votes in the two elections were comparable.
"A person used (Facebook.com) to campaign for her election, and she was fined $2," he said. "The reason I bring this up is Facebook is open to thousands of people in this University. . If district six could have been affected by candy distribution, then district three could have been affected by Facebook."
He said the discrepancy between the decisions showed that the board hadn't acted fairly.
Student Attorney General Candace Debnam was the elections board's counsel in both cases.
"This isn't about what happened in the other districts," she countered. "This is about what happened in district six."
Debnam said the situation was different for the district three violation because the breach was found prior to the end of the campaign, unlike the district six problem, which wasn't discovered until after votes were cast.
"Since there was no way to sanction the violation before the end of the election, there's no way to know how votes would have been affected," she said.
Jim Brewer, chairman of the elections board, said the board couldn't certify one seat in the district six election but not the other, per McLamb's request.
He cited the 2005 case in which The Daily Tar Heel filed a complaint against the elections board. In that case, the court ruled that each district's election stands on its own as a complete unit.
"A re-election can only be held if the results of a previous election are voided," Brewer said - not just the results for one of the two seats.
In the second case, the elections board argued that Congress' Facebook Protection Act is illegal on three counts.
Elections board member Kris Gould argued the board's first point, stating that the passage of the bill represented an interpretive act - and that interpreting the Code is a power reserved for bodies such as the elections board, not Congress.
"What they said is that Facebook is not a Web page," Gould said. "They do not have that power."
The second point of the elections board's case was presented by Debnam, who argued that Congress should have appealed the board's decision rather than passing legislation to circumvent it.
"Congress knew what they should have done and chose not to do it," she said.
Brewer argued that the bill undermines the board's authority and ability to hold fair elections.
Gould, Debnam and Brewer played audio clips from Congress meetings to support their points that members were aware that they were committing an interpretive act and knowingly decided not to address the board's decision through the proper channels.
Congress Speaker Luke Farley defended the body's actions.
"Was this interpretive in nature? No - bills are not interpretive, they are interpreted," he said. "An incorrect appeal? No - Congress conducted oversight, and from that oversight wrote the bill.
"Congress recognized that the interpretation of the board was correct and recognized the only way to change that was to write a bill."
The Court said it would release its written opinion on the McLamb case at noon today and issue a verdict in the Congress case in the coming days.
Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
(10/25/06 4:00am)
Student Congress members voted 10 to six to uphold a veto by Student Body President James Allred Tuesday night, reversing the passage of a bill the body voted unanimously in favor of only four weeks ago.
The defeat of the bill, which would have ensured equal treatment of all students requesting athletic tickets by subjecting them to one ticket lottery, means ticket distribution will not change before Congress' next full meeting.
Allred vetoed the bill because of concerns that student athletes, disabled students and others would be treated unfairly if it were enforced. He also said Congress doesn't have purview over ticket distribution.
Speaker Pro Tem Dustin Ingalls told Congress members early in Tuesday's meeting that if they overrode Allred's veto, he would introduce an amendment to restrict the bill's scope to student government and CAA members - which representatives maintain was the original intent of the bill.
Killing the bill forces Ingalls to wait until the next legislation cycle to introduce a bill that would have the effect he originally intended.
Jon Curtis, faculty adviser to Congress, warned that passing the vetoed legislation - even with the intention to amend it later in the meeting - would create a violation of the University's nondiscrimination policy because it would effectively prevent handicapped students from being able to attend games.
Ingalls countered, saying that subjecting handicapped students to the same distribution pool as other students wouldn't be discriminatory.
Congress members were forbidden from discussing the merits of the bill- - along with the advice of Allred, Ingalls and Curtis - because of procedural rules. About half the members made a move to waive those rules but weren't able to garner the minimum number of votes needed to do so.
Ingalls said he would follow through and introduce a similar bill at next week's meeting of the rules and judiciary committee.
Allred told Congress he wasn't prepared to comment on whether he would veto Ingalls' new bill.
"If that's the will of Congress, I can't see going against that at this time," he said. "I'd be disappointed, but I think there are better things we can deal with right now.
"Come talk to me as you're drafting it, I'll be happy to talk about it," he told Congress leadership.
Congress' reversal of the decision is one more aspect of an ongoing power struggle between the body and the Allred administration, which leaders of both branches have acknowledged.
Later in the meeting, an executive branch proposal to clarify conflicting sections of the Student Code was sent back to committee due to concerns that it gave too much power to the student body president at the expense of the speaker of Congress.
The proposal would have allowed the student body president to appoint all delegates to the Association of Student Governments. Under one interpretation of the Code, as it now stands, the speaker of Congress can serve as delegate to the body, although he cannot appoint someone to attend in his place.
Congress also approved legislation introduced by Rep. Val Tenyotkin calling for stricter attendance requirements for members in an effort to combat a recent plague of member tardinesses and resulting delays in the start of meetings.
Speaker Luke Farley said the body's written response to a Student Supreme Court lawsuit brought against it by the Board of Elections will be ready Thursday, in time for a scheduled pre-trial hearing.
Four winners in the Oct. 17 special election - Lauren Newton, Tim Nichols, Tina Chen and Elizabeth Humphrey - were sworn into Congress at the meeting.
Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
(10/23/06 4:00am)
A dispute between two student government bodies has led to the first Student Supreme Court case in about a year.
Conflict among student leaders centers on the use of social networking site Facebook.com during student election campaigns.
Student Congress' Facebook Protection Act, passed in the early hours of Oct. 11 after an extended meeting, overturned a Board of Elections decision announcing that students can't use Facebook.com, MySpace.com and AOL Instant Messenger away messages to campaign in campus elections. The legislation amends the Student Code to allow the use of these venues.
Student Body President James Allred said he signed the bill into law Wednesday.
The recent elections board decision was based on a stipulation in the Student Code that all campaign Web sites must be hosted on UNC Web space.
The Court is responsible for interpreting the Student Code, which outlines the rules for the branches of student government and some groups that receive funding from Congress.
In a court brief filed Wednesday afternoon, Jim Brewer, elections board chairman, alleges that Congress acted illegally in interpreting the Student Code - a power reserved for administrative groups such as the elections board.
The brief asks the Court to overturn the bill and to acknowledge the elections board's power to make administrative decisions that cannot be overturned by Congress during an election cycle.
Brewer said the appropriate way for Congress to challenge the ruling would have been by appealing it to the elections board, rather than passing legislation.
"(Representatives) have a full right to legislate, and I'll admit this," Brewer said. "The point is, this piece of legislation is bypassing the legal procedure."
Speaker Pro Tem Dustin Ingalls said Brewer's claims are without merit because the move overturning the ban was a legislative action, rather than an interpretive one.
He said Congress agrees that Brewer's basic interpretation of the Student Code was correct, but that representatives thought the Student Code needed to be changed.
"We're not appealing their decision, we're making a law that would force them to interpret the law differently," Ingalls said. "Our problem was not that they misinterpreted the law - I see where they got their interpretation from.
"We want to change the Code so student candidates can use Facebook to campaign."
The case will move forward under the direction of Chief Justice Matt Liles after Speaker Luke Farley officially confirms receipt of the elections board brief. A date for the case to be heard has not yet been set.
Liles said he notified Congress Sunday that they are able to answer the complaints and expects an answer within the week.
Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
(10/11/06 4:00am)
Against a backdrop of strong contention between the executive and legislative branches of student government, Student Congress members convened later than usual Tuesday night after their regular meeting time was pushed back.
In an act of frustration and protest, Lauren Anderson, president of the Graduate and Professional Student Federation, presented her thoughts to an empty room at the regular meeting time.
Anderson routinely addresses representatives at the body's meetings.
"It's out of control," she said afterward, referring to the body's problems with member tardiness. "It doesn't help that there's obvious tensions between the executive branch and Congress.
"For at least one meeting, they were OK. After that, it went downhill."
Monday's revelation that Student Congress leaders posted an update to the Student Code without Student Body President James Allred's OK is indicative of larger problems.
Both Allred and Congress Speaker Luke Farley acknowledge that a significant rift between their respective branches of student government is developing.
"Congress has been deeply concerned with challenges to their power, and to me, that's not what student government is about," Allred said. "In the end, student government only works when it exists as a collaborative group and when everyone's working together."
Farley said he agrees that the branches should work together. But he traced much of the blame to a lack of cooperation from Allred.
"I do agree with the student body president that student government works best when it works together," he said. "But the caveat is that James Allred wants things to work only his way. That's not really working together, that's working for James Allred."
Farley said that Allred has resisted efforts to place Congress on an even plane with the executive branch.
"I don't mind meeting people in the middle, but to walk all the way over to his side, that's not working together," he said.
The leaders differ on a number of topics, including the scope of Congress' role in student government and the nature of governmental powers not specifically addressed by the Student Code.
Strife between Allred and Farley became particularly acute during a recent exchange between the two leaders in e-mail messages sent over the Congress listserv.
The confrontation began when Allred sent a message to members of Congress alerting them that a recent committee meeting was in violation of N.C. open meetings law and asking them to abide by the rules in the future.
"There were two ways of handling this and you chose the unprofessional one," Farley wrote in response, chastising Allred for "trying to embarrass (Congress)."
Caroline Spencer, chairwoman of Congress' rules and judiciary committee, did not specify the meeting location until about 6 hours before it took place - a violation of the meetings law.
At the session, members recommended a bill that would overturn a recent Board of Elections decision to forbid most uses of Facebook.com for campus election campaigns.
Congress was slated to take up that bill, along with another that would make attendance requirements more stringent, at its Tuesday meeting, and review appointments to student committees. The group's business for the night was not complete as of press time.
Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
(10/11/06 4:00am)
Tuesday night's Student Congress meeting bled into Wednesday morning after representatives sorted through a swarm of finance bills and student committee nominees.
Jim Brewer, chairman of the Board of Elections, pledged to file a Student Supreme Court case in opposition to legislation passed 11 to 3 at the end of the meeting that allows the use of Facebook.com in campus elections.
A recent decision by the board, interpreting the Student Code, stated that Facebook.com generally is not allowable for campaigning.
Brewer, who was permitted to speak at the meeting, said overturning an elections board decision would set a bad precedent for the future of elections board autonomy and fair elections.
"That means they could overrule the administrative decision the board releases every time an election is done and results are certified," Brewer said. "They could potentially put into law and acknowledge the loser as the winner."
Brewer also pointed out that the legislation's initial review was conducted by only three members of the rules and judiciary committee of Congress during an emergency meeting that was illegal under N.C. open meetings law.
"In relation to that, the Board of Elections administrative decision was nine to zero," Brewer said.
"I think a nine to zero vote of the board speaks for itself that some regulation of Facebook is needed."
Speaker Pro Tem Dustin Ingalls said the notion that Congress was overturning a typical administrative decision is inaccurate.
He added that some regulation is required by the newly passed bill, including how campaign groups are named. Ingalls said he thinks that regulation won't be a problem for the elections board since most campaign regulation is carried out by opposing campaigns.
Earlier in the meeting, freshman Peter Boyle, a member of College Republicans, and freshman Ronald Bilbao, a liberal student, were confirmed for the student advisory committee to the chancellor, which has been a point of partisan bickering among members of Congress and between the legislative and executive branches of student government.
Finance chairman Val Tenyotkin's legislation to implement more stringent attendance requirements for members of Congress was put off until the next meeting of the rules and judiciary committee because it wasn't submitted to the agenda in time and falls within a category of legislation that is forbidden from being introduced concurrently at a meeting of the full body.
Other passed bills allow the student attorney general to prosecute students who are shown to have falsified campaign financial statements, and forbid candidates from using a 5 percent grace on campaign spending limits for any purpose other than to pay off fines imposed by the elections board.
Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
(09/27/06 4:00am)
CORRECTION: Due to a reporting error, this story incorrectly identifies Student Congress Rep. Tyler Younts. He is chairman of the student affairs committee. The Daily Tar Heel apologizes for the error.
Student Congress passed a bill codifying certain procedures related to athletic ticket distribution Tuesday night.
(09/20/06 4:00am)
A new online voting system performed well in preliminary tests and will be ready for an Oct. 17 special election, said Board of Elections chairman Jim Brewer.
One hundred and fifty students voted in Tuesday's round of testing, which was open to the entire student body. Out of these students, only three filed complaints, Brewer said.
He said he is pleased with the turnout, which is comparable to that of a small special election.
"There was one person who e-mailed who was unable to vote in Firefox or Opera," he said. "It did work through Internet Explorer."
"The only other thing I got was . the good old error message that says your request is invalid, or you have not properly logged in."
Brewer said when students get that message, instructions direct them to try casting their votes again.
Brewer began working with Information Technology Services officials to develop the new system in December after Student Congress members discovered that the online ballot allowed votes for write-in candidates to be submitted multiple times.
Under the new system, election officials can view each individual ballot that is cast online and remove multiple write-ins.
Although officials also can access a full list of students who cast votes, their identities cannot be linked with the ballots they cast.
Brewer blamed the frequent downtime of last year's system on an application running on the same server as the voting software - a problem he said has been remedied.
"The other application crashed literally every day," he said. "Since moving to the new server it has not crashed once."
The new voting system also comes with an aesthetic face-lift, but as in the past, can be accessed on Election Day through Student Central.
Student Body President James Allred also expressed optimism for the new system.
"From what Jim tells me, the (double voting) problem was corrected," he said. "So in that respect, I was really pleased.
"It's been a long time coming."
The next round of test voting will open Thursday and can be accessed from http://studentorgs.unc.edu/boe.
Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
(09/14/06 4:00am)
A potential rift in student government - and infighting within one of the branches - was made evident at Tuesday's Student Congress meeting.
Student leaders argued about campus elections and criticized each other's views and job performances.
During the meeting Student Body President James Allred chastised Congress members who were opposed to the nomination of senior Kris Gould for a spot on the Board of Elections.
Allred also broadly criticized the actions of some members of Congress in a written statement.
"Do not hold your ears and scream every time someone tries to give you advice: None of you have ever run elections, and you would benefit from the advice of someone that has," Allred said.
He also responded to concerns that Gould, a former Congress member and previous co-president of Young Democrats, wouldn't play fairly on the elections board.
"If you feel your personal biases from knowing the members of (Congress) would lead you to influence an election, then I urge you to think carefully if you're fit for student government," Allred said. "In fact, if that conclusion is the one you reach, then I urge you to resign."
Student Body Treasurer Anisa Mohanty also read from a written statement, responding to a letter to the editor in the Daily Tar Heel from Student Affairs Committee Chairman Tyler Younts.
His letter criticized "a ranking James Allred administration official" for not "working to save students money."
"To take words out of context in this manner was both dishonest and a personal insult to the time I have spent over the past three years working to ensure student fees are levied in a fair and consistent manner," Mohanty said.
"We will not waste political capital by making unrealistic or impossible attempts to reduce certain fees, especially when they provide valuable services to students," she continued.
Mohanty's statement shed a negative light on the way some self-styled conservative members of Congress view student fees.
"This was actually an attack of personal nature," Speaker of Congress Luke Farley responded, pledging to appoint additional members to the student fee audit committee and to oppose fee hikes.
"I don't like having to sit there and crunch the numbers, I find it boring," he added. "But when I find out how much money is being wasted, I get excited."
Lauren Anderson, president of the Graduate and Professional Student Federation, also got involved in the night's fray, voicing strong opposition to legislation that would change the way vacancies in Congress are filled, which she believes would further impede graduate student participation.
"I can get 16 graduate students here," she said. "But the question is, do you want them here?"
Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
(09/13/06 4:00am)
Student Congress mulled over various aspects of campus elections Tuesday night in the most contentious meeting of the body so far this semester.
Student Body President James Allred criticized members of the body early in the meeting, calling for acceptance of a Board of Elections commission formed to review the elections process and urging reform to Title VI of the Student Code, which governs campus elections.
"Students are tired of waiting," he said. "I'm not going to stand by and watch another election under a shoddy election system."
"I'm appalled at the hostility (the commission) of experts has met in Congress," he added.
Congress approved a slate of nominees for the elections board, although nominee Andy McClain faced opposition when it was revealed that he also was serving on the commission.
Some representatives said that would be a conflict of interest, since elections board members are forbidden by the Code from discussing the merit of items on the ballot.
"The commission's only going to talk about proposed legislation, which is completely different than what's on the ballot," said Kris Gould, who also was an elections board nominee.
But Gould himself faced criticism for his nomination, with opponents claiming that the former Young Democrats co-president and speaker pro tem of Student Congress was too partisan to be trusted with a seat on the board.
"(Allred) said earlier that, basically, (Gould) has left partisanship in the past, and has separated from that," said Rep. Quentin Ruiz-Esparza.
"But his extensive career in Student Congress, I think, contradicts that. This is a legislative body, and as a legislative body, it is partisan."
Gould ultimately was confirmed after other representatives disputed those statements.
The body also tabled a piece of legislation introduced by student affairs committee chairman Tyler Younts that would allow vacancies in Congress to be filled by temporary appointments, if the measure was approved in a referendum of the student body.
Former elections board chairman Walker Rutherford protested that the change would circumvent the democratic nature of student government - sentiments Younts disagreed with.
"I don't think we're cutting into democracy. We'll still have elections - we just need somebody to represent the time in between."
Congress members also pointed out that the system could allow for an influx of temporary members without the experience needed to effectively represent their districts.
"I would rather miss a meeting than sit here with the newbies and pass a poorly-crafted piece of legislation," said finance committee chairman Val Tenyotkin.
Congress also passed a resolution calling for changes to the new ticket policy.
Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
(09/11/06 4:00am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The student fee advisory subcommittee recommended Friday the approval of $21.50 in increases to student fees.
The proposals will be passed along to the tuition advisory task force.
Every semester students pay half of each annual fee.
Friday's recommended increases are as follows:
(08/31/06 4:00am)
Luke Farley, speaker of Student Congress, defended Wednesday his decision to forgo the body's first meeting of the semester for a Republican fundraiser.
"It was a work-related event," said Farley, who interned with a political group this summer. "I wanted to attend, and it was an opportunity to have dinner and get to know some people in North Carolina politics. Having worked with them I thought it would be a good idea, and I chose to go."
The Tuesday absence lined up with the Wednesday publication of a letter to The Daily Tar Heel praising Farley's dedication to the body.
"Any criticism that Luke pushed a conservative agenda is baseless," wrote Congress veteran Kris Wampler.
Farley, who claims never to have missed any previous Congress meetings, stood behind those statements.
He said he previewed Tuesday night's legislation - all of which was passed unanimously with little debate - before deciding to allow Speaker Pro Tem Dustin Ingalls to conduct the meeting in his place.
Rep. Tyson Grinstead, chairman of College Republicans, also missed Congress' meeting to attend the Charlotte fundraiser for Hal Jordan, a Republican candidate for the N.C. House.
He gave a different rationale for making the partisan fundraiser a priority.
"I went down there to meet some state leaders that could probably add to the marketplace of ideas on campus, to see if I could bring them (to UNC-Chapel Hill) through College Republicans or some other group on campus," he said.
Farley and Grinstead's absences were in accord with the rules of the body, said Megan Paul, chairwoman of the ethics committee.
"Congress members are allowed unexcused absences for reasons of their choosing," she said. "They've got two unexcused absences, and whatever they want to do with those is fine. They both have political aspirations after college that have nothing to do with Congress."
She added that partisan involvement in off-campus politics generally doesn't conflict with the body's activities.
"Ninety percent of the issues we deal with are nonpartisan," she said. "I'm sure everyone in Congress has some partisan tendencies, but I'm pretty sure most of the time it doesn't play a part in what we do in Congress."
Besides Farley and Grinstead two other members missed the meeting - Rep. Kate Thompson was sick, and Rep. Layne Powers was excused because of a sorority commitment.
Ingalls said more than 10 graduate students were missing, causing a delay in the meeting when a lack of members provided an obstacle to meeting quorum.
Rep. Brian Troutman, who is a first-year law student and didn't go to the meeting, said many graduate students were too busy to attend.
"There's a period in every semester where you have to adjust to something, especially something new," he said. "Right now we're in a very fluid part of the year."
Troutman said he plans to attend future Congress meetings - and to try to increase interest in the body among graduate students.
Representatives said they expect quorum to begin to be met more easily in the future as members of the body become acclimated to their new schedules.
Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
(08/30/06 4:00am)
Student Congress convened in a largely routine meeting Tuesday night - its first meeting of the semester - after a half-hour delay.
The body is responsible for allocating student fees to student groups and passes general resolutions. It also approves amendments to the Student Code, which outlines the operation of student government.
The meeting faced a delay when the minimum 17 members needed to meet quorum failed to show on time.
A handful of representatives have resigned since elections last spring, leaving vacancies in a number of the body's 40 seats.
Speaker Pro Tem Dustin Ingalls presided over the body in place of Speaker Luke Farley.
Farley was attending a Republican fundraiser in Charlotte, along with Rep. Tyson Grinstead, student representatives said.
At the meeting members passed a series of minor amendments to the Code presented by Student Body President James Allred and members of his cabinet.
One of the amendments relieves Allred of the duty to deliver "State of the University" addresses, except at the request of Congress.
Another allows him to delegate a representative to serve in his place on standing committees of student government.
Members also doled out funds to several student groups during the approximately one-hour meeting.
The Board of Elections received $7,325.50 in funding for initiatives to increase voter awareness and participation in campus elections - an unprecedented request from the group.
Graduate and Professional Student Federation President Lauren Anderson, among other student government leaders, addressed Congress during the meeting.
"The GPSF looks forward to as collaborative a relationship as possible this year - not just in the area of finance, where Congress controls a majority of fees paid by graduate students, but with legislation," Anderson said.
Student Body Treasurer Anisa Mohanty urged Congress members to bring their laptops to meetings so that lengthy bill packets wouldn't need to be printed.
Mohanty spearheaded the implementation of the new swipe-to-print system across campus.
Jon Curtis, adviser to Congress, asked members not to use instant messaging programs during meetings - a common occurrence that he said is detrimental to the body's work.
"We could just have silent Congress and (instant message) each other," joked Val Tenyotkin, chairman of Congress' finance committee.
Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.