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(12/03/08 5:00am)
Two students from UNC-Chapel Hill were selected to represent the school in a lobbying group sponsored by a statewide student government organization.Cristobal Palmer and David Murray were selected by the Association of Student Governments to join its Advocacy Corps which trains students from schools in the UNC system to lobby the state legislature on students' behalf.Palmer a graduate student in the school of information and library science is co-president of the Carolina Open Source Initiative" an organization that promotes the use of third-party computer programs to give students more options. He said his main focus will be expanding COSI and promoting partnerships between universities.""I want to help identify and promote partnerships that are working for students and are forward looking" like providing open source options if I feel there is a need on campus" Palmer said.Murray, a public policy major who works with the Coalition for College Access, said he will work to promote open access for undocumented students hoping to attend community colleges.Right now I'm working … to research issues about undocumented students having the ability to attend community colleges with in-state tuition" and that's what I plan to lobby for on behalf of the UNC system" Murray said.The ASG recently voted down a resolution that would have expressed support for the admission of undocumented students to the state's community colleges.UNC senior and ASG delegate Chazz Clevinger said that he and Logan Liles, head of the UNC-CH delegation in ASG, both thought that Palmer and Murray were the best choice of the six UNC students who applied.Logan and I were in perfect solidarity for those two" and agreed unanimously that they were our top two applicants" said Clevinger, who is also vice president of the legislative and public affairs committee.ASG President and N.C. State University senior Greg Doucette said past attempts to lobby the legislature have been unsuccessful in part because the student lobbyists have been disrespectful or unknowledgeable, Doucette said.Two years ago the concept was invented" but it never really got off the ground" Doucette said.A planned student day at the capitol fell through, training for the Advocacy Corps never happened and then-ASG President Cole Jones' 2007 assault conviction damaged the group's reputation and ability to mobilize, Doucette said.To repair credibility with the legislature" we were going to find a group of students who knew how to dress speak and were intelligent" and give them training and have them serve as advocates for the student bodies."" This year" the legislative committee is working to assemble a group of 34 student lobbyists two from each of the system schools. Candidates for the Advocacy Corps were encouraged to apply directly to the ASG. Limited publicity has made it hard to recruit Clevinger said.About half of the Advocacy Corps members have been selected. To make sure enough members are appointed in time for the group's training Dec. 13" the committee instructed student body presidents to appoint members themselves.""Just getting people appointed is our number one priority"" Clevinger said. The rest of the stuff we have mostly taken care of.""Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
(11/24/08 5:00am)
DURHAM — A statewide student government organization struck down without debate this weekend a resolution supporting access to community colleges for undocumented students.Resolution 19 encouraged the N.C. Community College System to admit undocumented students while the system continues to examine the issue.A UNC-system Association of Student Governments committee defeated the resolution by a vote of three to one with more than half of the members abstaining.The bill failed with no debate. Attempts to bring the bill up for reconsideration also failed.The goal of this resolution parallels the mission of the UNC-CH Coalition for College Access which supports universal access to a college education.The community college system has historically had an open door policy for undocumented students which came under review again in May. The NCCCS has since barred the admission of undocumented students until it further studies the legalities of the issue.Resolution 19 falls under the association's mission to advocate for students' access to an education at a reasonable cost.Chazz Clevinger vice president of the committee in which the bill was discussed" said he thinks the reason so few members voted is because they did not fully understand the bill or they weren't sure of their university's stance on the issue.Clevinger said that the matter should have been discussed further regardless.""I believe this is an issue that deserves full and vigorous debate because of the vast majority of people it affects"" he said. Clevinger, as vice president, did not vote.Asha Purohit, a UNC-Asheville delegate and author of the resolution, said the number of abstentions was probably due to committee members' inexperience.A lot of people were new" a lot were alternates and most of them were making it out as an immigration issue" she said.ASG President Greg Doucette did not send a copy of the resolution to delegates until early Friday morning, leaving them with little time to prepare or research the issue.Some members pushed hard to have the resolution heard anyway. But a motion to have the resolution come before the general assembly of delegates failed by a 19 to 10 vote.Some, including Speaker of UNC-CH Student Congress Tim Nichols, argued that the committee's decision should be respected. Nichols was one of three to vote against the resolution in committee. He declined multiple requests for comment.Clevinger said the students were probably driven by their own opinions, not those of their institutions.It's a shame certain individuals cannot differentiate between student interests and their own individual ideological beliefs"" he said.UNC-CH student Ron Bilbao, who, as assistant vice president of the committee, was unable to cast a vote, said the issue's unpopularity can cause people to keep quiet.Bilbao is a member of the UNC-CH Coalition for College Access.I'm not too surprised by the vote"" he said. But I'm very disappointed.""Ashley Timmreck" a UNC-Pembroke delegate who opposed the resolution said those who voted against it probably based their decisions on their personal feelings about the issue" as she did.""The decision we made might not reflect our school" but it most certainly reflects how we feel Timmreck said.Docuette said he expects the resolution to come up again in January.I think it was a learning experience and I made it clear to folks that we have some work to do" Doucette said. I'm fine with that as long as in January we come back strong again.""Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
(11/12/08 5:00am)
In an election characterized by upsets residents of Mecklenburg County chose Democratic governor-elect Bev Perdue over popular eight-term Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory.Perdue defeated McCrory in the gubernatorial election by roughly 400 votes on his home turf and by a margin of about 3 percent statewide.Most attributed Perdue's surprise victory in Mecklenburg County to straight ticket voting" which favored Democrats this election because of Obama's presence at the top of the ticket.""If you took out straight party voting — which was about 64 percent of the vote — and made all of them ticket splitters or undecided" McCrory would have won both Mecklenburg and North Carolina as a whole" said Lee Teague, chair of the Mecklenburg Republican Party.According to the N.C. State Board of Elections, 64 percent of Democrats in Mecklenburg County voted straight ticket. About 35 percent of Republicans did the same.Obama pushed straight party voting" and with Mecklenburg voting more Democratic lately I'm surprised McCrory did as well as he did" Teague said.Theodore Arrington, a political science professor at UNC-Charlotte, said that the large number of African Americans and new voters participating in the general election also helped Perdue in Mecklenburg, and that explained why she defeated McCrory in his home city.In a city election" African Americans just don't turn out in big numbers but they certainly did last Tuesday and also there were a lot of new voters that showed up. Almost all African Americans and new voters voted straight ticket" Arrington said.Arrington added that African Americans and new voters overwhelmingly voted for Obama.Charlotte resident Tommy George said both new and veteran voters had a tendency to vote straight ticket, including himself.There were also a lot of first- time voters" but like me they saw the straight party button and boom; we were there George said. It still puzzles me that he lost in his own backyard like that" though.""Joel Ford" chairman of the Mecklenburg Democratic Party said that Perdue appealed to undecided voters" and that her campaign in Charlotte had the final say in her win over McCrory.""Once they got an opportunity to know and understand Perdue's skill set" relationships and experience they were more comfortable with her and her approach to Charlotte-Mecklenburg he said.She was basically focusing on a message of cooperation" that the east and west part of the state needed to work together to solve the crisis."" McCrory announced Monday that he would throw his support behind the Perdue administration.Arrington said the majority of Republican voters generally reside west of the Triangle"" while Democrats mostly reside to the east. The division is largely historical.""The east has been dominated by Democrats for over 100 years" and a lot of people in the west like the Piedmont area are a bunch ‘Yankees from the south.' They're new people in North Carolina" Arrington said.Martha Kropf, a UNC-Charlotte political science professor, said that as a Republican, McCrory faced poor odds this election but could fare better in the future.It was an overwhelming anti-Republican election. It was anti-things the way they have been" and it's unfortunate that anything that he could have gotten credit for in Charlotte was lost in the election she said. But I expect he will run again" and I expect he will perform better in his next bid in the election.""Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
(10/22/08 4:00am)
Libertarian candidates Mike Munger and Phil Rhodes shed light on the fundamentals of their party for UNC students Wednesday night.Gubernatorial candidate Munger and lieutenant gubernatorial candidate Rhodes who were hosted by the UNC College Libertarians charged students with bolstering support for the party in the current and future elections.The ultimate goal of the party is to limit the size and scope of the government they said" and Rhodes said the only purpose of the government is to uphold the individual rights of citizens.""The government exists on the foundation of force" which is okay when exerting its proper role — to protect people's rights not to be an institution that we use to collectively achieve ends he said.Munger said it is a problem that people are relying on the government to fulfill personal obligations.People want things to get done but rather than ‘fix the school or the well' people go to the streets with signs he said. We're a constitutional republic and that means that we have the responsibility of taking care of ourselves" our families and our community.""Munger said the extensive intervention the government is exerting in the N.C. educational and health care systems is preventing growth and resulting in massive deficits in each program.Munger said it is parents' responsibility to oversee education" not the governor's" and said he supported charter schools because they provide choices to parents.""Parents are dissatisfied with what the state monopoly of public schools is providing" but there is a ceiling on charter schools because that same monopoly is afraid that there will be an outbreak of choices for parents Munger said.He also said that government spending has driven the state budget to near-bankruptcy.We're not going to be able to pay our pension obligations and for budget problems that we can do something about we can't raise taxes fast enough to help" he said.The first thing I would be doing as governor right now is finding a time machine to go back in time two years and kick myself in the a-- for not setting a surplus aside.""Munger and Rhodes both said they thought it was just as important to inform the public of libertarian ideals as was to be elected.""A lot more people are going to be exposed to Libertarian philosophy" Munger said. Getting people to understand our message" and getting major political parties to adopt our platforms is just as important as winning an election.""Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
(10/13/08 4:00am)
As the current pool of engineers begins to run dry N.C. community colleges and public universities are looking to nurture a new generation of prospective engineers.An untapped source has been found in N.C. community college students and many public universities are trying to provide as many opportunities as possible to attract students enrolled in community college engineering programs.Jerome Lavelle interim assistant dean at N.C. State University" said that the engineering career fair at N.C. State is just one indicator of the strong demand for engineering graduates in the state.""Close to 350 firms and over 3"000 students — not all of them from (N.C.) State — attend the fair and the most firms are ready to hire on the spot" Lavelle said.Audrey Bailey, spokeswoman for N.C. Community College System, said that most N.C. public universities have transfer programs that help community college students earn a four-year engineering degree.Ron Smelser, associate dean of the College of Engineering at UNC-Charlotte, said the university is expanding transfer programs to attract prospective engineering graduates and meet North Carolina's demand for more engineers.We're working desperately to try to engage prospective students through our current students" and many of our students serve as ambassadors to recruit new students to the college of engineering —from both high schools and community colleges" Smelser said.Bailey also said most universities in North Carolina have two-plus-two"" programs — programs that allow students to take university-sponsored courses on community college campuses — which appeal to prospective engineering students at community colleges.""A lot of our students are adults and have families and responsibilities they need to attend to" so they can't afford to go to a four-year university to get a degree —even after earning their two-year associate degree" Bailey said.Two-plus-two programs arose from the need for access to higher education, outlined in the UNC Tomorrow initiative, the brainchild of UNC-system President Erskine Bowles that dictates how universities can meet the needs of North Carolina in the next 20 years.Bailey also said that the two-plus-two program helps ease the demand for engineers at a local level.We call them ‘homegrown' engineers" because they stay in their hometown and earn their degree and then work there when they graduate" Bailey said.Lavelle said that many new cooperative engineering programs between universities showed promise in new engineering fields and attracting new students to the engineering field.The N.C. State College of Engineering and UNC-CH School of Medicine cooperate on a graduate-level biomedical engineering program that they are looking to duplicate at an undergraduate level because of significant student interest, Lavelle said.With these partnerships"" we're trying to create synergies — between community colleges and other state universities as well — where students can create linkages and help immerse them in the program and support them in their efforts to attain a degree.""Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
(10/10/08 4:00am)
Mere weeks before the election" Republican campaigns have gone into overdrive to make sure loyal members vote on Nov. 4.About 35 GOP offices throughout the state — dubbed Victory Offices — serve as hubs for volunteers to help campaign on each remaining Saturday before November.Steve Hill director of the Durham Victory office" explained that the ""Super Saturday"" strategy intends to mobilize volunteers in the weeks before the general election to inform registered Republicans of the party's platform and to promote voter turnout.""Simply put" our job is to get people out to vote and make sure registered voters are researching the issues" he said.Brent Woodcox, spokesman for the N.C. Republican Party, said this campaign consists mostly of phone calls and door-to-door canvassing. He said the GOP relies on volunteers to come in to local offices or go around their neighborhoods. There's a lot of excitement" people just want to be a part of what's going on — it's a very close election in North Carolina and every person's time and efforts can be the difference maker he said.Woodcox said attracting volunteers won't be a problem.We're expecting thousands of volunteers and we expect to make hundreds of thousands of contacts" he said.Rosemary Spraggins, a volunteer at the Victory Office in Winston-Salem, said most offices in the state are focusing on the presidential election, although offices in Raleigh and Durham are also campaigning for the gubernatorial and senatorial candidates.Our main goal is to reach as many voters as we can with John McCain and Sarah Palin's message" getting their word to the public she said.Woodcox said he expected campaigning for McCain/Palin would have a trickle-down effect on the lower ticket races.Everything comes from the top of the ticket down and we expect to help Dole McCrory and all Republicans by campaigning for McCain and Palin" he said.Hill said relying on a volunteer base was important, but posed several challenges.We're running out of time" and when you work on a volunteer basis getting people to be held accountable for showing up and the things they say is difficult" he said.Woodcox explained that the Super Saturday"" strategy arose in response to the just more than three weeks remaining in the campaign.""Every day we want to make sure we reach out to as many voters as we possibly can"" Woodcox said.Super Saturday provides us with the opportunity to get a lot of volunteers in the door that are willing to do the hard work in the campaigns.""Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
(10/05/08 4:00am)
New York Times best-selling author and evangelist Donald Miller appealed to faith and values in an effort to convince voters to vote democratic on Nov. 4.Miller a Christian author said presidential candidate Barack Obama is the right choice for president.In the packed Hamilton 100 lecture hall" Miller quickly addressed rumors that Obama was ""a Muslim" a terrorist or the Anti-Christ and said that accusations like that were part of campaigns aimed at appealing to evangelical voters' fears.Evangelical voters are being targeted with fear and smear campaigns and as a Christian I have a responsibility to defend somebody when they are being smeared this way he said.Miller used abortion policy as evidence that Republicans are assuming they have the Christian vote when they aren't actually promoting the Christian agenda.Miller said that when Democrats support legislation like the 95-10 initiative — a plan to reduce the number of abortions in the U.S. by 95 percent in 10 years — they are trying to appeal to Christian voters with comprehensive solutions rather than using smokescreen tactics.As soon as you give a political party your blind vote they will stop serving you like the Republican party has he said. So it's on you to make yourself what the parties call ‘swing voters"' because policies change for swing voters.""Miller said Republican presidential candidate John McCain's efforts to criminalize abortion lack substance.""McCain has no legislation and he doesn't see it as an economic issue or a health care issue" whereas Obama actually supports health care for pregnant women and legislation like the 95-10 initiative he said.Miller said his theological education was different than most because he was taught Christianity with more of a liberal spin.We were taught that when the fall of man happened Adam and Eve immediately registered as Democrats and went on with their lives" he said.Joshua DuBois, director of religious affairs for the Obama campaign, told the crowd that making an informed voting decision was the difference between voting for your faith and voting for your values and that voters should consider Obama's values apart from his Christian identity.We're saying that values are important" and that is how democracy is supposed to work he said.Miller attributed Obama's strong following at UNC to personal qualities that contribute to his campaigning style.Obama is a positive candidate. He's hopeful. He supports what he believes in" and he's done running on fear tactics.""Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
(10/02/08 4:00am)
Republican presidential candidate John McCain's health care plan was the target of harsh criticism from Elizabeth Edwards at a Wednesday round table discussion in Carrboro.Edwards a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress Action Fund and the wife of former presidential hopeful John Edwards hosted a panel of state legislators medical officials and patients at Piedmont Health Clinic to discuss McCain's health care plan.She declined to comment on Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's plan.She said McCain's plan which would make providing health insurance a federal responsibility rather than the employer's" could deprive many people of their health insurance policies.""One hundred and sixty million people depend on their employers for health insurance" 4.5 million alone in North Carolina" she said. What he suggests will cause an enormous amount of disruption.""Under McCain's plan" by 2013 families would pay $800 more a year for health insurance and the costs would increase from there Edwards said.Representative Verla Insko D-Orange said some businesses already struggle to provide health care" and McCain's plan would only worsen those problems.""Forty to 50 percent of small businesses don't provide health insurance for their employees because they can't afford it" Insko said.Edwards also said McCain's plan to allow insurance companies to do business across state lines would increase health care costs nationwide.There's nothing to stop insurance companies from relocating to states with more profit-friendly laws" she said.Medical officials at the forum expressed concern for patients, who may not have adequate insurance.Carl Taylor, director of pharmacy services and community relations at the clinic, said McCain's plan fails to address the 47 million uninsured patients that community health centers treat.Community health centers are the only hope of a lot of people" and almost 80 percent of patients are under the protection of either Medicare or Medicaid" he said.Dr. David Tempest, the clinic's interim medical director, said the health insurance system is complicated enough, and the complexity of McCain's plan would leave more people uninsured.Without a good system — with a complicated system — people don't get insurance coverage" and people die prematurely" Tempest said. Ida Fikes, a Piedmont Health Clinic patient, said she came to the state with no job, no health coverage and no money for medication.The difference in having health insurance or not is the difference between whether you can take care of yourself or not.""Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.