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(09/20/07 4:00am)
In an unprecedented move, UNC-system officials are organizing a meeting with student leaders next week to address the growing sense of dysfunction within the UNC-system Association of Student Governments.
The planned participation of high-level officials - including system President Erskine Bowles' chief of staff and members of the system's legal affairs department - suggests a growing impatience with the association's inability to present a unified voice for the state's 17 public campuses.
The direct intervention by administrators comes after a number of student leaders called for outside help in restructuring the association.
"I cannot recall a time when General Administration has summoned student officials to a meeting," said Andrew Payne, a former two-term ASG president. "I'm sort of disappointed that the students aren't able to rise to the occasion and figure things out themselves."
Kemal Atkins, who serves as General Administration's liaison to the ASG, said the meeting will be a chance for students to voice their opinions.
But student leaders speculate that administrators might use the opportunity to lay out their own concerns.
At the top of that list is likely to be the ongoing legal troubles of the association's president, Cole Jones. Having been convicted of assault on Aug. 1, Jones has fended off calls for his resignation by promising an appeal.
He had told administrators and fellow student leaders that the appeal would take place Tuesday, bringing an end to more than six weeks of bitter argument about whether Jones should remain in office.
But the appeal is actually slated for Oct. 8. The date given by Jones was merely a preliminary hearing.
That revelation has caused consternation among ASG officials and system administrators and fed speculation that next week's meeting might put greater pressure on Jones to step down.
Atkins denied that any such pressure was intended, at least not from administrators.
"We don't have the authority to make a decision about that," Atkins said. "It's up to the students to decide who they want in that leadership role."
But system officials have told Jones not to take his seat on the system's Board of Governors until his appeal is finished, and several board members have said they expect a resignation if the assault conviction is not overturned.
The increased involvement of administrators is being viewed with both hope and unease by student leaders.
Cody Grasty, ASG senior vice president, said he believes the meeting could push the association to meaningfully confront long-standing divisions.
"I think General Administration will put us in a position where some tough decisions will have to be made," Grasty said. "I think some of the problems have been festering in the association for years because people just won't talk about them."
But Grasty also acknowledged that administrators would have to walk a fine line between offering advice and applying pressure.
Whatever the outcome of the meeting, it marks a rapidly changing relationship between the UNC-system and the ASG.
Atkins said the shift has been building for a while, citing the high-profile walkout of delegates during a meeting last year and continued concern about how the association spends its almost $200,000 budget.
"It has been more of a hands-off approach in the past," he said. "We're still sort of feeling our way in terms of what the relationship should look like."
Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
(09/17/07 4:00am)
It is becoming increasingly likely that the UNC-system Association of Student Governments will face a significant overhaul before the end of the academic year.
(09/11/07 4:00am)
Upward Bound programs at three UNC-system schools have been granted a new lease on life thanks to an intense federal lobbying effort.
Upward Bound is a federally funded initiative that takes struggling high school students and provides comprehensive resources to guide them toward college.
Programs at UNC-Chapel Hill, Appalachian State and Winston-Salem State universities were facing cancellation up until Friday, when they were granted a reprieve by Congress.
University officials were heavily involved in winning that reprieve, working closely with lawmakers to restore funding.
"We reached out to the entire delegation about this," said Miles Lackey, UNC-system director for federal government relations.
President Bush is widely expected to sign the budget reconciliation measure passed Friday, and an amendment tucked into that legislation will guarantee program funding for the next four years.
The total amount earmarked for the UNC system during the next four years is about $4.8 million.
"I feel like we've been revived by a defibrillator," said Matt Ruble, associate director of Upward Bound at Appalachian State. "It's like legislative defibrillation."
Participating institutions have to write grant applications that are reviewed by the U.S. Department of Education, and only those with a score of 92 or above were awarded funding during the most recent review.
When the three UNC-system schools fell short, University officials quickly took their case to Washington. Lackey coordinated an effort that included a trip to Capitol Hill by the directors of the threatened programs.
Joseph Green, director of UNC-CH's Upward Bound program, said the trip was an opportunity to explain how the grant review process failed to capture the reality of the program's effectiveness.
"We spent a day on the Hill and tried to talk on behalf of the program and share success stories on behalf of the program," Green said. "What we're saying basically is that these programs are more than just a grant-writing competition."
There are about 90 Upward Bound students in the UNC-CH initiative, and it has been operating on interim funding from the School of Education since federal grant money ran out in August. The annual budget for the UNC-CH program is $430,000.
Green said he hopes the next round of grant money will be available within a month, allowing the program to resume its recruiting efforts. Officials usually bring in a new class of high school students by October, but the gap in federal funding will likely push that back to November, he said.
"I think we can make it up," Green said, referring to the lost time. "I don't think it'll be a major, major impact."
While the Congressional action makes funding mandatory for the next four years, Upward Bound officials already are looking ahead to the next round of grant writing in 2011.
Lackey said there could be an effort to reform the way grant proposals are scored, since many of the institutions that faced cancellation this year had just barely missed the cutoff.
"As a national program, Upward Bound has some kinks to work out," Lackey said. "But this program has a very good mission, particularly in North Carolina."
Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
(09/11/07 4:00am)
Another campus declared an end to its participation with the UNC-system Association of Student Governments on Monday, signaling yet more distress for the fractured organization.
(09/11/07 4:00am)
North Carolina is among five states being considered for a massive $450 million federal research facility, and the state's public universities are emerging as key players in the lobbying effort.
The Department of Homeland Security has identified a site in Granville County, about 25 miles northeast of Chapel Hill, as a potential location for a planned National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility.
"This is considered to be a federal research crown jewel," said Kimrey Rhinehardt, UNC-system vice president for federal relations. "It would be comparable to the CDC in Atlanta."
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta is an internationally renowned government research facility that deals with some of the world's most dangerous human pathogens.
The proposed Homeland Security facility would be comparable in mission, but would focus on threats to agricultural and animal health.
"We're not just talking about cattle getting hoof-and-mouth disease and us not being able to eat hamburgers," Rhinehardt said. "It's about figuring out ways to protect our food supply and our national health."
North Carolina's campaign to woo federal officials is drawing heavily on the UNC system and its research campuses.
N.C. State University's College of Veterinary Medicine has been leading that campaign, and Chancellor James Oblinger said he is thrilled with the potential impact.
"It would be a huge infusion of capital, but it's more than just the money," he said. "It's about the science and about the research."
Building the facility in Granville County would open up research opportunities in a range of fields, and departments at Duke University, UNC-Chapel Hill and N.C. State are closely watching the debate.
Sites in Texas, Kansas, Georgia and Mississippi are also in the running, but the N.C. lobbying consortium is hoping the Granville location will prove too good to pass up.
The land being offered is already owned by the state, as is the surrounding area.
"For security reasons and other things, that has some benefit," said David Potenziani, a dean in UNC-CH's School of Public Health.
For local officials, the site has the potential to bring in millions of dollars in construction revenue and billions in long-term investments.
Brian Alligood, Granville County manager, said local residents have been very supportive of the project.
The town of Butner, near the proposed site, historically supports large federal facilities. It is already home to a collection of federal prisons.
Despite the fact that the facility will be dealing with high-risk biological agents, Alligood said there has been no local outcry.
"The CDC has stuff like that sitting in the middle of Atlanta, in heavily, densely populated areas," he said. "Is there any overwhelming concern? Not from my standpoint."
A public forum will be held Sept. 18 at 6 p.m. at South Granville High School, and officials from the Department of Homeland Security will be on hand to hear comments.
It's expected to take the federal government about 15 months to decide the facility's location.
Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
(09/10/07 4:00am)
In an ambitious effort to define the mission of the UNC system for the next 20 years, officials are kicking off a statewide listening tour this week.
As part of the much-touted UNC Tomorrow initiative, the University is sending officials across the state to find out what citizens need from the 17-campus university system.
"We're going to do something that's unusual for a university system," said UNC-system President Erskine Bowles. "Instead of flapping our jaws, we're going to listen."
(09/10/07 4:00am)
Despite public statements to the contrary, the UNC-system Board of Governors is making its influence felt in the continuing controversy about Cole Jones and his legal situation.
As president of the UNC-system Association of Student Governments, Jones is entitled to serve as the official student representative on the board, even as he appeals an Aug. 1 conviction for misdemeanor assault.
University officials have publicly said they have no role in deciding who serves as the student representative.
But according to several student-body presidents and ASG officers, board members have made clear their discomfort with allowing Jones to serve unless his conviction is overturned.
It was board Chairman Jim Phillips who encouraged Jones to wait until the outcome of his
Sept. 18 appeal hearing before taking his seat on the board.
"I think he would be a much more effective member of the board if he waits until he has dealt with the situation that has befallen him," Phillips said. "That's the advice I gave him."
That recommendation caused controversy between Jones and his officers when Jones failed to attend the board's first meeting of the academic year, which was held last week.
University officials have maintained that it was Jones' decision, free of any pressure, to skip the meeting.
But after being instructed Tuesday by the ASG's Council of Student Body Presidents to take his seat as soon as possible, Jones contacted University officials to request that he be sworn in.
He was told it was too late.
"Given the time frame, no one was prepared to swear him in," said Kemal Atkins, UNC-system director for academic and student affairs.
Forrest Gilliam, chairman of the ASG council, said it was flatly wrong for the board to deny Jones his seat.
"He should definitely not be told he can't take his seat on the board," Gilliam said. "I don't see what right they have to do that."
Atkins said that the whole situation constituted a test of Jones' leadership and that he should be mindful of "what is good for the students and what is good for the university."
And even as Atkins insisted there is nothing that bars Jones from serving, regardless of the outcome of his appeal, several board members said they would expect a resignation if the conviction is not overturned.
That message has caught the attention of the ASG's Council of Student Body Presidents. The group held an emergency session Friday night to discuss Jones' leadership.
After a contentious closed-door meeting that lasted nearly three hours, the group of 13 student-body presidents voted 6-5 to ask for Jones' resignation. There were two abstentions.
"Since it's a nonbinding vote, it's his decision," Gilliam said. "We don't have any power over what he does."
Later in the weekend, several student-body presidents repudiated the Friday meeting and said it should not have happened.
Even so, Jones said the vote took him by surprise because student body presidents have been supportive in private conversations with him.
"I have been upfront and honest with every member of the council," he said after the vote. He said he intends to remain in his position.
While stopping short of any public accusations, Jones has told ASG associates that he feels university officials put him in an untenable position.
"I felt I did everything I could possibly do," he said.
He added that the controversy will look ridiculous when his conviction is overturned in two weeks.
Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
(08/31/07 4:00am)
The high-level commission investigating April's gun massacre at Virginia Tech released its findings Thursday, calling for changes to student privacy laws and recommending a litany of improvements in campus security policies.
UNC-system officials will likely be studying the report closely as they wrap up a comprehensive security review undertaken after the Va. Tech shootings.
The UNC panel is exploring many of the same questions that preoccupied the Va. Tech investigators, including clearer guidelines on how to deal with troubled students and an assessment of physical safety measures on campus.
The Virginia commission - formed by Gov. Tim Kaine to review the actions of Va. Tech officials before, during and after the April incident - focused particular attention on the confusion surrounding student privacy rights.
The gunman at Va. Tech, Seung-Hui Cho, had attracted attention on a number of occasions for erratic and threatening behavior.
The panel found that a "widespread lack of understanding" about the scope of student confidentiality rules kept that information from being shared among campus officials, mental-health professionals and law enforcement.
"Although various individuals and departments within the university knew about each of these incidents, the university did not intervene effectively," the commissioners wrote. "No one knew all the information, and no one connected all the dots."
Making sure those dots get connected in the future is one of the key goals of UNC's safety review.
Leslie Winner, UNC-system general counsel, has formed a special working group of legal experts and campus administrators to issue guidelines for navigating student privacy laws.
"The first goal is just to get clear about what you are and aren't already allowed to do," Winner said.
The Virginia commission found that statutes already allow a great deal of information sharing and suggested that campus officials too often err on the side of confidentiality.
UNC-Greensboro Counsel Skip Capone said that problem can be countered by educating administrators and health professionals about when they can legally break student confidentiality.
"There's a fair amount of discretion that's granted," he said. "It's really just a question of crafting your institutional policies to reflect that and then getting the appropriate training done."
The UNC panel is also assessing whether to add more safety measures on system campuses.
The Virginia commission suggested that security cameras might have allowed campus police to identify Cho after the initial double homicide - committed at a residence hall early in the morning - before he committed the mass killings two hours later.
"The outcome might have been different," the commissioners wrote. "However, the more cameras, the more intrusion on university life."
The two initial shootings at Va. Tech, which took place long before Cho made his way across campus to the academic building where he murdered 30 more people, have raised a number of complicated issues.
Cho should not have had access to the building, the commission found, because his electronic key card should not have opened the door.
"Cho somehow gained entrance to the dormitory, possibly when a student coming out let him in or by tailgating someone going in," the commissioners wrote.
That fact has been noted by UNC task-force members as they try to decide whether all dorms in the UNC system ought to be fitted with electronic locks.
On large campuses such as UNC-Chapel Hill and N.C. State University, residence halls are already fitted with electronic locks. But the cost to retrofit older dorms across the system would easily run into the millions of dollars.
"Students fairly routinely let in people they don't know," Winner said. "Maybe because we're in the South, and we all grew up being told to hold the door open for the person behind you."
The UNC panel will be wrestling with these questions for at least another month. Final recommendations are expected in October.
Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
(08/29/07 4:00am)
NEW ORLEANS - In the city's Lower Ninth Ward, just blocks from the repaired and reinforced wall of the Industrial Canal levee, volunteers are cutting grass.
In a landscape reduced to concrete foundations and a grid pattern of crumbling streets, they're clearing away overgrown brush on empty lots because they don't know what else to do.
"It's got to be done," said a volunteer named Kevin, who was working with the Common Ground Collective. "But it'd be nice to be in a better situation after two years than just mowing people's lawns."
(08/28/07 4:00am)
PASS CHRISTIAN, Miss. - Chris and Crystal Blissett don't have a dinner table.
Their 29-foot FEMA trailer came with one, but, like so many other luxuries taken for granted before the storm, the table had to give way. In its place is a playpen, where their 9-month-old son Colten can nap or watch Baby Einstein videos.
"We just eat wherever now," Crystal said, sweeping her arm around the tiny confines of the trailer. "Which means I've got to constantly sweep the floor."
Colten, for his part, appeared fine with the idea of eating wherever. He was still covered in the remains of his lunch as he crawled around the small floor space, smiling gamely for a photographer.
But the tight quarters have put an intense strain on Crystal, Chris and 6-year-old Hunter, Crystal's son from a previous relationship. And now, with Crystal expecting another child in a matter of weeks, that strain is set to grow right along with the family.
"I don't think I'll be able to make it in here with another baby," Crystal said. "I can't be cooped up in here with another one."
It is families like the Blissetts - those who were just making ends meet before the storm - who have faced the greatest difficulty in getting their lives back together.
Before Katrina, the family was living with Crystal's mother in a house about a mile back from the beach. When that home was wiped out by the storm surge, they joined thousands of other Gulf Coast residents who have had to fit their lives into a travel trailer.
Imagine a family camping trip. Now imagine it lasting two years.
"There's no room for toys," Crystal said, her voice heavy with exhaustion. "Hunter does his homework on the floor. Right now, anything bigger would be better."
But getting something bigger means scrounging enough money for a down payment or monthly rent. With Crystal taking care of the kids and Chris bringing in a modest income as a dock builder, that has proven difficult.
They have contemplated moving further inland, to Wiggins, Miss., both to avoid future storms and to seek less expensive housing. But Chris insists they remain near the coast, both for his job and because he likes being near the water.
Matt Levens, who was working alongside Chris at a job site in nearby Bay St. Louis, Miss., summed up the dilemma facing many working-class Gulf residents.
"Certain people just have the money to rebuild, and a lot of others don't," he said, looking at the largely barren neighborhood around him. "I think it'll look like this for a while."
It typically takes about a week for Chris's crew to construct a new dock. He said the work has been steady in recent months and that he can envision a long-term future on the coast.
But Crystal isn't so sure.
"He'll say it'll stay steady, but then it drops off," she said. "I'll have to work nights, and we probably still won't be able to afford a sitter for three kids."
She looked down at Colten, who was playing at her feet. "But we'll make do."
Senior writer Joseph R. Schwartz contributed reporting.
Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
(08/28/07 4:00am)
Click here for Katrina multimedia presentation
BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. - It was Second Saturday in this bohemian beach town, and the Mockingbird Cafe was filled to capacity.
A community party on the second Saturday of the month is a long-held tradition in Bay St. Louis, and Aug. 11 was no exception. Downtown shops stayed open late, and hundreds of residents and visitors filled the streets to sample live music and peruse the work of local artists.
(08/21/07 4:00am)
As part of a recent mandate from the UNC system, campus officials are slowly hammering out the details of an expanded buyback program for introductory textbooks.
Public universities across the state have until the spring semester to implement a rental system or guaranteed buyback for textbooks in large introductory courses.
Officials at UNC-Chapel Hill have opted for a buyback, arguing that a rental system is too expensive, and decided that any class with more than 250 students will qualify for the program.
The guidelines issued by the UNC system in March allow each campus to decide the scope of its buyback commitment based on how officials define "large, introductory course."
"Obviously, the more narrowly you define it, the more easily you can reach the goal," said Steve Allred, executive associate provost and chairman of the committee charged with implementing the new textbook guidelines.
"Two-hundred and fifty just seemed like a reasonable number."
That would translate into a guaranteed buyback for about 50 courses, based on data from fall 2006, including such freshman staples as Economics 101 and Math 231.
That constitutes a relatively small proportion of classes offered at the University, and student officials say they'd like to see the buyback expand over time. Student Body Vice President Mike Tarrant, the student representative on the committee, said he considers the 250 threshold to be a good starting point.
"Eventually, I would like to see it for as many class sizes as possible," Tarrant said. "Professors are really sympathetic toward students, and it's not like we're asking for too much."
In order for the buyback to work, professors would likely have to agree to keep the same textbooks for at least three or four years, and some have complained about the loss of academic freedom that entails.
The committee also has been exploring whether professors utilize all of the bundled extras - such as CDs and workbooks - that often accompany textbooks.
"We want to find out if these bundles really are something the faculty want or if they're something the publishers created for financial benefit to themselves," said William Andrews, a senior associate dean in the College of Arts and Sciences.
"We want to separate the material we want to use from the stuff the publisher wants to sell."
Even if it turns out that most students don't need the extra materials, it might prove difficult to eliminate them. Publishers offer many texts only as part of a bundle.
Jake Parton, vice president for academic and student affairs for the UNC-system Association of Student Governments, said it might be possible for the state's 16 public universities to jointly push publishers to offer more options.
The campus committee will have to report its progress to the UNC system early next semester. System President Erskine Bowles has said he expects an update before campuses bring forward their tuition proposals in February.
Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
(08/21/07 4:00am)
Cole Jones, widely acknowledged as the front-runner to become the next president of the UNC-system Association of Student Governments, is facing questions about recent criminal charges relating to a child-custody dispute.
(08/20/07 4:00am)
In April, just weeks before Virginia Tech became the scene of the nation's worst gun massacre, UNC-system President Erskine Bowles convened a meeting of chancellors and campus police chiefs.
He wanted to go back over the details of the UNC system's 2004 safety report, written in the aftermath of two murders at UNC-Wilmington.
"Campus safety has always been a continuing discussion," said Donna Payne, university counsel at UNC-Pembroke. "It's just that Virginia Tech heightened awareness outside the university."
That heightened public awareness led Bowles to commission a fresh look at systemwide safety issues, with input from campus administrators, legal experts and student officials. Bowles and his staff were keen to stress the university's proactive approach in the aftermath of Virginia Tech.
"They had to make some kind of response, essentially," Payne said. "I would say we're picking up where the 2004 report left off."
The concerns raised by the April shooting, in which a Virginia Tech student murdered 32 classmates and professors before killing himself, range from medical-record confidentiality to dormitory door locks.
Campuses across the country have been grappling with safety reviews in recent months, and lawmakers have been considering changes to federal statutes that govern student privacy rights.
Because the Virginia Tech shooter, Seung-Hui Cho, had a documented history of mental instability, campus officials have focused particular attention on the issues of confidentiality and privacy.
The UNC task force is divided into three subcommittees examining student and employee behavior, safe housing and the ability to respond to extreme events. The group analyzing extreme events will report its findings this week, with the other subcommittees expected to report next month.
David Rainer, associate vice chancellor for environmental health and public safety at N.C. State University, said he hopes UNC campuses will benefit from the increased attention on safety.
"I think we will have more resources both in dollars and in training made available to us," he said. "What we have to ensure, though, is that we prioritize well what the hazards and risks are and allocate the resources accordingly."
Unique circumstances on each of the state system's 17 public campuses makes for a particular challenge in predicting potential threats.
"In N.C. State's case, we have a railroad that goes through the middle of campus," Rainer said. "For us, the extreme event would be a train derailment involving a chemical hazard. On another campus, they might be looking at a completely different extreme event."
Ultimately, Bowles and his staff hope the task force's recommendations will lead to more clarity for UNC campuses dealing with potential problems.
"The Virginia Tech incident has caused people to discuss this and at least identify the points where there was confusion," Payne said. "Every campus in the United States is dealing with these issues."
Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
(07/12/07 4:00am)
RALEIGH - In the coming fiscal year, N.C. taxpayers will subsidize full-ride scholarships for out-of-state students to the tune of $8.5 million. Next year, that figure is expected to rise to nearly $12.3 million.
That generosity springs from a provision tucked into the state budget in August 2005 by Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand, D-Cumberland. He crafted language that made all out-of-state students on full scholarship eligible for in-state tuition rates, with the state picking up the difference.
The measure made it into the budget without floor debate or a formal vote, giving an instant financial windfall to the athletics booster clubs and nonprofit foundations that fund full-ride scholarships for athletes and academic standouts across the UNC system.
At UNC-Chapel Hill, for instance, the Morehead-Cain Foundation paid $3,445 for every out-of-state scholarship student enrolled in 2006-07. Without the budget provision, that cost would have jumped to $18,103, and taxpayers are covering the extra $14,658.
"It's one of those things that miraculously appeared in the budget that nobody knew anything about," said Rep. George Cleveland, the Onslow Republican who has emerged as the leading voice against the provision.
"That is not the way to do business."
Advocates of the measure say it provides a boost to nonprofit foundations like the Robertson Scholars program at UNC-CH and the Park Scholarships at N.C. State University. Since the provision was enacted, those groups have used the savings to fund more scholarships than they otherwise could have.
Rand said that kind of benefit to academic organizations is exactly what he intended, dismissing any suggestion that subsidizing athletics scholarships was a motivating factor.
But systemwide, nearly 70 percent of all scholarships benefitting from the change during the last two academic years were athletics scholarships, according to data compiled by the General Assembly's Fiscal Research Division.
Only a handful of campuses, including UNC-CH, have had greater savings on academic scholarships than athletics scholarships.
"In the past, the booster clubs paid for these athletic scholarships," Cleveland said. "If they're going to have scholarships for sports, they should foot the bill like they have been all along."
Cleveland is sponsoring a bill to repeal the scholarship provision, and it has drawn 35 sponsors in the House. Cleveland says he thinks the bill would pass easily if it ever came to a vote.
But even if the House were to vote for a repeal - which would require Cleveland's bill to finally escape from its holding pattern in committee - the scholarship provision still enjoys strong support from Rand.
As UNC-system President Erskine Bowles acknowledged last month to the Charlotte Observer, that means it will probably be on the books for the foreseeable future.
"There are better ways to use these resources," Bowles said, referring to the subsidy for the scholarships. "But I'm also a realist, and I know it's just plain not going to be repealed anytime soon."
Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
Costs for aid in N.C.
Cost to taxpayers in 06-07 fiscal year: $5.18 million
Cost to taxpayers in 07-08 fiscal year: $8.53 million
Estimated cost in 08-09 fiscal year: $12.26 million
Scholarship stats for 05-06 academic year:
UNC-CH: 39 athletic scholarships, 61 academic
Appalachian State: 25 athletic scholarships, 0 academic
N.C. State: 52 athletic scholarships, 28 academic
UNC-Wilmington: 23 athletic scholarships, 2 academic
(06/28/07 4:00am)
After years of building up a hefty budget surplus, UNC-system student leaders are planning to tap into reserve funding for the first time.
The preliminary budget for the UNC-system Association of Student Governments calls for the organization to spend nearly $37,000 of its reserve as part of the largest spending plan the group has ever put forward.
"We cannot be afraid to invest and allocate our money," said incoming ASG President Cole Jones, who will assume office July 1. "We feel we have a legitimate need to use this money for the current needs of the association."
As an umbrella group of student governments across the UNC-system, the ASG takes in $1 each year from every full-time student enrolled in the system's 16 public universities.
As enrollment has grown, so has the association's budget. Student officials expect to bring in about $190,000 during the 2007-08 academic year.
Since the fee was initiated in 2002, the association's leaders have ended budget cycles with a sizable surplus. By the time incoming president Cole Jones takes office July 1, the reserve is expected to near $80,000.
"There has been a consistent pattern of dollars left over each year," Jones said. "I think it's time for us to try something different."
While there remains fierce debate within the association about the wisdom of costly new initiatives, there is also a growing recognition that the burgeoning reserve could present a political problem.
"If you can't spend all the money you're given in a year, then you're not really showing need," said Lee Hyde, the association's departing vice president for finance. "At what point is someone going to look at it and say, 'Y'all don't really need the fee'?"
Within the last year, Hyde and others have actively sought a conversation about how to spend the surplus. But arriving at any agreement among the system's 16 student body presidents has been difficult.
Heated discussions are likely to break out again this year when it comes time to decide how exactly money will be allocated, since only a broad outline has been agreed.
Under Jones' plan, which was given preliminary approval by the association's Council of Student Body Presidents, $10,000 would be earmarked to expand the group's public relations efforts, and another $7,000 would be devoted to outreach programs aimed at high-school and middle-school students throughout the state.
"We would like to explore opportunities to use the media more," Jones said, suggesting the group might consider purchasing newspaper or television advertising. "We want to make the ASG a household name."
Jones' budget would also use reserve funds to pay the association's annual fee to the UNC-system General Administration office, which charges nearly $20,000 for overseeing the groups finances and providing legal services.
That frees up more money to pay for new officer positions, an increase in officer salaries and a doubling of the officer travel budget. The group is also planning to spend about $7,000 on a new relationship with the United States Student Association, a national advocacy group based in Washington, D.C.
While ASG budgets generally undergo a great deal of change throughout the year, and early drafts include few specifics, the determination to use reserve funding hints at a shift in attitude among student leaders about the need for increased spending.
"We've spent so much time trying to come up with a way to spend this reserve," said Forrest Gilliam, two-term student body president at Appalachian State University.
"I'm all about saving money if you don't have something good to spend it on, but the reserve is getting ridiculously high."
Jones has said he will welcome all ideas and promised complete transparency in spending. But ultimately, he said, it's time to stop piling up the extra dollars.
"It's better for us to try new initiatives and learn from them, even if we fail."
Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
(06/21/07 4:00am)
Student advocates have hit a roadblock in their efforts to exempt textbooks from state sales tax but remain hopeful about the prospect for future proposals.
The UNC-system Association of Student Governments began lobbying this year for a bill that would have moved the state's tax-free weekend to coincide with the start of the fall semester.
The hope was that students could trim the cost of their fall textbooks by at least a few dollars, and Rep. Jennifer Weiss, D-Wake, agreed to sponsor the measure.
"I thought it was going to be a sweet little bill we could do that would make everyone happy," Weiss said. "But the Retail Merchants Association has been strongly opposed to it."
The lobbying group argued that moving the tax holiday would cause havoc for North Carolina retailers and advertisers. The current dates, Aug. 3-5, coincide with tax holidays in Virginia and South Carolina, and any change would be problematic for border communities and for news outlets that advertise across state lines.
"They've got good reasons," said Andy Willis, UNC-system vice president for government relations. "Moving the holiday is not as easy as it sounds."
Weiss has gotten a better reception for a measure to increase the maximum tax exemption for textbooks. The current cap of $100 for any single item failed to cover many of the more expensive texts and coursepacks, so Weiss expects to increase that amount to $300.
As long as students can get their shopping done early, they should be able to use the existing tax-free weekend to cover even the priciest books.
"I've definitely had books that were more than $100," said Stephen Moore, ASG vice president for government relations. "We think this ought to help students who have the larger, more expensive books."
The ultimate prize, however, would be a year-round tax exemption for all textbooks.
Senator Harry Brown ,R-Onslow, introduced just such a measure in March, but it died in committee.
That doesn't mean it's gone for good.
UNC-system officials indicated they might add tax-free textbooks to their list of priorities for next year's legislative session, which would give a strong political boost to the student representatives already lobbying lawmakers.
"We'll debate that over the next six or seven months and hopefully bring it back to the legislature," Willis said. "I'd really like to see textbooks tax-exempt all the time."
The main hurdle to permanently removing sales taxes on college texts is the projected loss of revenue. No formal calculations have been done, but most state and university officials think the total would fall somewhere between $5 million and $10 million dollars.
Even Weiss said the issue would have to be closely scrutinized before she could sign on.
"Anytime we do a tax exemption, that is money we can't spend on something else," she said. "It's kind of a zero-sum game at the end of the day."
Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
(06/21/07 4:00am)
In an effort to shift the focus of federal student aid, Congressional leaders are moving forward with a plan to cut billions of dollars in loan subsidies to offer more generous grants to the neediest students.
Proposals put forward in both the House and Senate would sharply reduce the subsidies paid to student loan providers, with some of those savings earmarked to increase the maximum award for the federal Pell Grant, the government's largest direct aid program for disadvantaged students.
The move to trim loan subsidies has been loudly opposed by some of the nation's largest financial institutions, which rely on the extra money to maintain profit margins from student loan operations.
But the primary concern in North Carolina is about how such a large reallocation of federal money would impact the College Foundation of North Carolina, the nonprofit group that administers most student loans in the state.
CFNC passes on the savings from federal subsidies directly to students, and officials are concerned that a cut might force them to raise interest rates or reduce services.
"We're a long way from knowing what the cuts will actually be," said Steve Brooks, executive director of the State Education Assistance Authority. "But it still gives me a great deal of concern."
Depending on the ultimate size of the subsidy reductions, Brooks said CFNC might cut back on advertising, outreach and financial counseling services.
Raising interest rates for borrowers would be the last resort, but the kind of reductions proposed so far by Congress could force such a step. An increase in interest rates could translate into thousands of extra dollars during the life of a loan.
"There's not a good choice in this whole business," Brooks said. "Something would have to give, and we just don't know what yet."
Despite the potential impact on nonprofit lenders and the strong protests from banks, a number of national student advocates have hailed the renewed focus on grant aid.
Proposals in both the House and Senate would push the maximum Pell award past the $5,000 mark for the first time, a move that grant advocates say is long overdue.
"For us, it's a great thing," said Rebecca Thompson, legislative director for the U.S. Student Association. "We'll finally be able to see increases to the Pell, and if it has to come at the expense of lender subsidies, so be it."
The political will to take on large lending companies has come partly as a result of recent revelations of improper relationships between a number of prominent universities and lenders.
Though no N.C. schools have been involved, the national fallout likely has helped shift Congressional debate toward grants.
"The politics now are such that you've got lenders at some institutions that have really cast a bad light on the industry," said Kimrey Rhinehardt, UNC-system vice president for federal relations.
The effort to reconcile the Senate and House proposals is likely to take several weeks, during which lenders and universities will be watching closely.
"Whatever happens, we're doing the absolute best we can not to charge students more," Brooks said.
Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
(06/14/07 4:00am)
Erskine Bowles likes to tout the fact that he's never been a professor or, as he puts it, "an academic."
But the UNC-system president sounded every bit the schoolteacher last week as he handed out homework to members of the university's governing board.
The assignment? Calling on dozens of lawmakers during the next several weeks as the N.C. House and Senate work to reconcile drastically different budget proposals.
"We always ask them to call, and some of them don't do it," Bowles said, explaining the detailed call sheets and talking points handed out to board members. "But they know we're going to follow up with them this time, so they'll do it."
The level of organization and intensity put into this year's lobbying effort is both a reflection of Bowles' hands-on approach toward the legislature and an acknowledgment of what is at stake.
The gap between the Senate and House proposals is huge in terms of funding for the university system, with the Senate budget offering nearly $130 million more than the House plan.
Bowles and his staff are hoping an all-out campaign by board members, university trustees and campus officials from across the state will help push negotiations toward the more generous Senate proposal.
"It's clear that our message should be focused toward the House," said Andy Willis, UNC-system vice president for government relations. "And I think we do have a little bit of time to push our message."
Willis said he expects negotiations to take about one-and-a-half to two months, barring any unexpected breakthroughs.
During that time, board members will be working their call sheets, trying to make the case that the university is a solid, long-term investment.
"You want to talk about spending money versus investing money," said board member Brent Barringer. "That message seems to resonate well."
Privately, university officials speculate that the large difference in education spending between the House and Senate could become a bargaining chip - a way for the House to try to win other concessions from a Senate strongly committed to university funding.
"We are the political football, to some degree," Willis said.
And in this game, board members seem grateful to have such a specific playbook.
"I'm really glad we're doing it this way, with assignments and checking in," said board member Hannah Gage.
Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
(06/14/07 4:00am)
NEW BERN - Cole Jones, president-elect of the UNC-system Association of Student Governments, will have to wait until at least August to find out whether pending criminal charges will affect his nascent administration.