The Association of Student Government voted on an act of legislation known as “Resolution 48” last week, which deals with student fees paid to the Association of Student Governments.
“The Association of Student Governments is like the student government of student governments,” Patrick Devore , senior in meteorology and member of the University student council, said.
The ASG exists to connect student councils across the UNC System. It was founded in 1972, specifically for the students of North Carolina universities.
“It’s a good idea,” Chandler Thompson, senior in economics and the student body president, said. “It’s good to share ideas across the UNC System.”
However, Devore said the ASG has been more or less inconsistent in terms of effectiveness.
Thompson said she could only recognize a handful of successes via ASG .
“One [success] was an organized movement against the general assembly two years ago against a 200 dollar tuition increase to stay downtown, which was successfully defeated,” Thompson said. “And the Cuts Hurt Initiative, which has very slowly been moving, but has been hampered by its own bureaucratic-ness [sic] up at the ASG level,” Thompson said.
The Cuts Hurt Initiative was an ASG project in the school year of 2011, and it had students addressing the impact budget cuts had on students’ education.
Since the early 2000s , students at the University have been paying a one-dollar fee to the ASG every year, to cover stipends and transportation costs. The bill presented at the student council meeting was designed to kill this fee.
“The ASG really hasn’t done anything with the fees,” Devore said.
Thompson also insists there could be better uses for the one-dollar fees.
“It should be going back to the students, specifically student-run organizations,” Thompson said.
The travel costs for ASG is the biggest budget covered by the one-dollar fees. There is an ASG meeting almost once every month, and the budget covers travel and hotel fees.
The bill is worded so it would not be active until the planning of the 2013-2014 school year. It would start on the necessary steps to take care of the fee.
The proposition must be sent to the fee review advisory committee, which is currently chaired by Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs, Thomas Stafford, to discuss further action.
Both Thompson and Devore agree that it would be more cost effective for ASG to have less travel time. Devore states it would make more sense to hold more of the meetings via web camera in this technological age.
Not everyone supported the bill. Ethan Harrelson , graduate student in international studies and the student senate president, was one who opposed the bill.
“It’s unconstitutional,” said Harrelson during the meeting. “If we don’t pay the fee, we can’t be a member [of ASG ], and that goes against the [student government’s] constitution.”
During the meeting, Devore and Thompson appealed his decision of the chair, in opposition to Harrelson .
The discussion during the student government meeting turned away from the subject of the bill and turned to the constitutionality of it.
Harrelson stated he would prefer the bill to be a nudge to the ASG . He suggested the student government write legislation stating what they expect to be accomplished by ASG , and a timeline in which to do it.
If ASG still meets the standards set by the student government, they will then talk about a bill to amend the constitution.
By removing the fee, Student Government would be removed from the ASG . However, the student government could not get their hands on the ASG constitution to prove they would have to pay to remain members; this sparked debate.
A vote was held during the meeting, either for or against the constitutionality of the bill. The vote leaned in favor of nay—the bill was not constitutional. Harrelson , leading the discussion, declared that Resolution 48 would not be considered that evening.
When the ASG constitution surfaces, the student government will have the chance to peruse it in context with Resolution 48, and decide whether they want to revisit the issue or not.