march report 2011: medlin administration
TRANSCRIPT
THE UNIVERSITY of NORTH CAROLINA at CHAPEL HILL
EXECUTIVE BRANCH of STUDENT GOVERNMENT
MEDLIN ADMINISTRATION
MARCH REPORT
"It's about getting involved, having your voice heard and taking ownership of your college experience - Student Government is our way of leaving this place better than
we found it for future generations of Tar Heels."- Hogan E. Medlin
March 2011Prepared by the Office of the Student Body Secretary
Suite 2501, Carolina Student UnionChapel Hill, N.C. 27599
http://www.unc.edu/studgov
This publication was funded at least in part with students fees which were appropriated and dispersed by the Student Government at UNC-Chapel Hill
MARCH REPORT-2011-
Prepared by the Office of the Student Body Secretary
Table of Contents
Introduction
A Reflection on Student Government4
Executive Branch Officers
Student Body President 7
Student Body Vice President 17
Student Body Treasurer 28
Student Body Secretary 32
Chief of Staff 40
Senior Advisor 46
Cabinet Committees 51
Academic Affairs 51
Arts Advocacy 63
Environmental Affairs 66
Global University 80
Greek Affairs 83
Multicultural Affairs and Diversity Outreach 86
Public Safety 90
Public Service and Advocacy 95
Student Body Outreach 98
Student Life 100
Technology & Web Services 105
University Services 113
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Cabinet Special Projects 116
Carolina Advocacy 116
Committee on the University’s Role in State Education (COURSE) 119
Excelling Through Mentoring 121
First Year Focus Council 123
Music Festival 126
Second Start 128
Speaker Series 130
Peer Advising 133
Public Relations & Marketing Team 136
Additional Programs 139
Eve Carson Scholarship 139
SafeWalk 146
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A Reflection upon Student Government
Hey Tar Heels!
As we sail into the beauty of Carolina spring weather, we can hardly believe that our term has come to a close. This year has seen its share of new ideas, continued traditions, and interesting challenges both inside and outside of Student Government. ReAlecting on all that has happened, we can’t help but be proud of the accomplishments of all Carolina students who are ultimately beneAiting our campus, community, state, nation and world. Collaborative efforts across campus are important to achieving these goals and we are passionate about being an organization that aids in these collaborative efforts.
The following pages contain the Ainal reports of the Executive OfAicers of Student Government, as well as the reports of the various Cabinet committees. This semester we also created a condensed version of the report in hopes of increasing the accessibility and ease of reading to the common student who may want to know what Student Government worked on this year. This is both a reAlection and a proposal in some sense; as the Cooper administration begins to take over, we hope they will use this report as a guide for ideas to carry into their administration. The long term success of Student Government depends on the ability of each administration to establish the connections between terms. We are all excited for the Cooper administration to get started and we are working hard to transition them into their positions.
From all of us to the Carolina community, we want to say thanks. Thank you for allowing us to serve you, represent you and work day in and day out for you. Though our year is up, we have each been touched by the amazing students of this University; we believe that our jobs are easier because we are fortunate enough to represent the best students in the nation, those of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Hark the sound!!
Executive Branch Officers
Hogan Medlin Holly Boardman Dakota WilliamsStudent Body President Student Body Vice President Student Body Treasurer
Ian Lee Monique Hardin Paul Shorkey Student Body Secretary Chief of Staff Senior Advisor
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Student Body President
Hogan [email protected]
Overview of Responsibilities
The Student Body President is the chief executive of Student Government and oversees management of the Executive Branch. In addition to this role, Hogan serves as the primary advocate for students to the University Board of Trustees, community leaders and State Government through service on a variety of boards and committees. The Student Body President is elected to ofBice each February and serves a one year term of ofBice.
State Legislative Relations
The November 2010 North Carolina elections led to a major shift in favor of the Republican Party for both the state Senate and House of Representatives, a phenomenon which had not occurred in well over 100 years in Raleigh. As the NC General Assembly opened their session in January of 2011, Hogan worked closely with the Carolina Advocacy Core team in Cabinet, the Executive OfBicers of the Executive Branch and representatives of the Graduate and Professional Student Federation to devise an advocacy strategy and grounded list of legislative priorities. After receiving training from Erin Schuettpelz, the legislative liaison for the University, the Medlin Administration advocated for the following priorities:
1. Minimize Reductions; Maintain FlexibilityBy July, we’ll have absorbed about $139 million in total state cuts since 2008. The majority of those reductions have been allocated to administration and efBiciency measures. In January, Chancellor Holden Thorp announced an additional 5% permanent cut ($26 million) for Biscal year 2010-‐2011 to meet Governor Perdue’s 2.5% holdback and to plan ahead for anticipated permanent cuts at the start of the next Biscal year. Announcing these cuts now allows Carolina to properly plan ahead for the inevitable reductions that will occur this Biscal year. For example, it takes several months to realize savings from layoffs given severance and required payouts.
Any additional cuts issued by the General Assembly over the 5% level will begin to signiBicantly harm our academic experience. We request that any further reductions issued by the General Assembly be provided with full Blexibility, allowing our Chancellor, Board of Trustees and elected student leaders to manage campus-‐wide reductions.
2. Keep Tuition Revenues on CampusHistorically, our paid tuition dollars have stayed on our campuses to support instruction. We appreciate the General Assembly’s support to allow future
tuition increases to also stay on campus. Tuition should not be considered a source of revenue to supplement or replace other state taxes, as 82% of our students come from taxpaying North Carolina families.
3. Protect Access by Fully Funding Need-based Financial Aid and Enrollment, and Preserving Tuition RemissionWith rising tuition costs and the economic turndown, students are more likely to need Binancial aid. UNC-‐Chapel Hill has seen a dramatic increase in need with 37% of undergraduates requiring need-‐based aid. On average, those students who require loans graduate at Carolina with $16,000 in debt. At Carolina, students on Binancial aid graduate at essentially the same rate of non-‐needy students. Tuition remission is extremely important in drawing the best graduate students to North Carolina by supplementing teaching and research on campus.
The Carolina Covenant, a national model for equal access to education, provides the opportunity for qualiBied students with demonstrated need to achieve their college degree debt free (through a combination of state and federal grants and work-‐study). Any eroding of support for state funded need-‐based Binancial aid will be absolutely detrimental to Carolina students. Not only does this promise maintain a strong commitment to diversity among our student body, it also ensures access to higher education to all those who qualify. Reducing access to the University will compromise the quality and breadth of our state's future workforce in the long term, and force North Carolina families to divert money from elsewhere in the economy in the short term.
4. Student Vote on the Board of GovernorsAs it currently is, the President of the Association of Student Governments (ASG) has a seat on the Board of Governors for the UNC system. This individual represents the 270,000+ students across the state and is the only non-‐voting member of the Board. We believe it is essential that we, the students, have the right to be represented by a vote on the Board, which determines major policies for our institutions. Each Student Body President has a vote on their respective Board of Trustees; we believe that a parallel structure must exist on the Board of Governors to ensure that we are heard.
Hogan has worked diligently in transition Mary Cooper, the 2011-‐2012 SBP, into her new role as the voice of the students in Raleigh. This list of priorities will be handed down to her as she begins to organize her own efforts in advocating for students to the state legislature.
Board of Trustees
Since the update in the October Report, the Board of Trustees met November 17-‐18, January 26-‐27 and March 23-‐24th. Each meeting’s relevant information is described below in brief.
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November Meeting:The Trustees voted to adopt two major policies during their November meeting. One was a resolution charging the Vice-‐Chancellor of Student Affairs to 1create a vision for our Greek community by engaging student leaders, faculty, administrators, and Greek community alumni, 2 set expectations of our Greek organizations through periodic assessment against clear and measurable standards, reward the organizations that meet or exceed standards, and provide speciBic feedback to each organization on how they can improve or rectify any deBiciencies, and Binally 3 provide broader and deeper support of the Greek community by better leveraging the experience and wisdom of our Greek community alumni. Hogan voted in favor of this resolution.
The second vote was on the recommended tuition and fee proposal from the Chancellor. Though Hogan and Vice-‐President Holly Boardman had advocated for a 5.6% increase in tuition, Chancellor Thorp recommended a 6.5% increase across the board to the Trustees. Hogan voted against this proposal in a 12-‐1 vote on the Board. More on this proposal is explained in the Tuition and Fee Advisory Task Force section of this report.
January Meeting:
In his update to the Board, Hogan spoke to the Trustees about Student Government’s efforts to train and organize students for advocating in Raleigh for the upcoming legislative session. He recognized the Environmental Affairs committee for their work on establishing a recycling program in the Dean Dome as well as a comprehensible policy for tailgate recycling. Finally, President Medlin spoke about the student opinion on the upcoming Academic Plan, the pending Student Body President election and the excitement surrounding Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf’s visit to campus for the Weil Lecture on American Citizenship.
In the University Affairs committee, Medlin presented the progress on the Admissions Ambassador Abroad program in conjunction with Associate Provost Ron Strauss’s presentation on UNC Global. No major votes were conducted during this Board meeting.
March Meeting:
The March meeting served as Hogan’s Binal Board of Trustee meeting. During the University Affairs committee meeting, the Trustees passed a resolution (as well as in full board) to increase the minimum GPA requirement for Greek recruitment to the level of the average GPA of the general student population by 2012. Hogan voted in favor of this resolution. The committee also heard from Bill Andrews and Sue Estroff, the co-‐chairs of the Academic Plan committee on the Binal proposal of the Plan which was adopted by both the committee and the full board. Finally, Hogan was thrilled to have the opportunity present the Arts Innovation Steering Committee Report to both the committee and the full board.
This visionary guide for the future of the Arts at UNC was not only adopted but widely accepted as a collective effort from the art community to bring to light some of the annual concerns of student access to art, art integration and art’s purpose in our society. More on the report is under the section below.
In full board the Trustees voted in favor of the 5 year transportation plan at this meeting, though Hogan voted against the plan. Other than simply increasing the costs of both transportation and parking for students, employees and faculty without any new services, the plan was limited in its vision for the greater questions/concerns surrounding parking and transportation in Chapel Hill. For a more detailed look at why the Medlin Administration stood strong against the plan, please read the more in-‐depth analysis under Student Body Treasurer Dakota Williams’ report.
Finally, Hogan thanked the Board of a wonderful year serving with them, exclaiming that the role of the President is weighted largely in the responsibilities given as a Trustee; Hogan thoroughly enjoyed every interaction and meeting with each Trustee. The Board passed a resolution thanking Hogan for his service and celebrated the end of his term at a farewell dinner on the evening of March 23rd.
Arts Innovation Steering Committee/Arts@Carolina Report
As mentioned in the October report, one of the major priorities of the Medlin Administration was to address the many concerns of the student artist population through the creation of the Arts Innovation Steering Committee. This committee met regularly since October and drafted a Binal report for the Trustees. In this report, the committee expressed interest in prioritizing the following four target concerns of moving the arts at Carolina forward:
1) Art’s Presence on Campusa. The arts exist mostly in silos across the Carolina community, in
departments, student organizations, etc. An integration of the arts that could enhance the quality of intellect and of student life is lacking.
2) Art’s Isolation in the Curriculum
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a. If a student is not an art major, getting into an art course is nearly impossible. We can do more as a liberal arts institution to address this annual problem.
3) Funding for Student Art Groups and Individual Artistsa. In any bad economy, the arts are the Airst to go on the chopping block. We
must remain vigilant in our support for student innovations in the arts.4) DeBining and Ensuring Artistic Impact
a. So often do we seek to measure the values of a particular Aield of study or profession to society, especially during a time when the efAiciency of allocating resources is a top priority. As a leading public university, Carolina has the opportunity to help better deAine art’s impact and should do so through engaging its students, faculty and alumni.
The report, which can be found in the appendix, details more on these four concerns, provides some commentary on ways to address them and recommends the establishment of an Arts Council to assess the progress of the proposals. Comments from the Trustees and greater community reBlected a general excitement for bringing the Arts into the forefront of conversation about moving Carolina forward, especially as the Academic Plan and the Chancellor’s Innovate@Carolina program both begin to take hold. Hogan considers the Arts Innovation Steering Committee to be one of the strengths of his administration and looks forward to continuing to work on the plan’s advancement over the next few years as an alumnus.
Tuition Taskforce Conclusion
Hogan served as a co-‐chair to the Tuition and Fee Advisory Taskforce along with Provost Carney. Much of the work of the committee was documented in the October report, all but the Binal conclusion of the committee’s work and proposal(s) to the Chancellor. As mentioned, Hogan and Holly worked closely with a core team of students in Student Government to create a best-‐Bit model for all students, recognizing that both fees and tuition were poised to increase in order to offset the major budget cuts on the horizon. With their help, Hogan and Holly proposed a 5.6% increase for all students; the reasoning for this proposal came from the mentality of a “meet in the middle” proposal instead of setting precedent to just inadvertently jump to the cap of 6.5%. They took careful consideration for the Bigures of a potential 8% cut (the then discussed reality) and reasoned that the University should not place more than 2.4% of that cut on the student’s purse. Their proposed model is below.
Medlin Administration Proposal – 5.6% Increase for all students
Column1 FY1011 FTE Current TuitionProposed Increase
Proposed Tuition
Projected Additional Revenue
UG-‐Residents 14,067 $4,815.00 $269.64 $5,084.64 $3,793,025.88 UG-‐Nonresidents 2,979 $23,430.00 $1,312.08 $24,742.08 $3,908,686.32 Grad-‐Residents 7,187 $6,363.00 $356.33 $6,719.33 $2,560,929.34 Grad-‐Nonresidents 2,259 $21,093.00 $1,181.21 $22,274.21 $2,668,348.87
% Increase: 5.6% $12,930,990.41
Proposed Cut: $43,200,000.00 8.0%(assumes 54m is 10%)(assumes 54m is 10%)Absorbed Cut: $30,240,000.00 5.6%Student Portion: $12,960,000.00 2.4%
When the Taskforce met for its Binal meeting on November 11th to vote on the Bigures to forward to the Chancellor for his consideration, an interesting phenomenon occurred. The Taskforce decided to forward three different proposals to the Chancellor, which Hogan accounts as a reBlection upon the ambiguity of the budget situation in Raleigh. The three proposals are outlined below:
1) The Medlin Administration’s Proposal, as detailed above
2) The Provost’s proposal of a 6.5% increase for all students, across the board
3) A hybrid proposal: 6.5% increase for in-‐state students and a 5.6% increase for out-‐of-‐state students. This proposal took into account the large difference in the base tuition dollars for in-‐ and out-‐of-‐state students.
Hogan and Holly both supported the Birst and third proposals to be forwarded to the Chancellor as they reBlected the most pro-‐student agenda. As mentioned in the Board of Trustee report above, the Chancellor selected the 6.5% increase for all students to go to the Trustees, which was then passed by 12-‐1 vote, with President Medlin dissenting from the Board.
Hogan is grateful to the students and faculty members who worked diligently on the Tuition Taskforce. He believes that the real challenge is now going to be what happens over the summer of 2011; with cuts potentially reaching their deepest yet, and with a full Republican congress, Hogan fears that the students are facing another drastic tuition increase before their return to school in the fall of 2011. The University administration must keep the student voice in the important decision making conversations as the months progress. They should actively seek out President Cooper’s input and ideas for how to best work with students in this time of economic hardship.
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Student Body Elections
In January of 2011, Carolina launched the beginning of the campaigns for Student Body President, Student Congress, Carolina Athletic Association President, Senior Class OfBicers and RHA President. The candidates worked closely with the Board of Elections, chaired by the wonderfully, amazing Andrew Phillips.
To try and recap this season’s campaign would more than likely be an injustice to the series of events that transpired. Fraught with unfortunate immaturities and annoying bickering among the candidates for SBP, the season saw many Supreme Court cases, a hearing of disqualiBication, and even a horse in the Pit. Hogan recommends that anyone interested in learning more about the festivities of the election season should go to the Daily Tar Heel archives for the stories, or just the Student Supreme Court docket.
As the dust settled, one student leader emerged from the election as the student’s clear choice for the next President. After a runoff election, Mary Cooper was elected President with 62% of the vote. President-‐elect Cooper will take ofBice on April 5th in her inauguration ceremony in the Union Great Hall.
Admissions Ambassadors Abroad
Since October, Hogan has worked closely with the ofBice of study abroad, admissions, the admissions ambassador program and the Global University committee of Cabinet laying the groundwork for a pilot test of the Admissions Ambassadors Abroad program detailed in the October report. Along with McKay Roozen and Russell Martin (co-‐chairs of Global U), Hogan worked to identify major target cities where a high volume of students study abroad and where a high volume of our alumni reside. As it stands, the program will be piloted in Hong Kong with a student (a current Admission Ambassador) and two alumni. The three of them as a team plan to visit up to three different schools to make a presentation on Carolina, possibilities for an international education at UNC and to share their stories with students from across the globe in hopes of increasing UNC’s brand and diversity of international applicants. As the pilot continues to unravel, Hogan is excited about keeping close tabs on this project (especially as he will more than likely be living abroad next year). For more information on the sustainability, projection and vision for the future of the program, please see the report of the Global University committee.
Association of Student Governments
As the delegation leader for UNC-‐CH, Hogan had to appoint a new delegate once former Speaker of Congress Deanna Santoro stepped down from her position to sue Student Body Secretary Ian Lee (see Supreme Court docket). Cory Gu was selected, bringing the delegation to Christine Hajdin, Cory Gu, Rick Ingram and Hogan. Since October the Association has Binalized its legislative priorities, passed legislation that
was then forwarded to the Board of Governors and created an opportunity for idea sharing/collaboration with other system schools by bringing together the SBPs of each institution. At the upcoming April meeting a UNC student (Kevin Kimball) will be running for the President of the Association; Hogan thoroughly supports Kevin’s run and believes that the organization needs someone like Kevin to take the lead. Part of the inefBiciencies of ASG this year had derived from the lack of structure, vision and action on the leadership side. Hogan still very much believes in the potential of ASG and has encouraged Mary Cooper to consider running for Chair of the Council of SBPs.
Celebration of JFK 50th Anniversary of Inaugural Speech
On January 7th, Hogan went to Chapel Hill High School with the Mayor of Chapel Hill, Mark Kleinschmidt, to speak to an 11th grade civics course on the importance of public service to our society. The visit was part of a nationwide effort to commemorate President Kennedy’s inaugural address, calling for Americans to engage in civic service (“Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country”). Hogan greatly appreciated the Mayor asking him to join for the event and was honored to speak on behalf of Carolina students on the importance of public service to our community, our state and our nation.
Selection of Interim Student Solicitor General
Due to personal matters, Safa Sajadi needed to step down from the position of Student Solicitor General. In the interest of having a strong SSG during the campaign season, Hogan established a selection committee to help him Bind a replacement. The selection committee consisted of Speaker Santoro, BOE Chair Phillips, Chief of Staff for External Appointments Zealan Hoover and Hogan. The committee selected Kevin WhitBield to the position and he was conBirmed through Congress swiftly. Kevin took on the role with great leadership and focus, providing to be a major asset in the many Supreme Court cases in the spring of 2011.
Weil Lecture on American Citizenship/Three Cups of Tea
On March 17th, Student Government and the Campus Y co-‐facilitated a day long dialogue following Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf’s Weil Lecture on American citizenship the previous evening. The event, part of the Three Cups of Tea initiative, gave students the opportunity to voice their opinions, thoughts and responses to the Imam’s message, and it did so in a healthy, academic way. Hogan worked closely with Elizabeth McCain (Campus Y co-‐president) to orchestrate the event and wishes to give her and her team due credit for the hard work placed into making it such a success.
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Carolina Creative
In an effort to jumpstart the mission and goals of the Arts Innovation Steering Committee, the Executive Branch of Student Government’s Arts Advocacy Committee will be hosting a week-‐long celebration of the arts from April 2-‐9th. The purpose of this week is to highlight the creativity and passion of a variety of student artists while also providing resources, guest lecturers and skills trainings to the general student body. A brief overview of the week’s events is summarized below (more detailed in appendix):
Saturday, April 2ndStudent Hip-‐Hop WorkshopCelebrity guest Adrian Grenier hosts documentary viewing and discusses art of Bilm/importance of documentaries
Sunday, April 3rdStudent Film Festival
Monday, April 4th Mobile Free Expression WallChancellor’s Innovation FairA Capella Pit SingPauper’s Players Theater Performance of “All Shook Up”
Tuesday, April 5th Dance Showcase“All Shook Up”St. Petersburg Symphony
Wednesday, April 6thCaricatures in the PitAckland Student ToursPlaymaker’s opening of “Big River”
Thursday, April 7th Celebrity Guests Brian Hargrove and David Hyde Pierce lecture on the art of TV writing/acting
Friday, April 8th
Wind EnsembleOpen mic night at Jack Sprat Bar/Lounge
Saturday, April 9thSpring Football Game
Officer’s Perspective
As my term as Student Body President comes to a close, I reBlect upon the year with great pride, nostalgia and sincere gratitude for all of the people who have helped us out along the way. Student Government, to me, is never about one person doing a project or one person working on a set of policies; it is a center for collaboration, an institution that fosters personal and group leadership growth while challenging students to promote positive change across our campus. Whether I reBlect on Cabinet, external appointments, executive assistants or the executive ofBicers, each contingency has gone above and beyond the call of service to the student body; I couldn’t have asked for a better team in the Executive Branch.
Inevitably, we too hit some road blocks along the way while pursuing the platform as do all administrations. What I am so proud of was how we, as a team, took the time to reevaluate some of our projects to make sure that they were still relevant, still representative of what the students wanted at Carolina. Much of my individual time was consumed this year by the bad economy and the budget cuts to the system – it was often difBicult to talk to any administrator about another topic. I think the beauty of the position of SBP is rooted in how each President adapts to the issues that arise unknowingly, or unsuspectingly. If you had told me that I would have been in Raleigh lobbying as much as I did during my term back last February when I was elected, I am sure I would have considered you confused. And yet, here we are, at the end of the term and lobbying is not only something we focused on a great deal, but it is something we succeeded at and have left a foundation for Mary Cooper, my successor, to carry on.
The most important reBlection I have about this year and this position is the re-‐learned emphasis on the importance of relationships. From getting to know Senators and Representatives, Trustees, Administrators, business leaders, faculty, students, and alumni, the position of SBP as an ambassador and communicator requires a great deal of skill in forming relationships. I am so thankful and honored to have had the opportunity to represent 29,000+ of the most amazing students in the country. The traditions of student self-‐governance separate Carolina from all other schools, and we as a student body value it more than we know.
It seems only appropriate to close with the words that bring all members of the Carolina family together.
Hark the Sound!
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Student Body Vice PresidentHolly [email protected]
Overview of Responsibilities
The ofBicial responsibilities of the Student Body Vice President include: chairing the Student Advisory Committee to the Chancellor, running the External Appointment process in the spring and fall, serving on the Student Fee Audit Committee and the Tuition and Fee Advisory Task Force, and representing the Student Body President when s/he cannot be present. UnofBicially, the Student Body Vice President acts as a student representative on a variety of committees, assists the Student Body President however possible, provides information to the University administration and general student body, and works on individual projects s/he feels are important.
External Appointments
The Executive Branch of Student Government has the responsibility to appoint students to a variety of committees across campus in order to ensure that the student body has adequate representation in the University’s activities. There are two rounds of external appointments conducted by Student Government, one in the spring and one in the fall, so that committees will have student representatives when they begin convening. This year’s Chief of Staff for External Appointments, Zealan Hoover, ran the process of appointing students to 48 committees.
Less than one week after the Medlin administration inauguration, the external appointment process began for spring appointments. Applications were posted April 12th-‐19th with interviews occurring April 20th and 21st. Applicants were able to use the online application created speciBically for external appointments. In total, 50 students were appointed to 16 committees.
In the fall, the external appointment applications were available August 24th-‐September 3rd. Interviews were held until September 15th. A total of 85 students were appointed to 32 committees.
Because the committees Student Government makes appointments to are so diverse and vary in how students are involved, it has previously been very difBicult to properly prepare appointees for their positions. This year, in order to make the external appointment process more uniform and to give each student more preparation for their job, two orientation sessions were held for all external appointees. The orientation session informed students about their role
in relation to the Executive Branch, who to use as contacts for their committees, and how to submit reports about their committee meetings. The orientation session was also intended to give appointees a sense of the other students involved in external appointment committees. Overall, the information session was successful and should be continued next year.
To ensure that the Executive Branch of Student Government keeps abreast of what is going on across campus, it is important that its appointees submit reports of their committee’s work. This year, appointees Bill out reports of their meetings using the Executive Branch’s website. Holly and Zealan are then able to review the reports in order to gather any information from committee meetings that is pertinent to what Student Government is doing. Appointees are asked to submit a report after every meeting, or if they meet more than once a week, to submit a report at the end of the week. For committees that are entirely composed of students, one student was selected to report the committee’s work.
Academic Plan
The University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill composed its Birst Academic Plan in July 2003. This Academic Plan served to outline the University’s core values as an academic institution and proposed new programs and initiatives in order to increase the academic quality of the University. This plan was intended as “an initial Bive-‐year roadmap to guide and shape future decision-‐making for the entire University, as well as the school, college, center, institute, and individual levels.” New developments such as First-‐Year Seminars and expanded public service opportunities were some of the achievements of the implementation of this Birst Academic Plan.
In February 2010, a committee co-‐chaired by Bill Andrews and Sue Estroff was convened to begin working on the University’s second Academic Plan. The Student Body Vice President of the Jones Administration, David Bevevino, and the Student Body Vice President of the Medlin Administration, Holly Boardman, served as the two undergraduate student representatives on the steering committee. When David graduated in May 2010, Shruti Shah assumed his vacated position.
To begin drafting new ideas for the Academic Plan, the steering committee split into subcommittees which each had an assigned topic to discuss. Holly was on the subcommittee that was instructed to discuss how to provide the “strongest possible academic experience.” Other subcommittees included interdisciplinarity, engagement, faculty retention and recruitment, diversity, and UNC’s global presence. Steve Farmer, the Director of Undergraduate Admissions, and Ron Strauss, Executive Associate Provost, worked with Holly on their subcommittee work. The subcommittee also included Don Hornstein, a Law professor, and Heath Sledge, an English graduate student, in their work. Though
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Don and Heath were not members of the Academic Plan steering committee, Steve, Ron and Holly thought it important to diversify the pool of input into the project. Their subcommittee met biweekly from May to August, and presented a Binal draft of their recommendations to the full steering committee in August.
As the subcommittees worked over the summer, the Provost’s ofBice asked members of the Carolina community to submit proposals of what they would like to be included in the Academic Plan. These proposals from the general public were given to the subcommittee they pertained to so that the steering committee members could take them into consideration when drafting their documents.
The draft of the Academic Plan was circulated to key constituents in the University for feedback about both content and structure. Administrators, faculty, students, and others were asked to contribute their thoughts and opinions. The Board of Trustees was kept up-‐to-‐date about the progress of the Plan throughout the year and the Binal draft was present at the March 2011 Board of Trustees meeting.
Although outside the purview of the charge of the steering committee, the implementation of the Academic Plan is another important step in its creation. No formal decision has been made in regards to who speciBically will be responsible for implementing the recommendations of the Academic Plan, but the steering committee believes it is of utmost importance to the legitimacy of the document to ensure that the ideas in it are not merely words on paper. The Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost, Bruce Carney, will be responsible overseeing the successful implementation of the Academic Plan.
Search Committee for the Director of the Advising Program
Beginning in May 2010, Carolyn Cannon retired from her position as the Director of the Advising Program. Holly served as the student representative on the search committee for her replacement, which began convening in February 2010. Applications for the position were posted in February and closed in March. The committee individually reviewed all applications, selected a pool to conduct Skype interviews with, and then brought four candidates to UNC for campus interviews.
Student input was vital to this process. Because the Academic Advising Program exists for the beneBit of students, the committee felt that it was essential to have multiple students be involved in the on-‐campus interviews for the Binal four candidates. The search committee held student lunches as part of each candidate’s interview. Each lunch was attended by 6-‐10 students who were able to interact with the candidate, ask questions and hear the candidate’s philosophy of advising. Students were given surveys to complete after each lunch to express their feedback about the candidate. The results of these student surveys were
combined with the surveys completed by other University community members to give an overall score for each candidate.
The search committee submitted a recommendation to the Senior Associate Dean of Undergraduate Education, Bobbi Owen. In December, Lee May was chosen as the Associate Dean and Director of the Academic Advising Program.
Pre-Graduate Education Advising Program
The idea for a Pre-‐Graduate Education Advising Program at Carolina has been around since before the Raynor administration took ofBice. Last year under the Jones Administration, Holly and Chris Carter, then co-‐chairs of the Academic Affairs committee, worked with the Dean of the Graduate School, Steve Matson, and others to make the proposal for the program into a reality. The program is intended to give information to undergraduate students who are considering applying for non-‐pre-‐professional graduate schools. The advisers are current UNC graduate student volunteers from a variety of departments on campus. The advising takes place in the same ofBice in Steele building that is reserved for the pre-‐professional school advising.
In April 2010, a graduate student was hired to serve as the Graduate Advising Coordinator. She served in the position until her resignation in August. Because of the unexpected setback of her resignation, the graduate advisors that were recruited were not able to be trained in time for the beginning of classes. However, another Coordinator was hired in September and quickly began working to make sure the Pre-‐Graduate Education Advising Program would occur as close to the beginning of the fall semester as possible. He held a training session for the graduate student advisors in early October and the ofBice ofBicially opened October 12th.
Holly and Chris continued to serve as liaisons to the undergraduate committee so that this new resource will be utilized. Because Student Government has a vested interested in seeing this program succeed and because it is run entirely by graduate students, it is imperative that undergraduate students are involved in publicizing the program. At the moment, the Advising Program has a facebook page and a website that they are hoping to, in the future, combine with the pre-‐professional website. The next administration should help with establishing the prominence and success of this program on campus next year.
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Student Fee Audit Committee and Tuition and Fee Advisory Task Force
Although other members of the Executive Branch have more pertinent roles in both the Student Fee Audit Committee and the Tuition and Fee Advisory Task Force (i.e. the Student Body Treasurer chairs SFAC and the Student Body President co-‐chairs TFATF), the Student Body Vice President is the only undergraduate position that has an automatic seat on each of the two committees. Because SFAC is a subcommittee of TFATF, the Student Body Vice President is able to give a consistent student opinion in two steps of the tuition and fee process.
The Student Fee Audit Committee began meeting in September 2010. The speciBic fees that were voted on are chronicled in more detail in the Student Body Treasurer’s section. Overall, the fee process went relatively smoothly with regards to approving and disapproving of fees. However, the biggest consequence of SFAC this semester was the realization that the current fee process is no longer the appropriate way to manage fees. Because of both the economic situation and the switch in leadership in the University, this year’s conversations have been focused on taking a critical look at how tuition and fee decisions are made.
The Tuition and Fee Advisory Committee has met three times this semester, also concerned with both setting tuition and fees for the year as well as looking at the entire tuition and fee process in general. The committee understands that this year’s tuition will increase because of the budget shortfalls, but there is still no deBinite recommendation from the committee. Previously, it has been easier to predict what will happen with tuition decisions once it leaves our campus discussions; however, the change in legislature, system president, and the economic conditions, leave the committee very uncertain about the future of tuition discussions.
As one of the few students on the Tuition and Fee Advisory Committee, Holly has worked with Hogan and other members of the Executive Branch to look into tuition options and student opinion. Holly and Hogan are committed to advocating for maintaining tuition as low as possible for students without compromising academic quality. This is always a difBicult task, but this year especially, when tuition will undoubtedly increase by a large amount in the face of deep budget cuts, Holly and Hogan are even more conscious about making decisions that will be best for students both now and in the long run.
The Binal Tuition and Fee Advisory Task Force was held the Birst week of November, after the new legislature has been elected. During this meeting, a recommendations ranged from a 6.5% increase for both in-‐state and out-‐of-‐state students, a 5.6% increase for both groups, and a 6.5% increase for in-‐state and a 5.6% for out-‐of-‐state. All three recommendations were passed on to the Chancellor, with the 6.5% increase being the one that was endorsed by the
committee. This was approved and will most likely go into effect for 2011-‐12, pending any last-‐minute changes this summer.
Student Advisory Committee to the Chancellor
In the April 2010, Holly selected ten students to serve on the Student Advisory Committee to the Chancellor through the external appointment process. Two additional committee members, Birst-‐year students, were selected to be on the committee in September 2010. The committee meets weekly by themselves and every month with the Chancellor. The committee had a total of six meetings with the Chancellor, all of which have been very productive. SACC also hosted three Chancellor’s Open Houses, one in the fall and two in the spring. The Open Houses are chances for all students to hear directly from the Chancellor about his perspectives on key University issues, as well as a way to foster a sense of community between the administration and students. The Birst and last Open Houses took place in the West Lounge of the Student Union and were well-‐received. However, the most successful Open House was the second, held in the Upendo lounge, when SACC partnered with Black Student Movement. Many students attended, mostly members of BSM, to talk about diversity, the Academic Plan and the 5-‐year Transportation Plan, among other topics.
This year, SACC committed to investigate four topics that they consider are most important to the University. These four areas are research, innovation, graduate student affairs and the international student experience. Each committee member worked on one or two topics doing research, meeting with stakeholders on campus, and identifying action steps that needed to be taken.
For the topic of research, committee members tried to identify ways to enhance the undergraduate research experience on campus. Overall, SACC has identiBied that there is a lot of potential for graduate students and undergraduates to interact, particularly when it comes to research. The OfBice of Undergraduate Research has been a wonderful resource since its inception for undergraduates, but at the moment, a majority of graduate students are unaware that it exists. This is problematic because it means that graduate students do not post research opportunities on the OUR search engine. SACC committee members met with the director of the OUR, Dr. Pat Pukkila, to talk through why the database may be underutilized. As a result of that meeting, Dr. Pukkila took away some ideas from committee members about how to be more public, and the Graduate and Professional Student Federation advertised the database in one of their monthly newsletters.
SACC understands how important the topic of innovation is to the University and therefore decided to take it on as a project. Committee members did not aim to replicate the efforts of the Carolina Student Innovation Team, but to instead reach out to current students at UNC to make them aware of what is going on at
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the campus level. One of the Birst ways SACC disseminated information about innovation was having the Chancellor speak about the topic during his Open House. The innovation working group also came up with the idea to have a Chancellor’s Innovation Fair. This event will showcase the innovative projects and ideas already on campus in order to encourage students to participate in innovative endeavors. The fair will be held April 4, 2011 from 11am to 2pm in Polk Place and will feature interactive displays manned by groups such as non-‐proBits, student ventures and student organizations. There will be a keynote speaker at the end of the day who will teach students how to get involved with innovation at Carolina. Also during the Innovation Fair, the Carolina Broadcasting Team will be present to Bilm a video called “What’s Your Big Idea?” This will allow students one minute to share a new idea they have. The Innovation Fair will also partner with the Creative Carolina week, put on by the Arts Innovations Steering Committee, to host a movable free expression wall that students can draw and paint on. SACC partnered with CSIT to solicit presenters for the Chancellor’s Innovation Fair.
As technology increases and the University’s global presence becomes more important to education, it is especially important to consider the experiences of the international population that is right at our doorstep. International students that attend Carolina have a variety of services provided for them, but SACC has identiBied it as a group of students that likely need more support than they are given. One member of SACC is also involved with the Housing Advisory Board, and the issue of international student housing was raised in a meeting. The situation of transfer students, minority students, and low-‐income students are popular topics, but international student seem to have slipped through some cracks. The working group concerned with international students is investigating what services (such as CTOPS sessions, housing, etc.) are provided to these students and what gaps exist. They sent out a survey to students to collect feedback and also identiBied the living situation as an area that could be improved. SACC members proposed a new living-‐learning community that will be in place for the 2012-‐13 academic year. This living-‐learning community will be open to both international students and non-‐international students. The goal is to better equip these international students with the resources and community to acclimate to UNC while also giving non-‐international students the ability to form connections and serve as resources. SACC strives to make UNC known world-‐wide as a university that welcomes and values international students, so this working group is especially important.
Lastly, the topic of graduate student affairs is always at the forefront of SACC’s agenda. This year, committee members are working on making UNC more family friendly. SACC held multiple focus groups for graduates students to talk about issues such as childcare, health care, and other topics that are particularly important for students with families. One of the issues identiBied by SACC and the Women’s Center is that the University has no way of knowing which of its
students have children. To solve this, SACC partnered with the Board of Elections in the 2011 Student Body President election to put a question on the ballot to assess the number of student parents. SACC collected the results of this question and was able to give the information to the Women’s Center and Chancellor Thorp. With this new information, the University will now be able to apply for grants to improve the family-‐friendly aspects of campus. Work is also in progress to create a website, parenting.unc.edu, that would help student parents be informed about the variety of resources, opportunities and policies on campus.
An equally important graduate student issue is the sexual harassment policy on campus. Focus groups were held to identify how graduate students feel about the current state of sexual harassment policy and how it can be improved. The largest challenge is that there is currently no way for a graduate student to report sexual harassment without the possibility of risking his or her research position. Sexual harassment claims are left up to individual department heads and there is not campus-‐wide structure. A taskforce separate from SACC is working to create a mechanism that would help alleviate the disparities between departmental sexual harassment policies.
Retention Working Group
Beginning during the Jones Administration, the University assembled a group of representatives from different departments across campus to compose an updated retention study. Holly replaced Jasmin as the student representative on the committee. The Retention Working Group has convened three times this semester and presented the draft report of their study to the Enrollment Policy Advisory Committee on October 29, 2010.
The previous retention study compiled in 2004 is being updated to include new information about the University’s retention efforts and statistics. After introducing new academic probation policies and initiatives such as the Carolina Covent Scholars program, retention data has shifted, mostly in a positive way. The information in the report documents up to the 2007 cohort, chronicling classes of students who have graduated and are about to graduate. The Binal draft of the retention study should be available later this academic year and will be used to guide future discussions about how to improve graduation rates and retention.
Contextual Grades on Transcripts
Last year, the Faculty Council investigated the idea of grade inBlation and its effect at UNC. It was determined that in order to combat the issue without implementing an academically harmful policy, student transcripts would be modiBied to show contextual grading information. Holly sat on the subcommittee with two faculty members, led by Andy Perrin. The subcommittee looked at how other universities report contextual grade information on their transcripts.
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These contextual transcripts gave information such as class size, student’s class rank, average letter grade, among other metrics. For UNC’s purposes, the average grade given and the class size are two metrics that seem most appropriate to be included on transcripts. At this point, the Binal recommendation has not been determined, but will be presented at the April Faculty Council Meeting. The subcommittee met with a student government focus group in March to gather more input about what students think will be appropriate to put on transcripts.
In addition to the extra information put on transcripts, there will be two other initiatives aimed at combating grade inBlation. UNC will create an online resource that shows grade distributions for each course and faculty member that will be easily accessible to students. Additionally, at the end of each term, departments will give faculty members a summary of their individual grade distributions and how they compare with the rest of the department. Overall, this three-‐pronged approach will address the issue of grade inBlation without interfering with speciBic classroom instruction techniques. The university wants to protect each faculty member’s right to assign grades as they choose and will therefore not create an overall grading policy.
Course Evaluations
After the shift to ConnectCarolina, the Course Evaluation Advisory Board reconvened in order to discuss the future of online course evaluations. The online course evaluations have been piloted by many departments and the university hopes to implement them across all departments. However, each department has the freedom to choose how they do course evaluations, so at the moment there is no mandate but instead Institutional Research is trying to persuade departments to cooperate by highlighting the beneBits of online evaluations. There are plans in the works to publish the quantitative results of the course evaluations so that both students and faculty can view the quality of courses. There is also discussion about whether or not to have an incentive/punishment system so that all students must complete the evaluations prior to receiving their grade in the course. The advisory board will reconvene soon to continue working on these issues.
Miscellaneous
Various noteworthy events have occurred during the Medlin Administration that deserve mention. First, this year a Desegregation Celebration Dinner occurred in September as a part of an entire weekend celebration to honor the Birst three African-‐American students to attend UNC. Holly was able to attend the dinner and considered it to be a wonderful gesture to communicate how important diversity it to the Carolina community while also emphasizing the challenges that still exists. The Executive Branch of Student Government was able to contribute to the event and speak with the three men who attended UNC. This event was a reminder to Student Government to continue its efforts to Bight for positive
change both within and beyond the Carolina community. Also, this year marks another year that Student Government has collaborated with the town of Chapel Hill to promote Homegrown Halloween. This initiative has been established for a number of years, and the Medlin Administration views it as a good way to encourage safety on Halloween. Student Government worked with Chapel Hill Transit to have Safe Ride running on Halloween night as well as the normal safety transportation. Also, Hogan communicated with surrounding college campuses, encouraging them to celebrate Halloween with their own student bodies. Holly participated in the press conference put on by the town that alerted the general public about the continued efforts of Homegrown Halloween.
In March, Holly participated in the NACADA (National Academic Advising Association) Conference hosted at UNC and recruited other students to attend the conference as well. The conference aimed at equipping academic advisers in North Carolina with the skills to serve different types of students. UNC students participated in lunch discussion about advising best practices and their personal experiences.
Holly also had the privilege of serving on a number of different committees -‐ Search Committee for VC for Finance and Administration, ConnectCarolina Student Advisory Board, Commencement Selection Committee, Chiron Awards Committee – and in each capacity represented the interests of the Carolina Student Body.
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Officer’s Perspective
It’s hard to believe the time has gone by so quickly. The Medlin Administration has been busy from start to Binish, accomplishing the goals we outlined at the beginning of the year and dealing with the inevitable surprises that popped up. Students were represented on a variety of issues, ranging from innovation, to tuition, to technology, and others. Looking toward the future, there are exciting possibilities in store for the 2011-‐12 school year with the implementation of the Academic Plan, a new email system, and a new entering class of Birst-‐year students. Being a part of an organization that gets an up-‐close and personal look at so many different initiatives has been a wonderful experience!
In my role as Student Body Vice President, I have been challenged both professionally and personally. Working with SACC committee members, cabinet co-‐chairs, ofBicers and administrators has been rewarding and insightful. Great things have been accomplished because we have worked together as a team. I am reminded frequently that Carolina truly does have the best and brightest students in the country and am proud to be a Tar Heel bred. Thank you to everyone who has impacted my time at Carolina and to everyone who has taken the time to give back to the Carolina community.
Hark the sound!
Student Body Treasurer
Dakota [email protected]
Overview of Responsibilities
The Student Body Treasurer serves as the chief Binance ofBicer for Student Government. In this role, Dakota oversees many aspects of the Student Fee process and is responsible for organizing the ofBicial treasurers test.
Student Fee Process
The results of the student fee discussions that took place in the fall of 2010 may be found in the October Report for the Medlin Administration. For the sake of brevity, that information is not reprinted here.
Five Year Transportation Plan
In December, the Department of Public Safety proposed a new Five Year Transportation Plan for review by student representatives. In response, Hogan formed the Transportation Focus Group to review the plan in early January. The Board of Trustees voted to approve the Plan in their March meeting, with one dissenting vote – Hogan's. The Plan's proposed fee increases, however, have not yet been approved, and this report offers a critique of the Plan for the following administration and recommends action with regards to the Plan. BrieBly, the Plan does a good job Billing shortfalls in the budget, but it shifts an unbelievably large portion of the burden on students without equal contributions from staff, faculty or the Town of Chapel Hill. The Plan is incredibly anti-‐student, and the next Treasurer must work to combat the fee increases suggested therein. The Plan forecasts a shortfall of $6.1 million in the transportation budget in the next Bive years. Of this, $1 million of the shortfall is projected inBlation; $2.6 million is increased Chapel Hill Transit costs; $270 thousand is increase Triangle Transit costs; and, most problematically, $2.2 million is the projected cost for a new parking deck for the hospital. Comprising roughly one-‐third of the projected costs of the plan, the hospital parking deck may be necessary for hospital use, but the $2.2 million cannot be counted as a required expenditure, especially in a plan that so heavily relies on additional revenue streams coming from student sources. The deck will see virtually no student use, and yet, the substantial cost of building it has been factored into a transportation plan that mostly impacts students.
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The expenditures side of the plan presents its own set of problems, primarily with regards to Chapel Hill Transit. The Plan predicts that the Chapel Hill Transit contract will cost some $2.6 million more for the University and, in response, seeks to raise revenue to pay for the contract from student fees. On its face, this is a fairly reasonable proposal, but there are other considerations to be had. The Plan shifts the contract from expecting students to pay 29% to a whopping 41%, with no additional services added, even thought students were not a part of developing the Plan and do not have representation on the Chapel Hill Transit Board. Further still, the Town has made no visible efforts to contribute additional revenue to the Transit system beyond an ambiguous “efBiciency audit” which University ofBicials alluded to in the Chancellor's Open House presenting the Plan. The other major point of criticism for the Plan is the Night Parking Fee it implements. Currently, parking is free on campus after 5:00pm, but with the passage of the Plan, a new fee will be implemented that charges all students, regardless of whether they have a car, a fee to park on campus. The ideological injustice here is apparent, but further damage is done when considering exactly what the fee is being levied for. Here, a completely new fee is being raised with no offer for additional services to students. In effect, the Plan proposes to simply take money from students for no other reason than the Department of Public Safety's failure to Bind a more justiBied revenue stream. This form of tax on a populous incapable of determining how the revenue is spent is quite simply deplorable. For further information on the Transportation Plan, please consult the Transportation Focus Group's Report. A word of warning, though, for the Biscally minded: the report does a good job evaluating the logic behind the Plan's proposals, but does not take into consideration the magnitude of the Biscal impact on the student body.
Legislative Priorities
During the last cycle of the 92nd Congress, Dakota took the initiative to author a revised set of Binance statutes with the aid of Kevin Kimball. The old statutes are difBicult for those interested in reading statutes, let alone those students who are only reviewing the statutes with the sole intent of being able to use the services of SAFO. Unfortunately, because of politics and personal grudges stemming from within Congress, the statutes were not passed.
UCommons Referendum
In February 2011, the Student Body failed a referendum proposing a $16 debt fee for the renovation of the bottom of the Union. The procedure of the vote itself was messy, and for further information, the archives of the Daily Tar Heel and dockets of the Student Supreme Court may be consulted.
Student Activities Fee
In the February elections, Dakota proposed a fee increase to the Student Activity Fee of $3.00. That referendum failed. It is highly recommended that future fee increases are requested for this fee, as the demand for its revenues far exceed the supply provided. In the February elections, Dakota successfully proposed and passed an amendment to the Constitution altering 1 SGC 1, 4, H. The impact of the amendment was to shift the mandatory allocation of the Student Activities Fee from being based on a percentage of the fee collection to being based on a dollar amount. Changes for each of the four constitutionally funded organizations, then, are as follows:
• Student Educational Broadcast was amended from receiving 4% of the fee to $1.56 per student
• Student Television was amended from receiving 5% of the fee to $1.95 per student
• The Union, more speciBically the Activities Board, was amended from receiving 33% of the fee to $13.00 per student.
• The Graduate and Professional Student Federation was amended from receiving 25% of the fee paid by graduate students to $9.75 per graduate student.
This amendment has important implications for future increases of the fee. Because of the wording of the Constitution, Student Congress receives all revenues not expressly appropriated by the Constitution to these four organizations. Because the required appropriations are now based on dollar amounts instead of percentages, any new revenue resulting from increases to the Student Activities Fee will go directly to Congress.
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Officer Perspective
My involvement with Student Government in the past three years has seemingly gone by so quickly. The shift to the Executive Branch this year was, admittedly, something of a culture shock for me – the two branches work on incredibly different issues for students, both of which are important, but both of which could not be more different from one another. As SBT, I have been very much a member of the Executive Branch and I’ve grown to enjoy and treasure this experience. Of all of the many student government positions, SBT straddles the worlds of Congress and the Executive Branch the most and, as such, has been an incredibly good Bit for me.
So far as I understand it, my role as treasurer has been very different from the job that most SBTs have performed. Each of my predecessors performed their duties admirably, but each of the treasurers in the known past has performed a different job. The title of “treasurer” carries with it connotations of balancing budgets and disbursing funds, both of which are important aspects of my job; however, the job as I have approached it this year places a great deal more emphasis on the input I was able to give to the student fee process. I view myself less as an accountant, but more of as an advocate for students in matters related to Biscal policy. Saving students money in whatever way I can is, fundamentally, why I took the job and is something I am proud to say I accomplished this year as Student Body Treasurer.
Student Body Secretary
Position Description:
The Student Body Secretary is charged with overseeing all public relations and marketing efforts of the Executive Branch. In this role the Student Body Secretary serves as the chief contact for students, oversees the Executive Branch website, produces the Executive Branch’s two main reports (October Report and March Report) and solicits feedback from the student body on key policy issues. In addition to these responsibilities, the Student Body Secretary is charged with updating the student code and keeping minutes for cabinet and executive board meetings.
Executive Assistants: “Lee’s Liaisons”
The Student Body Secretary is very lucky to have a team of dedicated and hard working individuals who make things happen. Dubbed, Lee’s Liaisons the OfBice of the Student Body Secretary has ben made up of Sam Ellis (left Dec ’10), Jonathan Herrera, and Beth Lawrence. Each of these individuals oversaw particular aspects of the ofBice and worked tirelessly to change the face of Student Government at UNC-‐CH.
Student Feedback/Resources
Since coming into ofBice, Ian worked to increase the role of student feedback in Student Government decisions. In the Jones’ Administration, Ian showed that it is possible to gather student feedback on large and pressing concerns and utilize that data to improve Student Government’s decision making processes and Ian continued to utilize student feedback to this effect in the Medlin Administration.
One way that Ian attempted to incorporate student feedback into University and Student Government action is through the “Have Your Say” program which chose a critical topic of student concern each month and asks students to quickly become a part of the discussion. The program focused primarily on programs or initiatives that students support Binancially but was not limited to this type of content. Topics introduced or considered included awareness of WXYC, Tuition, Connect Carolina and Halloween Safety. Feedback from this process was generally very positive but the project was discontinued in January.
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In addition to soliciting student feedback, Ian focused a great deal of attention on improving the types resources Student Government provides for students. Previously, Student Government put on a lot of in-‐house events and policy initiatives designed to enhance or improve the student experience but, at least the Executive Branch, did little to aid students in their own personal pursuits in college. To change this, the OfBice of the Student Body Secretary created a series of publications designed to help students achieve their own dreams and desires. Topics included Event Marketing and Media Publicity (Titled, Check that Out) and supplemental materials. It is Ian’s hope that these publications will serve as a foundation for an on-‐going program that will continue to create and update similar publications for future students.
Student Multimedia:
Since coming into ofBice in April, Ian worked extensively to improve Student Government’s ability to create quality multimedia to connect with students. These efforts have led to the creation of a new video program (Campus Update), an in-‐house multimedia production team (Carolina Broadcast Team), and numerous new social-‐media distribution channels by which Student Government can connect with and provide value to students (Facebook, Blog, Twitter).
Carolina Broadcast Team
At the start of the fall semester, Ian appointed Beth Lawrence to head up the creation of a team of skillful students charged with creating promotional and helpful multimedia for the Executive Branch. Designed to serve as Student Government’s in-‐house production team, the Carolina Broadcast Team has thus far created 4 high quality videos designed to enhance the experience at Carolina. Thanks to an agreement with the Communications Department students involved with the Carolina Broadcast Team will receive three hours of independent student credit per semester of involvement.
Embrace Carolina: An Introduction to Student Government
Is Greek Right for Me?: An Introduction to the Greek System (part 1)
Humans vs. Zombies: A look into a Carolina tradition
Best of Franklin: An Overview of Franklin St. Dining
Carolina Week Presidential Updates
Over the summer, Ian reached out to the School of Journalism’s Carolina Week and Carolina Connect programs and Student Television (STV) about establishing
a partnership to create a new short student news program focused on pressing and important issues.
With the help of the Journalism School and the producers at Carolina Week, Student Government secured a 5 minute biweekly section of the Carolina Week broadcast dedicated to student news and opinion and produced segments throughout the Medlin Administration. These videos can be seen on the Student Government website.
The Student Body President Show on WXYC
Ian has worked with Matt Berginski at WXYC to continue the Student Body President Show. This bi-‐weekly talk show focuses on in-‐depth discussion of pressing student issues and government initiatives such as tuition, Halloween safety, and getting involved on campus. Podcasts of the show are available on the Student Government website under the “Multimedia” tab along with a listing of show guests.
SafeWalk
SafeWalk, the late night safety service started out of the OfBice of the Secretary in January, is Binishing up its Birst full year in service and Ian has been working closely with Christina Lynch and Calvin Lewis to ensure that this program remains successful.
In his role as Secretary, Ian remains a critical component of the SafeWalk organization and advises both Christina and Calvin on operational and public relation matters and is a member of the SafeWalk Advisory Board. In September, Ian served as part of the interview team that oversaw the recruitment of new SafeWalk employees. In addition, due to unexpected personnel changes, Ian volunteered to rejoin the SafeWalk employee team and cover several shifts in September and October. This allowed Ian the opportunity to reassess the program from an internal perspective and judge public perception of the program.
Ian worked closely with the SafeWalk Advisory Team, the Student Safety and Security Committee, and Calvin to commence a one-‐year evaluation of the SafeWalk program and develop a two-‐year roadmap for the future of SafeWalk that will be presented to the SafeWalk Advisory Board Meeting in April. A critical part of this review and subsequent discussion surrounded securing permanent
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funding for SafeWalk and continuing the process towards independence from Student Government.
Ian and Christina also investigated the possibility of SafeWalk partnering with local taxi services to provide late night transportation for off-‐campus students at a Blat rate. This investigation only got to the preliminary stages but responses from both students and taxi services showed promise and Ian will continue to look into this option after leaving ofBice.
New Design Standards & Identity
Over the summer, Ian developed a new branding identity for Student Government that included a new logo and design standards. Previous to this, the Executive Branch of Student Government had used a variety of design standards ( most notably the University seal) and logos to represent itself publicly causing some to become confused as to Student Governments relationship with the University administration.
Frustrated by the lack of action on this issue, which Ian believed was hindering Student Government’s ability to properly establish itself, and the discovery that Student Government had recently used the slogan “We do the Students Good”, Ian began working on a new branding identity. This identity was to be “distinctly Carolina, entirely for the students, and rooted in our community” so as to represent the mission, make up, and rich history of Student Government. After gathering over 100 sample logos from student government associations at other universities and colleges, Ian created a draft low resolution logo which was presented to the Executive Board for approval. Following review in late June, the new logo was approved and incorporated into the website redevelopment and social media goals that were being worked on.
The Birst public application of the new design was on the new UNC Student Government Facebook fan page in which it was featured in the proBile picture section. In the following months it was used repeatedly on various promotional materials and recruitment applications at both the Student Government open house and other welcome events.
The new identity was designed to be adaptable to all three branches of Student Government and to jumpstart the creation of a lasting brand by which students could recognize Student Government sponsored events and activities. To this end the design is Blexible, fun, but respectful of the organization’s purpose. While
applicable to all three branches of Student Government the logo has only been actively adopted by the Executive Branch.
Student Code and Congress Relations
This year the Student Body Secretary has been working to improve in-‐reach within the various branches of Student Government but results were mixed. Ian attended numerous Student Congress’ full and committee meetings when possible and built good relationships with many in Congress that have improved communication between our two branches. Overall relations between the Executive Branch and Student Congress have been strained by questions over conBlict of interest policies, the role of congressional oversight and inter-‐branch communication. Ian worked with leaders in Student Congress to improve this relationship but many hurdles were too large to overcome.
On a more technical side, Ian converted the Student Code from Latek into Microsoft Word in January making it much easier to update the code. However, as of March 2011 updating the Student Code is no longer the responsibility of the Student Body Secretary.
Media Relations: Outside UNC
Enews: This summer, Ian responded to an interview request by Eschoolnews.com regarding Carolina’s decision to move to an online only billing system. In this interview, Ian expressed some of the challenges and beneBits to this switch from a student perspective and helped connect Mr. Carter to other contacts on campus for further information. This interview was published by Eschoolnews on May 19th.
New York Times: Over the summer, Ian was approached by Ron Leiber of the New York Times regarding a personal Binance column he was producing on working off your college education. Mr. Leiber was searching for a UNC student that was working their way through college without having to take out any student loans or grants. As the best value in higher education, Mr. Leiber thought he may be able to Bind such a student at UNC and was hoping Ian could connect him with such a student. However, Ian was unable to do so due in part to summer vacation but also because Carolina’s generous Binancial aid system does not usually allows students in such situations to go unsupported by the University through scholarships or grants.
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News & Observer: As part of Student Government’s push on tuition this summer, Ian and Hogan worked closely with the Raleigh News & Observer to publish a op-‐ed column designed to raise awareness of the impact budget cuts could have on our education system. Ian and Hogan then drafted a column which was approved for publishing by the News & Observer. However, the Binal tuition plan was release one day before the column was scheduled to be published and was therefore pulled. You can read the column in the appendix.
Officer Perspective
The role of the Student Body Secretary is something that has been highly ambiguous year over year with the only codiBied duty (until this year) being to update and maintain the Student Code. Over the years, the position has developed into something resembling a Press Secretary with the Secretary helping to craft the President’s message and working with media outlets and students to disseminate information of student concern but I believe it can be something much greater.
Student Government has a perception problem because too often we are seen promoting our own events, our own initiatives, and our own desires rather than helping students with things they care about. This year, I have tried to break this perception by reaching out to students and including them in our discussions through polling and feedback programs but more must be done by the next administration. On April 7, I took an oath to work for the betterment of the students at this University and that oath was not limited simply to the students interested in becoming involved with Student Government. Student Government should work for you and you should know it.
My goal this year were two fold; to increase student awareness of the initiatives and policies we are currently doing (such as saving you $900,000 in student fees) while encourage Student Government to invest more in programming that helps students reach their own goals independent of student government. I wanted students to think of Student Government not just as a place to get involved and help your community but also where you come for those helpful hints that make your Carolina Experience better, to this end I have been modestly successful as Student Body Secretary.
The Carolina Broadcasting Team has been instrumental in this push and I am extremely excited to have them be a new part of the Executive Branch next year. The videos they produced will help students better understand what it is Student Government is doing while creating a bank of helping videos for students that are in no way Student Government centered. I believe that initiatives such as the Carolina Broadcast Team and Check That Out publications help improve student perceptions of their government and have a positive impact on students.
While this year has certainly been a challenge, I can honestly say that it has been the most formative experience of my college career and I have come into the suite everyday excited to be working for an amazing group of 28,000 students. The economy and lack of technical expertise have made this a very frustrating job at times but I am proud of what this administration has done and the team
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we have assembled. While there is a great deal more that could have been done, I believe that the OfBice of the Student Body Secretary has done a great deal to improve Student Government’s capacity to reach out to the community.
Hark the Sound!
Chief of Staff
Monique [email protected]
Overview of Responsibilities:Monique serves the student body as Chief of Staff for the 2010-‐2011 Medlin Administration. As Chief of Staff, Monique works to ensure the platform is carried out through managing Cabinet. Monique serves as a resource for Cabinet Co-‐chairs as they plan, organize, and carryout activities and platform tasks throughout the year. SpeciBically, she organizes and leads Cabinet meetings which aide not only cabinet co-‐chairs through promoting leadership development, but also serve as a vehicle for student voice where by administrators are invited to discuss issues of major concern for cabinet feedback. The sections below will provide a more in-‐depth overview of her role.
Day-to-Day Activities:
Monique is available to meet with Co-‐chairs daily via email, over the phone, or in person while communicating the openness of her ofBice to co-‐chairs as an additional resource when completing their work. Monique also attends committee meetings and committee events as an active participant, helping Co-‐chairs with set up as needed. In addition, Monique invites speakers to cabinet who would like to gather student input on different issues on campus.
At the beginning of the fall semester, Monique has adopted a particular organization structure when carrying out the role of Chief of Staff. She works diligently with her three Executive Assistants (Lauren Cutshaw, Tieshia Bell, and Cierra Hinton) to ensure that she carries out her role to best meet the needs of the Cabinet Co-‐chairs. The primary roles of her Executive Assistants are listed below:
-‐Lauren Cutshaw: Lauren's role as Executive Assistants center around administrative processes. Lauren's responsibilities include managing the Chief of Staff account, ensuring that emails are sent to proper administration, faculty, and students, as well as interacting with Tieshia to ensure that committees acquire the resources necessary for their events and meetings. She maintains correspondence with the co-‐chairs of the committees, and forward emails they cannot manage to Monique.
-‐Tieshia Bell: Tieshia’s role as Executive Assistant primarily pertains to reservation and meeting management as she organizes room reservation request and contacts UNC Events Planning to conBirm room schedules for Co-‐chairs
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within Cabinet. She also works to organize monthly meetings Monique has with the 23 committees in Cabinet through communicating times of availability for Co-‐Chairs to Monique. In addition to these roles, she also ensures that the boards in the Suite are up-‐to-‐date and organized to reBlect the accomplishments of the committees.
-‐Cierra Hinton: Cierra’s role as Executive Assistant focuses on “in reach” where she works with all branches of student government to schedule collective trainings. These trainings include Safe-‐Zone, Haven, One Act, and Education Diversity Trainings through individual departments on campus. Cierra’s progress thus far in this area is described in more detail below:
This year we have also focused on making sure that everyone in Cabinet is Safe Zone, Safe Haven, and Diversity Education trained. These trainings are very important in ensuring that we have a safe and better Carolina, and the hope is that by being trained ourselves we can encourage others to be trained as well. As usual scheduling is the most difAicult part in planning these trainings. Everyone is very busy here at UNC, but we have also recognized the importance of these training and are working to see that they are completed. We are currently in the process of scheduling Safe Zone Training with Terri Phoenix and Diversity Education training with Cookie Newsome, and we hope to have Cabinet members trained in both of these as soon as possible. We have spoke with Bob Pleasants about Safe Haven training and are looking to do that the Airst weekend in December. Outside of training Cabinet, we have also invited Student Congress and the Honor Court to participate in the trainings with us. With the participation of all three branches in these trainings we can show the importance that these trainings have not just for E-‐Branch, but also for the entirety of Student Government.
At the beginning of the second semester, Monique introduced a new initiative to complement transition efforts for the new administration. Students interested in applying for Chief of Staff for the incoming administration were allotted the opportunity to become an Executive Assistant for Monique in order to learn more about the position and further have Birsthand experience with the role. Approximately 4 students participated and Monique met with them at 4pm every Monday. At these weekly meetings, the interested applicants would help compose and send emails, learn how to reserve rooms and become better familiarized with Events Planning in general, and brainstorm ideas that would be applied to Cabinet. The hope was that students interested in the position of Chief of Staff would have a more direct idea of what the position entailed, and if one of the student s were selected for the position, transition would be easier and not rushed. Monique still maintained contact with her initial EAs, and they worked with the interested applicants one-‐on-‐one at these meetings also; serving as mentors for these students in the process.
Recruitment and Selection:
In mid April, Monique began recruiting Co-‐chairs for Cabinet through collecting applications for 13 committees and 10 special projects. In total there were 47 positions available, and Monique along with other Executive Branch OfBicers received approximately 100 applications. Once the Co-‐chairs were selected, the Birst Cabinet meeting was held April 18, 2010 with the incoming 2010-‐2011 Cabinet and the outgoing 2009-‐2010 Cabinet. This Cabinet Meeting served as a transition meeting which provided extra guidance and assistance to the incoming Co-‐chairs. Additionally, Monique conducted “working” meetings with all committees before break. These meetings introduced the Co-‐chairs to certain platform goals which pertained to their committee in particular. Hogan attended many of these meetings alongside Monique. At the end of the meeting, Monique asked Co-‐chairs to deBine their goals collectively as a committee, identify resources needed to complete platform goals, and create timelines or outlines describing their work over the summer vacation.
Once the school year began, Co-‐chairs were advised to begin recruiting students as committee members. To aid Co-‐chairs with this, Monique helped organize Open House at Rams plaza. Having Open House at Rams Plaza was designed to reach out to students during dinner hours. Co-‐chairs designed committee boards with information pertaining to their committee in hopes that students would apply for membership on Cabinet Committees. Due to inclement weather towards the end of the Open House event, Monique also organized a smaller scale second Open House which was located in the pit. This was an optional event that Co-‐chairs could opt to do if they believed their applicant pool was too small.
Cabinet Retreat:
Cabinet Retreat was held on August 30, 2010 in the Student Union. The goal for retreat was to introduce all co-‐chairs to each other, review goals individual to each committee, and stress the main resources and school policies relevant to their position. All Executive Branch OfBicers lead many mini workshops which covered topics such as “Basics of Planning an Event”, “Reimbursement/Financial Information”, “Technology in Student Government”, “Working with Administrators”, etc. Monique tried to make the day more interactive through including ice breakers and leadership development activities throughout the course of the day. At the end, Co-‐chairs broke up into committees and were able to gather feedback and support from their timelines and plans which they worked on throughout the summer vacation. Monique also discussed the
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importance of committee members and the application process which would take place to recruit students.
Weekly Cabinet Meetings:
Cabinet Meetings are generally held every Sunday at 5pm. Monique organizes each meeting and drafts agendas for these meetings. This year, Monique has encouraged all Co-‐chairs to attend Cabinet and to engage in the conversations highlighted at each meeting. This year, Monique has invited numerous speakers to discuss and gain feedback on many relevant issues facing students on campus. Co-‐chairs provide student feedback on these matters and also share discussions with their committees. Monique has also tried to strengthen leadership development in two ways speciBically. First, she has visited the Center for Leadership Development in the Union to help her lead discussions pertaining to time management and committee progress; and secondly, she has implemented a new introduction activity which allows Committee Co-‐Chairs to begin each cabinet with some interactive activity or ice breaker. Executive Branch OfBicers also help lead portions of Cabinet and serve as a resource and aid during Cabinet meetings.
This year, in particular, Monique worked with many administrators to ensure that views and concerns of student co-‐chairs were evident in major decisions on campus. Co-‐chairs were able to provide feedback on many issues such as union renovations, the academic plan, the 5-‐year transportation plan, and the tuition policy just to name a few items of major concern this year. Co-‐chairs were encouraged to take the information they learned at Cabinet meetings back to their individual committee meetings in order to further open dialogue on these topics.
Weekly Reports:
With the help of Student Body Secretary, Ian Lee, Monique has followed a similar system as the previous administration when collecting reports. The reports are submitted online, and Monique along with her EAs read reports. Monique contacts speciBic committee co-‐chairs about certain concerns or events mentioned in the reports throughout the week. She also encourages Co-‐chairs to print out copies of their reports to go in to binders which are available in the ofBice. These binders serve as an additional resource for Co-‐chairs to stay organize during meetings, help when writing the October and March reports, and serve as transition materials for the incoming administrations. Monique uses
these reports to help her gauge progress on certain platform initiatives on a weekly basis.
Bulletin Board:
Monique wanted to make the bulletin board as interactive as possible, and she wanted to ensure that the space was being used in the best way possible. So, at the beginning of the school year, Monique asked the Cabinet Co-‐chairs what they wanted to do with that space. She also asked the Executive Board OfBicers and the OfBice Assistance, Tierra and Keith. What she found was that many Co-‐chairs wanted to be able to write on the board and have conversations throughout the week even if students were in the ofBice at different times. So, Monique broke the board in to three sections. On the Birst section, she created a discussion board where students who enter the ofBice can write questions to post on the board and other students can answer that questions on sticky notes surrounding the question. The board can typically hold approximately three questions along with their responses at one time. In the second section, Monique created a mega calendar where Co-‐Chairs and student organizations can post their Blyers for events on the day in which their event will occur. The calendar generally keeps students walking in and out of the ofBice informed on upcoming events. Lastly, on the third section, Monique created somewhat of a collage of pictures coupled with names of the Co-‐chairs within Cabinet. Some Co-‐chairs have decided to decorate their pictures in order to add a more creative touch to the board.
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Officer Perspective:
This year has already been Billed with many accomplishments and lessons learned! I believe I worried the most about connecting with the Co-‐chairs and creating a “family” presence within Cabinet meetings. I believe I really wanted Co-‐chairs to have stake in the work that they did and to see the other Co-‐chairs all working together to work for students. I did not really believe that I could create such a presence and while I believe there is much to be done, I still believe that we have come closer as an Executive body.
I was really excited to organize Cabinet this year. Utilizing EAs who were all equally as enthusiastic about Cabinet really helped maintain order and structure on a day-‐to-‐day basis, and creating a central email address where Cabinet members could send messages and quickly receive responses really helped with maintaining efBiciency. I also enjoyed organizing more issue based Cabinet meetings where Co-‐chairs were able to discuss their opinions and the opinions of their committee members. Most importantly I really enjoyed working with the OneAct staff to organize a training with Cabinet and members of Congress during the month of February. All in all I believe we were able to run effectively and it was exciting to learn from different strategies and structures implemented.
The Cabinet Co-‐chairs were very engaged and enthusiastic and it really encouraged and motivated me every day I walk in to the suite. I believe having monthly meetings with Co-‐chairs, engaging in informal conversations, and attending committee events have all taught me a lot about the governance of this university and the different ways in which committees can be managed. I have learned a great deal and will continue to be a resource for the incoming Chief of Staff for the Cooper Administration.
Senior Advisor
Paul Shorkey [email protected]
Overview of Responsibilities
The Senior Adviser, an appointed position decided on a year-‐to-‐year basis by the newly elected Student Body President, aids the other Bive traditional ofBicers by providing support to Cabinet staff as they accomplish platform points and taking on other essential tasks of service to the student body during the administration.
A BIG Thank You to Phenomenal Executive Assistants
An incredible thank you must be given to Cydney Swofford and Geordan Stroud. Their enthusiasm and passion for all things Student Government is truly inspiring. It would have been impossible to accomplish what we have this year without them, and I am extremely grateful for their help.
Global Code of Student Values
Through partnership with the OfBice of the Provost, the Executive Branch of Student Government has had the exciting chance to help aid in the design and dissemination of a Global Code of Student Values, or Global “Carolina Way.” When complete, this code will represent the values that we as a Carolina community expect members to uphold as they go out to engage in global activities including study abroad, summer travel, internships, and research.
A forum was held in October where student input for the code was gathered and a general skeleton was constructed. From here, a small working group has drafted a version of the code. It is now working with the OfBice of the Provost to determine a timeline for the university’s travel database, so that a complete copy of the code might be added at the appropriate time. More complete drafts will be circulated to relevant ofBices and university ofBicials for feedback.
Codifying the Position of Senior Adviser
Paul worked with Zachary De La Rosa and other Congress delegates to draft a small addition to the Student Code which has now ofBicially added the position of Senior Adviser to the Student Code. The description is still relatively vague in order to allow for each administration to make its own determination on what the position should ultimately entail. However, it is now the case that the Senior Adviser is an ofBicial Executive Board position (barring, of course, any subsequent changes to the Student Code).
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CollegiateLink Training Sessions
Paul worked with Keith O’Hare and Jon Curtis to investigate the possibility of providing training sessions for student leaders regarding the functionality of the new CollegiateLink system. These trainings were held by trained CollegiateLink staff, and were open to everyone but speciBically publicized to all leaders of currently recognized student organizations. Student Government leaders will continue to work to make sure that students, and especially the leaders of student organizations, are becoming familiar with CollegiateLink and have ample opportunity to learn about its functionality.
Tuition Visibility Report
Paul worked during August and September to compile portions of a Tuition Visibility Report. This was a comprehensive document that explained to students where and how tuition money is spent across different functional areas of campus. Paul helped to compile the different portions of the report, edit them, and create the executive summary for the document. The Tuition Visibility Report became available online during the fall semester. Additionally, Hogan Medlin created an “executive summary” of the document in December that was incredibly useful in conveying to students how their tuition money is spent and some of the rationale behind recent tuition increases. This was distributed widely in order to educate students.
Undergraduate Research Database & E-Learning Report
During the fall semester, Paul worked alongside a small team of individuals on the idea of creating an Undergraduate Research Database on campus. The team put together an initial proposal and met with the OfBice for Undergraduate Research to discuss the idea and investigate partnerships. The database would allow both undergraduate and graduate students the opportunity to post abstracts/research summaries, and to tag their research based on major themes. For instance, a student researching and writing about issues of poverty in rural China would be able to post a research description and would tag his/her research as relating to “poverty” and “China.” Such a database would allow undergraduate and graduate students to network and connect with each other, hopefully facilitating more involvement in research across campus. The small team of individuals working on this transitioned the project at the end of the fall semester to the Student Advisory Committee to the Chancellor (SACC). Holly Boardman is leading this group, and she was also a member of the original small group that began exploring this idea.
This same small working group has been coming up with an “E-‐Learning Report” for the university, documenting the effectiveness of the use of technology in the classroom. Although Paul has not worked actively with this group during the spring, they have plans to meet with the Center for Faculty Excellence in the near
future to further reBine their goals and seek advice on moving the project forward.
Tuition TaskForce
A small group of students from the Executive Branch met regularly throughout the fall and into the spring to decide the administration’s stance on tuition issues both for the coming tuition review cycle and for the next four years. As part of this working group, Paul has added to and edited a document that summarizes Student Government views on the main points of controversy. The group also worked to make sure that Carolina students were prepared to lobby the State Legislature and take other actions to ensure that student voices were heard during the tuition-‐setting process. These goals link in strongly with the compilation of the Tuition Visibility Report, as mentioned above.
Dean of Students Search Committee
Paul served during the fall and spring semesters as a member of the Dean of Students Search Committee, charged with Billing the current vacancy in this integral position with the best possible candidate. Paul spent a great amount of time reviewing potential applicants and moving the committee towards the interview stage. After conducting a number of on-‐campus interviews with very qualiBied applicants, one recommendation was put forth by this committee to Vice Chancellor Crisp, who then ofBicially named our new Dean of Students. As a student voice on this committee, Paul saw his role as a student representative to be crucial because of the position’s direct function of overseeing student life on campus. Overall, the search process was most certainly a success.
Admission Ambassadors Abroad Program
Paul worked with the Co-‐Chairs of the Global University Committee to help implement an “Admission Ambassador Abroad” program. Such a program would allow current UNC students to spend some of their time while abroad traveling to different target schools and encouraging international students to apply to UNC. The program will be run in close collaboration with the Study Abroad OfBice and the OfBice of Admissions, and will with time allow for a larger international student presence on campus. Although this program has been a particularly difBicult one to implement, real progress has been made during the Medlin administration and it is hoped that this initiative will continue into the Cooper administration.
Educational Policy Committee
As a full member of the Educational Policy Committee for the 2010-‐2011 school year, Paul has attempted to represent the voice of students in matters of educational and academic policy on campus. Paul and other members of the
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Executive Branch pushed for student representation on many committees that are tangentially related to the Educational Policy Committee, and to which it sends appointees. In particular, Paul and Holly Boardman acted to appoint a Bitting student representative to a committee charged with implementing new grade reporting measures passed by Faculty Council last year.
The Educational Policy Committee has taken on a number of initiatives and talks this year. These include topics such as the implementation of a Faculty Council resolution to increase grading transparency on transcripts, evaluating the results of a faculty survey of the Honor Court, and evaluating and approving small changes in policy with regard to the New Curriculum. The April agenda will include taking a look at the idea of helping professors across campus with a general “standard” for syllabus design and writing.
Endowment Sustainability and Transparency
Paul has led a small group of Student Government students to come up with ideas on how to increase the sustainability and transparency of the university’s investments and investment practices. These discussions resulted in a formal proposal being brought to Chancellor Holden Thorp suggesting the implementation of a Green Revolving Loan Fund as well as some other measures to increase investment transparency based on best practices at other universities. This has resulted in a commitment from Chancellor Thorp to pursue the idea of a Green Revolving Loan fund becoming a part of the university’s endowment. This same student working group is now attempting to get other key administrators on board, and to keep them informed of this positive progress. SpeciBically, we have also liaised with the Vice Chancellor’s Sustainability Advisory Committee in order to seek advice and continue moving the project forward.
Chancellor’s Student Innovation Team (C-SIT)
Paul served as an Executive Branch of Student Government representative to the Chancellor’s Student Innovation Team during the academic year. This team had monthly meetings to talk about ideas relating to innovation on the UNC campus, with speciBic attention paid to the Innovation Roadmap and initiatives within. Paul also served as a member of the Chancellor’s Commercialization Working Group on Innovation during the spring. After this group’s Birst meeting, talks are still being had by its leaders with regard to next steps. More than anything, these interactions have strengthened Student Government’s involvement with a number of innovation and entrepreneurship initiatives on campus, many of which will continue in the coming years.
Officer Perspective
The year has been one of great growth for me as a leader and student. So much of this has to do with the incredibly dedicated, knowledgeable, and spirited people that I work with on a daily basis through Student Government. I am constantly inspired by the passion with which all members of the team are able to advocate on behalf of students. I feel privileged to have been a part of the Student Government family again this year, and am incredibly impressed by the progress we were able to make. I’m also very excited to see what the next administration has in store; it is sure to be yet another special year for Student Government.
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Cabinet Committees
Academic Affairs
Lily [email protected] Alex [email protected] Overview of Responsibilities
The Academic Affairs Committee reviews all issues dealing with curricula, professors, student advising, the Registrar's ofBice and the dissemination of academic information to students. The committee will aim to complete projects in areas affecting the academic atmosphere on campus. With approximately twenty committee members, Academic Affairs is divided into three subcommittees, addressing academic services, academic advising, and undergraduate research.
Committee Progress UNC’s 2010 Academic Plan’s Creation
The most important component of this year’s Academic Affairs platform was the Academic Plan component, as the Academic Plan provides a ten-‐year plan for the school’s educational endeavors. Academic Affairs worked throughout the late fall and spring to provide the Academic Plan Committee with comprehensive undergraduate feedback. Items of the drafts of the Plan pertaining to undergraduates were discussed in Academic Affairs meetings, feedback meetings with other students, and in a Cabinet meeting facilitated by Academic Affairs members. Below is the feedback offered to the Committee, following the speciBic Plan draft item referenced. These were in response to Draft 2, which was made available for feedback in late October. Both compilations of feedback were submitted to the Academic Plan Committee.
Develop a coordinated program of team-taught, problem-based courses of one to three credits that enable students and faculty from various schools and department to focus on major issues and problems of our time. Such courses—team-‐taught, multidisciplinary, and research-‐oriented—should draw upon existing strengths in teaching, research, and engagement among our faculty and
make use of technology such as video conferencing to enrich instruction and student participation. Because many of our current and prospective students are increasingly motivated by a desire to tackle big problems, these courses will likely become a signature feature of intellectual life at the University. . Space in such courses should be reserved for Birst-‐year undergraduates. Convened by course coordinators and taught by teams of faculty and select graduate students, these courses can provide comparatively low-‐cost, life-‐changing intellectual experiences that enhance a sense of common purpose and intellectual community among students and faculty. Should these courses succeed in joining students and faculty in common purpose, the potential to continue the focus on ―wicked problems‖ in subsequent semesters and other venues should be explored.
Academic Affairs Response:While the Academic Affairs Committee was enthusiastic about the possibility of high-‐enrollment courses, no mention was made of smaller, discussion-‐oriented sections, through which students could process the information learned in a larger section and think critically about more speciBic problems. Some high-‐enrollment classes (such as issue-‐based environmental seminars taught by Greg Gangi and the Great Decisions course) use this model with success. While the use of technology (such as the video-‐conferencing mentioned) might allow for greater participation, having experienced undergraduates, graduate students, or professors lead smaller sections would create more opportunities for students taking high-‐enrollment courses to feel as if they were still getting an individually-‐tailored education.
Guarantee every entering first-year student a seat in a First Year Seminar by calling on each school within the University to provide a share of these seminars that is proportional to its share of the undergraduate student body. Guaranteed seminar opportunities for Birst-‐year students will be a crucial complement to the high-‐enrollment courses described above. Faculty who lead these seminars should receive appropriate teaching credit and support for their teaching. Outstanding graduate and professional student instructors, such as Royster Society Fellows, should have the opportunity to collaborate with faculty in creating and teaching First-‐Year-‐Seminars. To bolster the creation of Birst-‐year seminars outside the College, the Provost should provide appropriate course development resources.
Academic Affairs Response:For some students, Birst-‐year seminars were a transformative educational experience that truly introduced them to the possibilities of college at Carolina. For others, they were merely placeholders: classes that fulBilled no major requirements or which did not focus enough on a single topic to be considered a challenging intellectual experience. Rather than simply correlating the number of Birst-‐year seminars available with the number of
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students who participate in a given professional school or major, demand should be more accurately measured: Birst-‐year students plan to be pre-‐med or enroll in the Business School in much larger numbers than they actually do. Creative ways of providing small-‐group learning to students regardless of their anticipated or actual eventual major must be considered. For example, one Birst-‐year seminar (BUSI 050) fulBills the introductory Business class, but in a smaller and more tailored setting. Broadening this premise to additional majors would be popular and useful, but seminars that address non-‐major-‐speciBic or interdisciplinary topics should continue to be offered, promoting a broad, liberal arts education from the Birst year of enrollment at Carolina.
Create Bachelor’s to Master’s degrees that can be earned in four or five years of combined study. These dual-degree programs will appeal to high-achieving prospective students, the increasing number of students who post-pone or launch their educational careers later in life, and to undergraduates who realize, early in their student careers, that advanced training is both desirable and possible for them at UNC. Entering students who bring to UNC 30 or more Advanced Placement credits will find a dual degree a challenging but rewarding academic goal. The four-year Master‘s degree option will enhance the tuition ‘bargain’ of Carolina education. Dual-degree programs that can be satisfied in four years will also enable Carolina to augment its graduate enrollments with M.A. students who would not require additional fellowship or departmental support in their first year of graduate study. Enhanced advising and mentorship from the admissions office, academic advisers, and faculty members will enable undergraduates to decide whether a dual-degree program is right for them.
Develop direct-entry undergraduate-professional school matriculation programs that would allow qualiBied students a deBined path from a bachelor‘s degree to the MD, DDS, JD, PharmD, MSW, MBA, MPH, or other professional degrees. These programs would also attract prospective students to Carolina who have set their sights on these degrees, while encouraging undergraduate students to pursue challenging programs of study that would yield rewards beyond the traditional bachelor‘s degree. New and broader paths into professional study and degrees will be an important beneBit of these proposed programs, encouraging students to expand their intellectual growth in courses outside of their chosen professional pathway. Enhanced advising and mentorship, similar to what is recommended in D. will be important to ensure that all students know about and are able to beneBit from direct-‐entry programs.
(The following responses correspond to both of the Plan items included above.)
Academic Affairs Response:This topic was met with enthusiasm from many students; regardless of whether they believed that they would have participated in accelerated degree programs had they been available, students believed that the existence of such programs would have made Carolina more appealing for
potential applicants. However, signiBicant concerns were voiced about the “pigeon-‐holing” of young students, as the Committee feared that high-‐achieving students would select a degree program at age 17 and feel locked in, with less opportunity to explore programs they may have been unaware of or unexposed to in high school. We would like to see language in the last sentence of part D indicate that mentoring would be highly focused on Binding avenues within accelerated programs to explore the rest of the curriculum, even if many of these students will have completed the bulk of their General Education requirements. In addition, it is important for Carolina to acknowledge that AP credits are not an accurate reBlection of college work, nor are they necessarily an indication of the students most Bit for such accelerated programs. Students who take the most challenging course load offered by their high school (or home school, or local early-‐enrollment college program), regardless of whether these courses count for AP credit, should be offered a chance to apply for accelerated enrollment.
Expand support for undergraduate research and engaged scholarship. We should enhance the current infrastructure and increase University funding for graduate students who supervise and facilitate undergraduate research and scholarship. The large, multidisciplinary lecture courses proposed previously (see Recommendation A) should involve Graduate Research Consultants (GRCs) from multiple areas of the University and create the opportunity for graduate and undergraduate students to connect for future work. The OfBice of Undergraduate Research should enhance collaboration and curricular engagement with the Public Service Scholars program to facilitate more engaged research.
Create a Faculty/Student Mentoring Program. One-‐on-‐one interactions between faculty and students can have a profoundly positive inBluence on student intellectual growth, help students better deBine their educational goals, and help them navigate career paths. This kind of relationship can be rewarding to faculty as well as students. We propose piloting a voluntary faculty/student mentoring program, available as early as the Birst year for undergraduates. Such a program would reach a broad range of students, including those with clearly deBined career trajectories, as well as those who have not yet established their academic major and/or career direction. Learning from best mentoring practices already in place on the campus, Carolina should match students who desire this kind of opportunity with suitable faculty, based on initial academic interests, although mentors could be changed if career interests shift through this process. This program should complement and expand services provided by Carolina‘s Academic Advising Program by focusing on guiding students as they recognize, explore, and obtain career objectives that are achievable with a Carolina education.
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UNC and the State of North Carolina: As the core mission of the university is to serve the people of the state of North Carolina, UNC must seek to reBlect the make-‐up of the state population. While we can be proud of our progress insofar as our student population is concerned, the diversiBication of our faculty lags, not just in terms of ethnicity but in other important areas, particularly disability. We must redouble our efforts to enroll students and hire and faculty and staff who reBlect the changing demographics of the state, and to ensure that Carolina is accessible in every way. To reach this goal, we recommend: a. All academic and enrichment programs should offer and advertise application fee waivers so that no potentially qualiBied applicant is discouraged from applying due to Binancial constraints. b. UNC should maintain its strategic partnerships with North Carolina high schools with substantial Native American, Latino, and African American populations, expanding them in advantageous directions, such as UNC-‐Pembroke. c. Augment resources for state-‐of-‐the-‐art accessible learning and residential facilities so that UNC can earn a national reputation as a model campus for faculty and students with disabilities. d. A student-‐exchange scholarship program, similar to the outstanding Robertson scholars program with Duke, should be explored between UNC and NC Central University. This program should focus on particular areas of undergraduate and graduate curricula in which both institutions would derive beneBit. e. UNC should expand the Carolina Postdoctoral Program for Faculty Diversity and establish new benchmarks for recruitment and retention, particularly in the sciences. f. Peer mentoring should be a well-‐publicized option for all minority students, staff, and faculty. For students, peer mentoring opportunities should be available from the outset of an undergraduate‘s Carolina career.
Retention and Graduation: While maintaining Carolina‘s traditional standards, we must remove barriers to retention and advancement encountered by many of our students from underrepresented groups encounter. Carolina‘s campus climate must welcome and integrate into our community all students, faculty, and staff who come here to live, work, and learn. Retention efforts for students: Our goal must be the elimination of ―retention gaps between various groups of students. We should work to ensure that all students who are admitted have the resources to graduate in a timely fashion. To this end, Carolina should take the following steps: a. Increase funding, consolidate, and strengthen programs, such as the Center for Student Success and Academic Counseling, with proven records of promoting academic success among students from historically underrepresented groups, including students with learning
disabilities and graduates of low-‐performing high schools. These resources should be offered to any student who would beneBit from guidance or mentoring, particularly those who are not in academic peril but whose learning experience and trajectory could be enhanced. b. Establish priority registration for undergraduate students who are parents. Allowing student parents to register for classes early will provide them maximum Blexibility in scheduling their classes, which will facilitate their progress toward graduation. c. Continue efforts to diversify the curriculum of all academic programs while making use of the principles of universal design across campus. d. Expand efforts to support and integrate transfer students and students from traditionally underrepresented groups into student and campus life. e. Augment resources to help students from traditionally underrepresented groups engage in study and research abroad. f. Examine policies governing continuous enrollment, semester limits, and academic eligibility to determine if more options and counseling can be provided for students whose circumstances place them at risk for graduation in a timely fashion.
Advancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at CarolinaAcademic Affairs Response:This is a general issue for this section of the plan, not in response to any particular recommendation. We are concerned that one group largely left out of the Academic Plan is comprised of students who have taken a “non-‐traditional” path to college – i.e., they are not enrolling as a Birst-‐year at Carolina three or four months after graduating from high school. These students may include transfers, international students, veterans, parents, mid-‐career students, or those transitioning from part-‐time continuing education to full-‐time pursuit of a Bachelor’s Degree. Incorporation of these students is vital to the equity and inclusion that the Plan strives to achieve, and focusing on the attraction and retention of these students will signiBicantly broaden the experiences and perspectives of all those within the Carolina community.
Recording Carolina’s engagement. The Carolina Center for Public Service should gather information at regular intervals to determine the nature and extent of ongoing engaged scholarship and activities. UNC should take further steps to include engaged scholarship and engaged activities in faculty CVs for promotion and tenure reviews. Schools and departments should revise their reporting forms and evaluations to record engaged scholarship and engaged activities. The heads of these units should then report annually on signiBicant impacts of engaged scholarship projects being conducted under their purview. To enhance and streamline these efforts the
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University should consider expanding the RAMSES system to track engaged scholarship and activities proposals, funding, and outcomes.
Academic Affairs Response:While the PSS model generally works effectively, signiBicant numbers of students drop out of the PSS program each semester because they forget to log their hours during the appointed timeframe (before the end of classes, not before the end of exams, as many students assume). In addition, there is little incentive for those who have already met the minimum requirement of service hours to continue logging hours or activities. With these issues in mind, any attempt to log the amount of time those in the community spend participating in engaged scholarship must be logistically easy and accessible, and directly incentivized.
Support students’ engaged scholarship and activities. Undergraduate, graduate, and professional students conducting engaged scholarship and activities should receive incentives and support. The University should earmark competitive fellowships and awards for graduate students who have an interest in engaged scholarship and activities. Undergraduate students may require more guidance and mentoring to effectively engage with communities. The University should provide the necessary Binancial support including direct costs for pilot data. When students desire to conduct engaged scholarship or activities, they should have workshops and advisory boards that will help ensure feasibility, competence, and sustainability of the students’ projects. Students should also be encouraged to present or publish their process and results.
Academic Affairs Response:It is unclear what is meant by: “Undergraduate students may require more guidance and mentoring to engage effectively with communities. The University should provide the necessary Binancial support, including direct costs, for small pilot data.” A clearer explanation of what kind of programs are meant by this point would be helpful.
Engagement in the curriculum. A new minor in public service and engagement would provide an academic pathway to learn how to provide valuable and respectful assistance to communities. Outside of this minor the University should provide more support for classes across the curriculum that have an engaged, innovative, or entrepreneurial focus or component.
Academic Affairs Response:While a minor in public service sounds appealing, the Committee voiced concern that service and engagement should not be isolated into a particular
department or reserved for the few students who elect to complete the minor. Rather, service and engagement should be integrated into all departments and academic discipline.
North Campus Accessibility
Alex and Lily met with Bobbi Owen, Associate Dean of Undergraduate Education in the College of Arts and Sciences, to discuss the distribution of academic services among North and South Campuses. Due to extreme budget constraints, and with prospect of more cuts in the upcoming year, Academic Affairs chose to address efBiciency over the expansion of services, which is not Binancially feasible. We have focused on publicizing and developing the Writing Center. We have been in contact Kimberly Abels, the director of the Writing Center, in working to expand the hours the North Campus location holds in Greenlaw to be more accessible to students. Additionally, our committee has corresponded with the Learning Center and peer tutoring services to see if these services can be better publicized to students.
Academic Policy and Services Awareness
Lily has been working with Academic Advising, service providers such as the Writing Center and Learning Center, and Harold Woodard, Associate Dean and Director of the OfBice for Student Academic Counseling to hold an academic services fair aimed at Birst-‐year students before exams. This fair is proposed for 5 to 7 PM in Ram’s Head Plaza during a weeknight in late November, although it may not be feasible until subsequent semesters. During discussion with Dean Owen, she suggested participation from Campus Health’s Counseling and Wellness Services and Barbara Stenross, Interim Dean of Advising, in order to provide assistance for those who had been unaware of the “three exams in twenty-‐four hours” exemption rule. If such a fair cannot be implemented for Fall 2010, all service providers will be coordinated for a fair in Spring 2011.
Alex is currently working with Kim Abels, Director of the Writing Center, to improve the visibility of the Writing Center on campus, and its North Campus satellite ofBice, located in Greenlaw.
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Advising
This year, the Academic Advising Program in the College of Arts and Sciences hired Dr. Lee May as its director. The beginning of her tenure has been marked by her discussions with students and administrators to arrive at a clear understanding of the needs of various constituencies. Though not technically a part of the Academic Affairs Committee, the Student Academic Advising Board (an external appointment committee co-‐chaired by Lily Roberts) has worked with Dr. May and her colleagues to provide feedback from students. Two meetings were scheduled for the spring (one in late February and one in mid-‐April) for students from SAAB to meet with Dr. May and seven to ten advisers from the Academic Advising Program. The Birst meeting focused predominantly on the ability of the Advising Program to communicate with the students it serves, whether through traditional or nontraditional (Facebook, Twitter) methods. The April meeting will evaluate progress on the part of Academic Advising to create a social media plan and presence.
In addition, students from both Academic Affairs and SAAB attended the National Academic Advising Association (NACADA) Conference at which UNC hosted approximately two hundred advisers from throughout the state. Students were asked to discuss some of the transitional periods in their lives and educations, and offered feedback on how advisers had (or had not) assisted them with these transitions.
Other Projects
Particularly during the second semester of the year, it became apparent that students were having difBiculty obtaining ofBicial transcripts from the registrar’s ofBice; this became especially problematic when the Student Central website was ofBicially removed, thereby preventing students from using the old website for unofBicial transcripts. Lily has been in discussion with the registrar’s ofBice to determine what, if anything, can be done to improve students’ wait times after requesting transcripts (which peaked at around three weeks in the early part of spring semester). During the rest of the school year, Lily plans to discuss the possibility of creating an unofBicial transcript function on Connect Carolina, which the registrar’s ofBice believes will be the most effective solution.
During March, Academic Affairs began to discuss items from the Cooper Administration platform, particularly in terms of course evaluations. Next year’s
platform discusses the creation of standardized teaching assistant evaluations in tandem with the move towards online evaluations. In order to transition as smoothly as possible, Academic Affairs has begun to research best practices at other colleges and universities in terms of evaluation, and next year’s Committee can proceed with the project.
One thing we discussed in our committee meeting was the idea of a grading code of conduct that new faculty would receive when they entered the university. We would want this document to include ways to assess students in a fair way and how to approach grading at Carolina. We are currently in talk with the Center for Facility Excellence regarding this subject and this project will likely continue.
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The Co-Chair Perspective Lily Roberts
Working on the Academic Affairs Committee this year has been an exciting opportunity to broaden my knowledge of academic policy at UNC. After a year on the Student Academic Advising Board and a year on Academic Affairs, I was thrilled to able to pursue a wide variety of projects related to the academic experience of Carolina students. Having previously served as the co-‐chairwoman of the Environmental Affairs Committee, I have been able to transfer many of the elements of leadership and working with administrator I learned through the EAC to my work with Academic Affairs.
The most signiBicant amount of our work this year went towards providing feedback on the Academic Plan, and it was an interesting look at the long-‐range goals of the University. Academic Affairs strove to include both ideas-‐based and implementation-‐based feedback, intended to further clarify the concepts included and highlighted in the document, and to provide a basis from which to begin implementation after the Plan is formally adopted. The Plan is a ten-‐year, aspirational document, and therefore some of its recommendations may seem distant or removed from the current student body; however, it’s important to consider the effects the previous Plan had on our education, and to keep that in mind when crafting the current document. When implementation begins, the Academic Affairs committee will almost certainly be involved in some capacity, determining the most appropriate roles for students in enacting the recommendations. Therefore, it was important to focus on the issues that Academic Affairs committees will grapple with in future years.
I sat on two committees this year, the Curriculum Review Committee in the fall, and the continuing Quality Enhancement Plan Committee. Both presented me with an amazing opportunity to see into the cogs of the educational policy machine at UNC. The reBlection inherent in the QEP (which evaluates whether programs have met previously established goals), when combined with the beginnings of the implementation of the Academic Plan, provides a unique moment to look both back and ahead in terms of academic policy at the University. As these two issues continue next year, students and administrators involved in academic policy will be able to look back at what worked and what fell by the wayside, what presented signiBicant roadblocks, and what, ultimately, the most exciting additions to education at Carolina were – and what they can be in the coming years.
I enjoyed meeting with committee members and administrators throughout the year, and hearing how vastly perspectives on academic experiences differ. By the spring, our group was relatively small, but mighty, and we became an excellent focus group for brainstorming and discussing issues that emerge across campus, both in the classroom and outside of it. Academic Affairs presented me with the opportunity to hone leadership skills, work with new administrators, and spend time thinking about what some might consider pretty dorky issues – and I’m very grateful for that.
Alexander Pirro
Working as academic affairs co-‐chair this year has been a great experience. After having been on the committee my Birs year at Carolina it was very rewarding to Chair the committee my junior year. Through my time as co-‐chair I have gotten to meet a lot of great Carolina students and administrators and many people that I may have never crossed paths with.The thing I like most about academic affairs committee is meeting with administers from departments across campus I Bind it very inspiring that most every administrator really cares about the student’s wellbeing at this University and are usually eager to politic student input. Through continued work with advising we saw them change the supplemental education requirement this year which is a change that in my opinion beneBited many students. Although academic affairs my not do programs or events we spend a lot of time looking at policy and brainstorming. This year we critically evaluate the Academic Plan and made recommendation on what we thought about each aspect of the plan. I feel that though this year I further developed as a leader by learning how to interact with many different people inside of student government and really how to understand and appreciate people more.
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Arts Advocacy
Sarah [email protected]
Overview of Responsibilities
The Arts Advocacy committee is charged with helping to increase awareness of the fantastic artistic skill present on campus. The committee does this through a combination of awareness activities, self-‐sponsored events, and collaborations with artistic groups on campus.
Committee Progress
Establish a Carolina Arts Fund Taskforce
This task force will legitimize initial stages and provide direction in targeting the main areas of interest. The task force will be comprised of students, faculty, and administrators to ensure that student concerns and goals are met with feasible solutions.
So far, the steering committee has been created and has been to meeting in large monthly discussions. There are now subcommittees in existence serving to address speciBic arts-‐related needs and create recommendations for further improvements in the future.
Use the Student and Alumni Arts Crawl weekend as a venue for marketing the new fund to the participating students, alumni, and the greater Carolina community
The Arts Crawl, Carolina Creative, is in the Binal stages of its planning, and will be taking place on the week of April 2nd through April 9th. The committee is currently working to coordinate the events that will be taking place throughout the week, and the week will be an excellent opportunity to market the new fund.
Upon reaching a sustainable level, the Carolina Arts Fund will initially target individual student artists, student art organizations, and long-‐term goals of the arts community. The primary goal is to highlight the wide variety of artistic talent that exists throughout the UNC campus and celebrate their achievements.
Continue to vocalize the need for adequate, safe dance rehearsal space for the dozens of campus dance groups during the renovations on the Union underground
The committee has continued its advocacy for adequate, safe rehearsal space for dancers, especially in discussions regarding renovations in the bottom of the union and during the Arts Innovation Steering Committee meetings. Furthermore, a speciBic group of students serving on the Arts Advocacy Committee are researching into potential solutions for some of these issues and will report back to the committee in coming months.
Work to discover untapped or underdeveloped talent on campus
We are currently working as a committee to acknowledge opportunities and resources on campus. As we continue with this, we hope to increase the general awareness of the opportunities. We also hope to work on integrating untapped and under-‐developed talent on campus.
Bring both alumni and students together for the formal introduction of the Carolina Arts Fund during a closing art gala.
Carolina Creative (the arts festival) is currently in its Binal stages of being planned. There should be a closing gala for alumni and students on Saturday, April 9th.
Update the student government website with relevant information about the application process, deadlines, and other sources of artistic funding that become available
Increasing the presence of relevant information on the student government website is a crucial goal for us that will be taken into account once the arts fund is further along in the creation process.
Work with art organizations and departments to increase awareness of funding opportunities
Currently, several efforts are underway to create communication infrastructure within the arts communities and to promote intercommunication. We hope that these will facilitate increasing awareness for the funding opportunities as well as generate interest in the Arts Crawl.
Ensure that the Arts Grants are publicized during annual the Arts Crawl
The Arts Grants will be an integral part of the Arts Crawl, and the promotion of them will be heavily integrated into both the planning and execution phases of the Arts Crawl.
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Host student art forums
The Arts Advocacy committee has been in contact with the Undergraduate Music Forum; however, no events have been planned at this point with them. Additionally, the Arts Innovation Steering Committee has largely replaced student arts forums as a venue through which arts issues can be discussed and addressed.
The Co-Chair Perspective
Ben Neal
I am extremely excited to be one of the co-‐chairs on the committee this year. Because of the development of the Arts Fund, this year is particularly exciting for the arts community. The fund will be a lasting and integral part of UNC’s arts community in the future, and I am very happy to be a part of it. Beyond the Arts Fund, I see much potential in several of our other projects to create lasting change on campus. We have created a free-‐expression wall which will be ready for use during Carolina Creative, and I have been working with the Global University Committee as well as the Study Abroad OfAice to create a photography techniques and ethical photography workshop for the beneAit of students going abroad in the Summer and Fall. It has also been excellent to be paired with Sarah as a co-‐chair. Since we come from very different art Aields, our bases of knowledge have complimented one another quite well, and I feel that we have been able to tackle the projects presented to us from several angles and perspectives.
Sarah McGuire
The Arts Advocacy Committee this year has proven to be a driven and dedicated group of students with the wide variety of vested interests in the arts. Their ability to work well with each other and with the art community on and off campus has allowed us to fulBill many of the platform points. Ben and I also have varying interests and backgrounds within the arts community, which has helped to guide our committee. This year we have accomplished so much! To name a few, we have built a mobile free expression wall, created a large body of research on the creation of a dance minor, and most importantly coordinated Carolina Creative, an arts celebration week.
Environmental Affairs
Sara [email protected] Sara [email protected] Will Leimenstoll [email protected] Overview of Responsibilities:
This year we have decided to structure the committee in a similar way to last year’s committee. By breaking the group into 5 subcommittees, it is easier for a large committee to develop innovate ways to approach various projects relating to the platform. These subcommittees are campus collaboration, recycling, institutional sustainability, sustainable dining and green businesses, and energy management. By creating topics that students can choose from to work closely with, the committee uses its meeting time more efBiciently and provides for small groups to work together on innovative projects.
Committee Progress:
RecycleMania
Anna Gustines, Anna Langley, Sara Rafalson, Kaitlin Finan and Megan Gyoerkoe have collaborated with Brittany Dickinson from the PR Team to discuss a recycling awareness campaign. Since UNC is competing in the nation-‐wide Recyclemania contest, EAC decided to campaign around that. We have collaborated with Carolina Dining Services who agreed to publicize the contest via napkin dispensers, TV screens, and a banner. An event on March 23 in Rams Head and Lenoir in which we will collect odd items such as batteries, ink cartridges, CD’s, and cell phone chargers was also being planned. SWEAT, another student group, is also tackling waste reduction and recycling issues. They will help us with volunteer labor during the event. Orange County Recycling will also be there to help with education and outreach to students.
America Recycles Day
EAC co-‐sponsored America Recycles Day with the OfBice of Waste Reduction and Recycling on November 15, 2010 to raise awareness and education about recycling on and off campus. EAC tabled alongside the OfBice of Waste Reduction and Recycling, the Sustainability OfBice, Greek Sustainability Council, Epsilon Eta, and Orange County Recycling.
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Megan Gyoerkoe did outreach to student groups through the Campus Collab listserv to invite them to the event. Ashley Wilkes and Matt Givens did the public relations, including a Union cube and a Union TV screen. Ashley Casteel coordinated the volunteers such as Ariane Nabors, Samantha Paulin, Danny Allen, Brittany Newman, Anna Langley, Kaitlin Finan, and Rachel Kaufmann. EAC volunteers were in charge of recycling relay races, the trash-‐talking wheel of fun trivia game, and a corrugated cardboard frisbee toss. We gave away prizes from our cosponsors from the Recycling OfBice, including bottle openers made from recycled materials, tshirts, reusable grocery bags, and frisbees made from recycled bottles and jugs. In all, the event raised awareness in the campus community about recycling practices on and off campus.
Game Day Challenge and Football Recycling
EAC began its work with the tailgate recycling program, Rameses Recycles, over the summer through a collaboration with Carolina Athletics Association (CAA), UNC Sport Clubs, and the OfBice of Waste Reduction and Recycling. CAA helped with marketing and promotion while the Sports Club athletes provide the bulk of the volunteer work by handing out the trash and recycling bags to tailgaters before the games. SEAC, one of the environmental groups, has also occasionally helped by providing volunteers to staff the outreach tables in Tar Heel Town.
EAC decided to help raise awareness for tailgate recycling at the Game Day Challenge, an EPA sponsored college football recycling competition on October 30, 2010. We had a booth with information about recycling and the challenge. We also walked around to encourage recycling. Additionally, we set-‐up composting in the Chancellor’s box and began working with vendors to compost food waste after the games. More than 75 colleges and universities nationwide participated in the friendly competition, including four North Carolina campuses and ten ACC schools. Here's how we measured up: *Per Capita Waste Generation: No. 23 nationwide; No. 1 in North Carolina (0.345 lb/person); No.2 in the ACC *Diversion Rate: No. 20 nationwide; No.1 in North Carolina (39.06%); No. 2 in the ACC *Per Capita Greenhouse Gas Reduction: No. 39 (0.000230 MTCO2E/person); No. 3 in North Carolina; No. 9 in the ACC *Per Capita Recycling: No. 42 (0.103 lb/person); No. 4 in North Carolina; No. 9 in the ACC *Per Capita Organics Reduction: No. 7 in nation (0.031 lb/person); No. 2 in North Carolina; No. 2 in the ACC
Full results and standings can be found here: http://www.epa.gov/wastes/partnerships/wastewise/challenge/gameday/results.htm. These results show the success that the tailgate program has had in its pilot here, and we hope that we can use these Bindings to look for ways to improve the tailgate program in the future.
Dean Smith Center Recycling and Athletics Recycling
After a successful meeting with Sara Rafalson, Megan Gyoerkoe, Brandon Finch, Hogan Medlin, Dick Baddour and Clint Gwaltney, Athletics made signiBicant strides to increase their recycling program. Dick Baddour asked us to put it in the record that UNC Athletics will always listen to student leaders and look forward to collaborating with us more in the future. We are grateful for this collaboration with Athletics.
Immediately after our meeting, Athletics decided to put in an initial 36 bins from Kenan Stadium to use at the home game against NC State.The Smith Center will be ordering their own bins soon, however, and we are currently in the process of negotiating contracts for possible sponsors. A sponsor would not only provide the bins, but also fund an education and outreach campaign. We also talked about increasing signage around the concourse and at the vendors’ stations so fans are a) aware that there are new recycling bins b) what they can and can’t recycle. Recycling is more about just placing the bins out there, it also needs to be accompanied by an education campaign to be successful, so we’ll also eventually be working with Rick Steinbacher to discuss more of the marketing piece. Because of our efforts, there are announcements made throughout the stadium before every game about the new recycling program.
After a review of old March reports, we found that Smith Center recycling has been an EAC agenda item for 8 years, so we are very grateful that we were able to make it happen this year with the help of our partners at UNC Athletics and CAA. In addition to the Smith Center, we received word from Clint Gwaltney that Athletics is currently assessing the recycling at Boshamer and Carmichael.We submitted recycling guidelines for Clint to consider (they include things like make sure a bin is always placed next to a trash can, make sure the lids are clean, etc). We look forward to increasing this partnership in future administrations.
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Granville Recycling
Committee members Megan Gyoerkoe and Anna Langley have been in communication with Housing Support and the Granville Community Directors in order to establish a recycling program at Granville. Currently there are outdoor carts for bins, but no handheld recycling baskets for students to use to store their recyclables, which means most students do not recycle from their dorms. After meeting with the Granville and Housing representatives, they agreed to have Housekeeping pick up the recycling from each dorm as they also pick up the trash. The only barrier to the Granville recycling program is the lack of funding. Since Granville is only partially owned by the university, there has been no budgetary allocation for the purchase of recycling bins. Anna Langley compiled a report with information on different bin and bag companies, comparing their prices to the quote that Housing Support gave us. Anna Langley and Sara Rafalson met with Kelly Stasko of the UNC Chapel Hill Foundation in December. They initially agreed to fund the bins, but after winter break, they decided to focus their funding priorities on CCI printing. They seemed optimistic for fall semester, however, and we will follow up with them at the end of the semester again to make sure they follow-‐up on their goal and so we can see how we can help. Prices for a bin in every room are currently estimated at between $4500 and $5500.
Environmental Round table/Campus Collaboration
UNC has an extensive variety of environment-‐related student groups on campus that are working on various projects related to the university. An important role for the EAC is to facilitate communication between these groups to allow more efBicient use of resources and avoid project overlap between different organizations EAC currently maintains a Campus Collaboration listserv comprised of the ofBicers of every sustainability-‐related club on campus. We used this listserv to invite student leaders to the Carolina Green Sustainability Social that we co-‐sponsored with the Institute for the Environment and the Sustainability OfBice during the Week of Welcome. During this event, speakers came from a variety of sustainability-‐related departments and student organizations to give a brief description of their projects and their organizations’ respective missions. It also provided time for representatives from sustainability related groups to eat local hor d'oeuvres and network with interested students looking to get more involved in the campus environmental community.
EAC held two environmental round tables this year with environmental group student leaders.During the Birst round table in October, environmental leaders expressed concerns regarding their lack of representation on Collegiate Link and student
affairs websites, thus hindering recruitment. Sara Rafalson talked to Jon Curtis who agreed to add a “Sustainability” category to the website to more directly link students interested in environmental issues to a proper student group. We held our second environmental round table of the school year on February 24th. The leaders of the prominent campus environmental groups (with the exception of SWEAT) were present. We discussed all of the environmental groups upcoming events to avoid overlap and encourage collaboration. We are presented other opportunities for announcements and questions as well as opportunities to work together to plan environmental events. We also discussed Earth Week planning and logistics. Katie Dryden and Brittany Newman turned the notes from the evening into a post for the stud gov blog.
EAC will Binish the school year by coordinating Earth Week activities for student groups, departments, and other participants. We decided to have earth week events on the Friday before Earth Week (4/15) and Monday 4/18 to Thursday 4/21. Emily Chapin will be the liaison between EAC and the Sustainability OfBice and has reserved the Pit and the Quad for April 15-‐21 for Earth Week festivities. Sustainability OfBice also revealed an opportunity for student groups to submit grants requests for up to $500 for their Earth Week events, and our role has been to promote this opportunity to other student groups.
We have also been the student voice in the newly revived environmental outreach task force which is comprised of various sustainability administrators. This outreach group is tasked with coordinating campus-‐wide environmental events.
Sustainable Dining
We met with Melissa Tinling from FLO foods about how we can Bit in this year to help promote the platform point of working with CDS to promote sustainable dining and the use of a ‘real food calculator’. The subcommittee discussed talking to members of the dining board about promoting sustainable dining. One EAC member served as the student government member of the CDS/FLO bi-‐weekly meetings regarding sustainable dining.
Members working on sustainable dining decided that a main goal for the year was to work with FLO to draft a letter to the chancellor about increasing sustainable dining on campus. They hoped to get a lot of professors as well as student groups to sign off on the letter. CEFS started a program for Universities to commit to a percentage of student dining local and sustainable and NC State signed off on it. The goal of the letter was to suggest that UNC reach 10% ‘real food’ by 2020. This ‘real food’ calculation involves various aspects such as food that is sustainable, human, local, fair, etc.
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However, during this writing process, members of FLO and EAC were already talking to Carolina Dining Services (CDS) about this issue. As a result of FLO with the help of EAC, CDS committed to the 10% campaign.
Composting
Will Leimenstoll and committee member Megan Gyoerkoe met with BJ Tipton of the ofBice of Waste Reduction & Recycling to discuss composting at the Union and Alpine. BJ already talked with Scott Meyers of Carolina Dining Services to discuss how to allow Alpine to compost behind the counter, and have this composting taken out to the same company that deals with Carolina Dining Services’ composting. She did however inform us that as of right now we will not be able to add composting in other areas of the Union for students to use directly. She was hopeful though that over the next few years we may be able to expand composting to the Daily Grind coffee shop as well as the coffee shop at the Fedex Global Center. In December, Will Leimenstoll heard from Paul Hartley (manager of Alpine) and BJ Tipton that composting behind the counter had successfully begun at Alpine Bagel Co. in the Union! This was a project Will had spent a fair amount of time on late in the fall semester trying to coordinate between the Alpine workers, Carolina Dining Services, and the OfBice of Waste Reduction & Recycling. CDS was already dropping its composting off in the basement of the union to be picked up by Brooks Contracting, so it seemed like it would be easy to add Alpine’s compostable waste to this common composting location and we’re so excited that it has Binally happened! Now we have written thank you notes to BJ Tipton, Paul Hartley, and Scott Meyers, our 3 liaisons on this project. We sincerely thank BJ Tipton, Scott Myers, and Paul Hartley for their hard work and collaboration on this project.
Will spoke with Paul in early March, and he told him how composting was working very well in the back room during preparation of foods, however behind the counter in the line it was harder to institute, so he planned to start fresh with that with new employees at the start of next year. The line has to be very quick and efBicient to deal with the heavy customer trafBic, so this makes perfect sense, however Will will follow up with Paul throughout the summer to make sure he continues to do this.
Greek Composting
EAC met with members of the Greek Sustainability Council in November to discuss how to best go about setting up composting for Greek houses. It was a very successful meeting that ended with us agreeing to move responsibility for this project to the GSC, which they wanted, however the three EAC members who were working on the project are also on the GSC, which should facilitate a fast
and smooth transition. Next, Will met with ZTA president, Carly Buch, and KD member, Emily Bowe, at the ZTA house with Amy Brooks of Brooks Contracting. Brooks Contracting does the composting for CDS and other locations at UNC and in Chapel Hill. Now we’re hoping that at least KD, ZTA, and PiKapp will set up composting in their kitchens and contract with Brooks to get their compost taken on a weekly basis. This is the Birst Greek composting program at UNC and therefore Brooks is considering giving us a discounted rate to help get it off the ground. This program has the potential to divert thousands of pounds of food waste from the Orange county landBill every year, which will save landBill space and also reduce methane emissions. We also think this program would educate hundreds of UNC students about the beneBits of composting. Currently the project is simply on hold for monetary reasons. If Binances can be worked out the project should be ready to go. Students involved in the project are hopeful that a trial run could be started as early as April, and then a more permanent system could be put into place in the fall.
Energy Management
EAC, headed by Matt Givens, completed the energy conservation video that we began during the Jones Administration. The video was created for CTOPS to show students where we get our energy, what UNC is doing to improve energy efBiciency, and what students can do to conserve energy.
We have also done several energy awareness events throughout the year. At EnergyFest, an OCUQ community, we had a table. At the table, we quizzed student on energy facts and presented ways to save energy in your dorm room. A lot of students were receptive to the quiz and learned about interesting ways to save energy. In the fall, Energy Management created an RA board about what the University is doing to save energy ans what students can do in their dorm room to conserve. This spring, we sent it out to Green Games coordinators as well as Community Directors, and many RA’s used the template to earn Green Games points.
We also put on a bar night with Sierra Student Coalition called “Save the Ales” at Nightlight to increase awareness of issues raised with global climate change. With a ‘Save the Ales’ event, we raised awareness of these issues and raised money for PowerShift scholarships. Through this event, we not only helped raise money so students can go to Powershift, a student energy conference in DC, we also raised awareness of the problems with current energy use and increased greenhouse gas emissions.
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Bike Share
In October, Danny Allen, a member of the Environmental Affairs Committee, and Akhil Jariwala, a member of the Roosevelt Institute, joined up to head an effort to create a bike share program at UNC. A group of interested students (including several EAC members) assembled to start making the idea of a bike share on campus a reality. Much progress has been made so far in solidifying a plan for the initial start-‐up, gauging interest, and identifying funding sources. Probably the most important work the group has done is to gather a wide collection of contacts and leads -‐-‐ people who are passionate about a bike share and who have valuable resources available to us. The group has met with the Residence Hall Association, Campus Recreation, Student Body President-‐elect Mary Cooper, and many other individuals and groups that would be instrumental in instituting a bike share program. Most reactions we received have been very positive. As of now, the group has decided on a plan that incorporates a One Card swiping system at existing residence hall enhancements and other swiping stations, including Fetzer Gym, the SRC, etc. Bikes would be at racks at these locations and students would pay a Blat initial registration fee for usage throughout the year, swiping the bikes out when they need them.
In the coming weeks the group will have written a formal and detailed plan for the bike share. Once this is completed, it must be sent to the appropriate entities for approval and submitted for funding. This project is one that requires a solid foundation to allow for future success, so creating a comprehensive plan that Bits UNC and its campus well is essential.
Transportation Plan
The recently released transportation plan that would increase parking fees, and transportation related student fees has been controversial. We hope to have a voice in shaping it so that it is more forward thinking with regards to increasing multi-‐modal transportation rather than just charging more for parking without giving any new, stronger alternatives.
To understand the plan better Will attended the transportation forum at the Upendo Lounge in SASB in order to get a better idea of what the new 5-‐year transportation plan entails. The meeting was very interesting and informative, and Will raised questions mostly about the $9 per semester blanket fee that all students would be charged for parking on campus at night. This charge would be made regardless of whether the student has a car or not, and additionally it would be charged of Birst year students who are not even allowed to bring cars to campus. This point was raised, and the transportation representatives said they were most likely not going to charge Birst-‐year students this fee, as long as they can work out the Binances. From a sustainability standpoint, this fee presents no incentive to avoid driving to campus after 5 during the week or on weekends, which is something the university should be trying to discourage if we want to
accomplish our goal of carbon neutrality by 2050. Issues of safety and seeking to make sure the campus was accessible to all at night were raised as the main reasons for not wanting to discourage driving to campus at night. Information was passed on to help him formulate his stance towards the plan in time for the next board of trustees meeting. EAC had a discussion about the positives and negatives of the recent transportation plan. Will also met with Hogan to discuss the plan. Overall, the consensus was that we need to come up with a cohesive constructive argument to give to Hogan so he can speak on behalf of the students at the next Board of Trustees meeting. That argument has been boiled down to 2 main points: 1. We want for this increase to come with some kind of visible and measurable addition of a service to students. This would not have to be proportionate to the increased costs, but adding something like the bike-‐share by increasing a fee by $1 may make the plan more palatable to students. 2. The transportation plan needs to be more holistic and long term in its vision. This plan is simply a band-‐aid solution that does not think long-‐range with the environmental issues of our school’s upcoming carbon neutrality in sight. It also does not think equitably in that, if we were focused on making Carolina as equitable as possible we would be doing everything we could to limit cars on campus because many people cannot afford to own a car.
Endowment Transparency
Every year, UNC is assessed on how well it is doing with regards to sustainability. In the past, we have used the Sustainable Endowments Institute Report Card. Every year, we have done very well in all categories but received an F in endowment transparency. The UNC Management Company, a private company, manages our endowment and we have very little knowledge as to where money is being invested. Because it is an important part of being sustainable to invest in sustainable business, this is a problem for our report card grade. As we are moving to the AASHE Stars report card, a more speciBic assessment that is becoming the standard sustainability report card for Universities, our scores will continue to suffer because of our lack of endowment transparency. In addition, we would like to know that the endowments from our University are going into sound and sustainable business and not funding unsustainable practices.
After speaking with members of The Roosevelt Institute and Sierra Student Coalition, we started by helping them promote a petition to raise awareness of the issue. The petition was to ask the Chancellor to work with UNC Management Company to create an advisory committee to make suggestions about what to invest in. This would also include a green revolving loan fund to help support renewable projects at UNC. A revolving loan fund would provide money from our endowment to invest in renewable energy and energy efBiciency projects on
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campus. The money saved from energy savings because of these initiatives would then be invested back in the endowments. Several Universities all over the country have begun Revolving Loan funds, which have been very successful and proBitable. After speaking with UNC energy management, they have identiBied several energy Bixes to improve efBiciency or add renewable energy that could be done with a relatively small start up fund. These Bixes would then save the University thousands of dollars that could then be added to our endowment. However, there are roadblocks that must be dealt with regards to our energy budget from the state, which would decrease if we use signiBicantly less energy, preventing that money from being invested back in the University. We then brought the issue of endowment transparency and a green revolving loan fund to Hogan Medlin. Chancellor Thorpe is on the UNC Management Company Board and felt that getting a meeting with him through Hogan would be a good Birst step. Cameron Smith and Jason Dunn met with Hogan Medlin, Paul Shorkey, Stewart Boss, and Will Bondurant about endowment transparency issues and ways to move forward. The students met with the Chancellor who agreed to the idea of the green revolving loan fund. After, these students, as well as Chris Lazinski of the Roosevelt Institute, presented to the Sustainability Advisory Committee (SAC) about issues raised with the Green Revolving Loan Fund and endowment transparency. They agreed to create a task force for the green revolving loan fund which will be comprised of faculty, staff, trustees, and interested students.
It will take several years and a lot of work and research, and we will have to change some state energy utility laws, but several younger committee members have agreed to work on this project for the next few years.
EcoReps
EcoReps is an organization that began in the summer of 2010 with money from RESPC to fund two interns to organize the program. It came from meetings with energy management and the sustainability ofBice with students, including Sara M, last year. The objective of the program is to recruit Birst years and require them to go through a series of trainings and tours that involve several aspects of sustainability at UNC. To be certiBied as an EcoRep, these students must complete certain requirements that give them information about what UNC is doing in the realm of sustainability. These students would then be able to teach other students and staff through presentations and walking tours of campus. After the interns organized a training with approximately 8 Birst years in the Fall of 2010, they dropper off leaving the EcoReps without much guidance to complete trainings and begin presentations. After speaking with Cindy Shea, Sara M. decided that it may be beneBicial to incorporate EcoReps as a subcommittee of EAC in order to provide guidance and get the group off the ground.
Sara M. had a meeting with the current Ecoreps to talk about leadership and incorporating Ecoreps as a subcommittee. Ecoreps, which now consists of four old members and 6 new EAC members, has a mission of learning about sustainability and how it related to UNC and then teaching others on campus about these issues. We have split up different aspects of sustainability into modules and each member (or groups of two) will be in charge of “teaching” that aspect. This will be done by obtaining educational material (ex. getting sustainability materials from Brian Cain) or by setting up a tour (ex. Tour of cogeneration facility). These “lessons” will be open to all of EAC and will generally be done during meeting times. This way, the entire EAC, who represents environmental affairs on campus, will have more of an opportunity to be experts in sustainability on campus. The EcoReps goal this semester, after learning about each aspect of sustainability, is to create a ~10 minute powerpoint presentation about what UNC is doing as far as sustainability and what students can do to get involved as well as tips on conserving, recycling, etc. Once done, they will ask different non-‐environmental and environmental related student groups to have about 10 minutes of a groups meeting and begin going to student group meetings throughout campus. They will present this to students and with their knowledge of sustainability they have acquired as Ecoreps, will be able to answer any questions the groups have. The purpose of this is to get involved students, especially those that have no knowledge of sustainability initiatives on campus, more interested in what the university is doing and to get students thinking about the importance of conserving energy, recycling, reducing carbon footprint, etc. The EcoReps contacted someone in each department and plan on setting up a tour or information session in each category. Kierra Peak met with Sally Hoyt (Stormwater Engineer and Manager for Non-‐Potable Water Utility). Nick met with representatives from transportation (Clair Kane) and food (Meredith Rountree). Amberli visited the OWASA facility. Ariane, Sara M, and Emily Chapin went on a high performance building tour with Brian Cain. Cameron and several other EAC members went on a tour of the Cogeneration Facility by members of Energy Management.
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Publicity
This year, EAC worked to create a stronger awareness and presence on campus so students could have a better idea of projects EAC is working on if interested. We created an EAC facebook and Twitter account. We have been tweeting and posting environmental events on campus, updates on our projects, and links to our blog posts.Facebook: UNC Environmental AffairsTwitter: UNC_EACWe have also posted several blog posts for the Student Government blog.We are also in the process of creating a new website and have created a new EAC logo.
Institutional Sustainability/Green Events
Throughout the year, the institutional sustainability group sought to increase the use and popularity of hosting green events, and initially tried to look into the chemicals used by UNC housekeeping staff. We discussed investigating the chemicals used by the housekeeping staff, trying to increase the use of compostable materials, as well as increasing the use of composting, and trying to Bind grants to increase renewable energy production on campus. We had a committee member contact UNC housekeeping, who forwarded him to the sustainability ofBice, however said committee member eventually dropped the committee due to time constraints so this project basically stopped. The institutional sustainability group discussed ways to increase the use and popularity of hosting green events. The institutional sustainability group hosted Christina Lynch at our general EAC body meeting in october so all EAC members could obtain green events certiBication. Within the institutional sustainability subcommittee we also had members contact a lot of different student groups about getting their leaders green event certiBied. Different people in the subcommittee contact different campus organizations as their “green event liaison” so that they can be helpful in the green event process. We also discussed ways to incentivize green events other than just the good press they bring to an organization. We want to try to team up with the DTH to provide additional publicity for green events vs. average events. Overall the Green Event program has gone has basically gone mainstream, and is quickly becoming the norm, especially for Greek events. This is very exciting, and we hope to work on increasing green event standards in the future since students have been so receptive to the idea thus far.
The Co-Chair Perspectives
Sara Mishamandani
I had a blast working with the Environmental Affairs Committee this year. I really like the collaborative nature of EAC and how we are able to work on multiple projects with several organizations. Most of our projects started because of work in other organizations or required help by other groups to accomplish tasks. Sitting on the Sustainability Advisory Committee as well as working with the UNC Sustainability ofBice also allowed us to collaborate with staff and faculty. I was able to learn a lot about the environment and sustainability throughout the year, especially with regards to UNC’s efforts to be more sustainable on an administrative level. I also learned a lot about the importance to student participation in this process and the beneBits of teaching students about sustainability initiatives which, in turn, can provide ways for them to live more sustainable. It was interesting how goals changed throughout the year and how opportunities presented themselves beyond the Hogan Administration platform points. Because of our collaboration efforts, we were able to work on a wide variety of projects and make a lot of progress with regards to environmental affairs on campus. Our members were creative and excited about projects and being involved was a lot of fun.
Will Leimenstoll
Being EAC co-‐chair was one of the best experiences of my sophomore year. Not only did it give me the opportunity to improve environmental issues on campus, but it also gave me the opportunity to act as a mentor for younger students who were just learning how to move through the campus bureaucracy. My proudest accomplishment in this position is getting Alpine to begin composting as well as helping inspire some of our students to make a subcommittee working on creating a bike-‐share program here at UNC.
In addition I feel that the co-‐chair system is extremely effective because it allows for “cross-‐mentoring” as each co-‐chair has strengths and weaknesses. I know for a fact I could never have accomplished so much, learned so much, or had as much fun. We all three were able to use our own strengths to accomplish more than any of us could have done alone. In addition I learned tremendous amounts from both Saras, as well as my committee members. Being an EAC co-‐chair has truly been my favorite extracurricular experience at UNC, and it is somewhat depressing to see it end.
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Sara Rafalson
As the Administration comes to a close, I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to work as the EAC co-‐chair this school year. I’ve enjoyed every minute that I’ve prioritized environmentalism over my homework (and using EAC to procrastinate homework). Serving as EAC co-‐chair has allowed just about every minute of my school year to be what we call an “environmental geek moment.”
My favorite part of EAC has been seeing the development of our committee’s environmental leaders. I feel so inspired by the work that our committee members have done this semester. Generally, our committee is very young, and I think it is amazing that these students could have such a lasting impact in such a short time. I’m so proud of all of our hard work. This year we were able to accomplish so much, and I am so impressed with our progress. Not only were we able to complete every platform point that we sought to accomplish, but we were able to channel our creativity into other projects such as the green revolving loan fund and the bike share. I hope that our committee members stick with student government, and I can’t wait to hear about the great things that they do during future administrations.
I think one of the biggest lessons I’ve learned in my years in the environmental community at UNC is just how powerful the student voice is. In many cases, I think students have more of a say than they realize, and often an even larger role than faculty and staff in fostering institutional change.I hope that students continue to develop innovate ideas at Carolina to truly think globally and act locally. We really do have the power to make a difference.
Global University
McKay Roozen [email protected]
Overview of Responsibilities
The Global University committee is charged with working with students and administrators to enhances Carolina’s international offerings and reputation through programs and policies.
Committee Progress
Establishing the Admissions Ambassador Abroad Program:
Quite a bit of progress has been made in this area. We have met with representatives from UNC Global, the OfBice of Undergraduate Admissions, Study Abroad, UNC Global Development, the Gillings School of Global Public Health and the Center for Global Initiatives. All parties have been interested in the project and are willing to support in any way they can. We have come to the decision that AAA would be housed in admissions and that the application would appear to all students when they submit their study abroad application.
In all of these meetings we have identiBied the following as logistical issues that need to be addressed: the training and selection for the Ambassadors, targeting transfer and graduate students and accurately portraying the advantages of the liberal-‐arts education.
Through all this communication, alumni have been targeted as important factors to this project and we have already established contact with alumnus in Singapore and Hong Kong. The next step is to further establish contact with alumni and to research target schools in London, Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo and Beijing and establish contact with admissions representatives at the schools.
In the second half of the semester, we have worked to identify a current Admissions Ambassador who is studying abroad and willing to participate in the program. After locating such an Ambassador in Hong Kong, we have matched them up with several alumni in the area and they will present to one of the international high schools this semester.
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Establishing collaboration among international organizations:
The committee members have created a database of internationally focused organizations on campus. This includes all student groups who in some way have a global focus and their contact information. From this information, we will invite all groups to be a part of a collaborative group which will bring them all together. This will be done through a collaborative listserv so that groups can more easily publicize their events and combine resources and event attendees
Establishing a Gap Year Taskforce:
The committee has been working closely with Conor Farese who is heading up Gap Year initiative through the OfBice of Undergraduate Admissions as well through a Gap Year community. As of now, the Taskforce has been working on creating a peer advising program and a website on the Admissions website which would include testimonials of students and parents and FAQ. The peer advising program will give prospective Gap Year students a chance to talk with Gap Year students at UNC. The Taskforce has already established a Gap Year Fellowship which will be run through the Campus Y and will fund students in their Gap Year initiatives. The members of the Global University committee who are focusing on this will particularly focus on technological development of the Gap Year website, structuring the scholarship as well as any research which will be relevant for the project.
International Students In the spring semester, the committee has been focusing tremendous energy on international student outreach. After reaching out to various groups on campus who have a vested interest in the international student population, we began creating a handbook for students to provide them with more information about UNC and life in Chapel Hill. We also held a forum and sent out surveys to get a better idea for what students want to see in a handbook. As of March, we are in the process of writing and compiling all this information and in April we will create a single document that can be viewed on prominent websites around campus. The committee is also in the process of creating a video for international students. This will give international students a perspective on what UNC looks like and what the school is all about.
The Chair Prospective
McKay Roozen
This semester has been a successful one for the Committee and we have made tremendous progress notably on our international student outreach. I have learned so much about the needs of international students and have realized that they many problems can be Bixed with a simple handbook or video. In regards to the Admissions Ambassador Abroad program, I am happy to see that it has progressed to this point and hope to say that the Ambassador will be able to present to a school by the end of the year. I believe both projects are extremely important to the university and hope that future co-‐chairs will continue to be their champions in the future.
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Greek Affairs
Jamison [email protected]
Kaitlyn [email protected]
Overview of Responsibilities
The Greek Affairs committee serves as a bridge between the Greek system on campus and Student Government. In this role, they help the Greek system advocate and raise awareness for issues of importance and educate chapters on University policies and concerns.
Committee Progress
Create a Publicity/Communication chair for communication between OFSL, Student Government, and Greeks
After meeting with Jenny Levering and Kayte Frye we decided, based on their suggestion, not to add a Publicity/Communication chair. They thought this was unnecessary as they (Jenny, Kayte, and the rest of the OFSL) could communicate directly with the Co-‐Chairs of the Greek Affairs Committee (Kaitlyn and Jamison) and felt that adding an additional person would only complicate communication between the groups.
Having taken another look at this platform point in the spring, the Greek Affairs Committee suggests that, once all of the vacant positions in the OfBice of the Fraternity and Sorority Life are Billed, this platform point be reevaluated. This platform point may be necessary or desired under the organizational structure proposed by the Cooper Administration and thus the new Greek Affairs Co-‐Chairs should seek to determine whether the idea of having publicity/communication chair should be pursued.
Greek Affairs Committee and Student Legal Services (SLS) team together for responsibility and risk overview—outline legal rights and responsibilities
The success of the ‘Know Your Rights’ event that the Greek Affairs Committee held along with Student Legal Services created a precedent that should be repeated in future years. There are also many different ways in which the new GAC Co-‐Chairs can improve this event which include garnering more participation from all 4 of the Greek Councils, teaming up with the Safety
Committee in Student Government for a more comprehensive presentation, and making better use of the publicity department in the Events Planning OfBice.
The ‘Know Your Rights’ Seminar was successful in large part due to Dorothy Bernholz, Director of Student Legal Services, and one of her colleagues and former local police ofBicer Matt Sullivan. Both Mrs. Bernholz and OfBicer Sullivan aided the Greek Affairs Committee in presenting a series of skits to the Greek students in attendance that revealed common misconceptions in the students’ belief of how they should interact with police and Alcohol Law Enforcement as well as misconceptions pertaining to their legal rights and responsibilities. The Q&A session held after the skits were performed allowed students to directly ask Mrs. Bernholz and OfBicer Sullivan questions they had about their legal rights and was beneBicial to all in attendance. In an effort to reach as many Greek students as possible, Kaitlyn and Jamison obtained funding to make ‘Know Your Rights’ wallet-‐sized cards for all of the representatives in attendance at the event to distribute to their chapter. The cards listed the major rights and responsibilities of students and outlined how students should handle dealing with police if a situation occurs. Dorothy Bernholz was the source of the information that was presented on the cards and still possesses the remaining cards leftover from the event for any students that want them and for Greek Affairs Committee to reference again next year in order to reproduce the cards.
Greek Week Implementation
Greek Week is organized and implemented by the Greek Week Steering Committee which is selected by the OFSL. The Greek Affairs Committee is still offering assistance to the steering committee and has given input on some of the planned events for the week. Since this is only the second year that Greek Week will occur since it was brought back, the steering committee seems to be looking for ways on how to improve Greek Week. The planning stages start during the summer before Greek Week is to be held and, although the steering committee has not requested much help from GAC this year, this is an area where the committee can offer assistance in various manners—including promoting participation from all Greek organizations.
Provide Meeting and Advertising Space for Greeks
The Greek Affairs Committee researched the needs of Greek organizations at the beginning of the school year through a survey and the most common response was additional meeting and advertising space. During the fall semester the OFSL
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teamed up with Granville Towers to provide additional living and meeting space for Greek chapters without houses to use. Kaitlyn and Jamison looked for ways that chapters could advertise their events, especially philanthropic events, without encroaching upon the rights of other students and still reaching a large number of students. With the increasing use of social networking websites such as Facebook and Twitter to advertise for events, we decided not to pursue Binding more physical space for Greek organizations. Instead, we are currently promoting the use of online advertising and the use of the ‘Events Calendar’ page on the website Student Government is developing for this purpose.
The Co-Chair Perspectives
Jamison Carpenter and Kaitlyn Barnes
Despite the departure of Jenny Levering and Kayte Frye, the Greek Affairs Committee feels that it made progress by coordinating with others to help promote the Greek community in a positive light. By holding the ‘Know Your Rights’ Seminar, the GAC was able to help students in Greek organizations stay safe and out of legal trouble which is something that has plagued the Greek community in recent years. Furthermore, we feel that providing assistance to other student groups (such as the Safety Committee) that shared aligned goals with the GAC was beneBicial to everyone involved and should be continued in the future. We would like to stress the importance of establishing a good relationship with the new staff of the OFSL and seeking their guidance in how the Greek Affairs Committee can be most efBicient in helping Greek students with their needs.
Multicultural Affairs and Diversity Outreach
Wevine [email protected]
Jagir [email protected]
Overview of Responsibilities
The Multicultural Affairs and Diversity Outreach committee celebrates and supports Carolina’s diverse student body. In this role, they put on events and programs to raise awareness of our societal diversity and push for more inclusive University policies.
Commi%ee Progress
“I’m a Tarheel” Video- Create a video to highlight the diverse identities within the Carolina community.
An overarching theme for MADO this year is to broaden the deBinition of diversity in order to transform it into a term that is more inclusive. This is one of the reasons we decided to change the name of our committee from Minority Affairs to Multicultural Affairs. In an effort to help people realize diversity within their own lives, we are created a video with the help of students and the MADO committee. The concept comes from the similar video that is played at halftime during football games. Participants express the identity they are most comfortable with and end with “and I’m a Tarheel.” The idea is that diversity comes in different forms whether it is nationality, race, religion, or even major. However despite our differences we all still share a similarity because we are Tarheels. The Binal video was posted on the MADO section of the Executive Brach website, MADO’s new website, as well as other social media outlets such as Facebook.
Host Mix‐It‐Up Day with Carolina Dining Services at Rams Head Dining Hall
The Mix It Up Dinner took place on Thursday, October 28, 2010 from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. This year we partnered with Campus Y’s Students for the Advancement of Race Relations (SARR), Carolina Dining Services as well as getting volunteers from a variety of other organizations on campus. Students came to Rams Head and were invited to literally mix it up by sitting with a different group. Participants then took part in the bead activity lead by trained facilitators. The bead activity served as a visual interpretation of the diversity present in the lives
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and relationships of the participants. This year we improved the quality of the facilitators by requiring that all facilitators participate in training sessions.
In past years, participants expressed that they were unable to understand the purpose of the bead activity. Thus in order to ensure that Mix it Up Day is as productive as possible we needed to properly prepare the facilitators. In addition, following the theme of a broadened deBinition of diversity we attempted to broaden the discussion after the bead activity. Our hope is that facilitators would lead participants to examine the presence of other diverse identities in their life i.e. sexual orientation, religion, socioeconomic status. Facilitators also helped students to realize that just because they had the same bead colors on their string doesn’t mean diversity isn’t present in their lives. Overall we felt that Mix it Up Day was successful and we received positive review from those who participated. However we had some suggestions for improvement from the participants and facilitators. An idea for improvement is to add more structure to the event and to make a greater effort to educate people about the purpose of Mix it Up Day before the event. This year we began to add more structure to the event by limiting the activities to one section of the dining hall, by the Chop House. However we can further add structure by having some sort of presentation. So participants are required to remain in a certain section to view the presentation. We also had some students who did not know what Mix it Up Day was about. So we need to make a greater effort to publicize the event and its purpose.
Recap of suggestions for improvement:•More publicity: lots of people who didn’t know about it or hear about the event. New ways to pub•Securing more swipes in so we have that guaranteed for people•Making sure people know what the purpose was (esp. freshmen)•Logistics: having only one section available. Was that the most effective?•Should try to make Mix it Up day publicized annually like Oktoberfest at Rams and Lenoir.•More facilitators! In addition we need to stress the importance of creating multiple facilitator training sessions well in advance of the actual event
Continue Collaboration with Carolina United.
MADO continues to support Carolina United and put in a greater effort to collaborate with the Campus Connections committee of Carolina United. Our desire was to aid in the efforts to continue the conversation from Carolina United back to campus. This connection back to campus gives those who were unable to attend the opportunity to take a greater role in the movement of diversity within the Carolina community. The involvement of one of the co-‐chairs, Wevine Fidelis, as co-‐coordinator of Campus Connections has helped the co-‐chairs signiBicantly contribute in creating a united Carolina back on campus.
Establish personal connections with representatives of the student organizations that connect most with campus diversity by lending our support to their events
This year our focus was to not only create, but maintain our collaborations with other organizations that work to promote diversity within the campus community. This year along with Campus Y, Sangam, and Hindu YUVA MADO is both facilitating and representing Student Government as the Binal co-‐sponsor for the 2011 Holi Moli Festival. In addition to contributing in the planning stages MADO is also responsible for the publicity and marketing of the event, which will take place on March 18, 2011. Holi is a South Asian spring festival celebrated by Hindus and Sikhs that celebrates the energy and life of the season. It also signiBies the general loosening of social stratiBications, bringing together people of all backgrounds to engage in a full-‐on celebration of colors. Our hope is to not only ensure that Holi is an unforgettable experience for participants, but that participants are also informed of the cultural and religious signiBicance of the celebration. We have also formed a partnership with Housing and Residential Education in efforts to create a religious diversity initiative for next year. Our Religious Diversity Initiative subcommittee is working with a couple of Resident Advisors in order to plan a project. Our desire is that the co-‐chairs for next year will continue to maintain MADO’s involvement in these collaborations.
The REALTalk Monologues strives to promote cultural awareness and celebrate the various forms of diversity and experiences within the Carolina community
The REALTalk Monologues is a show that highlights stories of identity written by Carolina students and performed by Carolina students. The aim of The REALTalk Monologues is to bring real stories about identity under the spotlight in an intimate and safe environment.
Through the REALTalk Monologues MADO wants to emphasize that identity doesn’t only include race, religion, gender, or sexuality. Identity is experience, and the purpose of the monologues is to convey these experiences. The show will take place in the Campus Y Faculty Lounge at 8:00 p.m. on April 14, 2011. So far we have advertised the event through various media resources in an effort to get students to submit their stories anonymously. As a committee we will then determine a set number of stories that we want performed at the event. Since there is a short time between actors being selected and the performance, we have also contacted several theatre and spoken word organizations about providing members that can serve as actors for the event. In addition we will also hold auditions for all interested students. Since we were limited on time our focus is to produce a quality event and have a small intimate feel. However our hope is that The REALTalk Monologues can become an annual event hosted by MADO and planning can begin earlier in the Birst semester.
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The Co-Chair Perspective
Jagir Patel
Looking back at the year, I feel like I could have done a lot more with MADO's platform points and our committee. I think what we really could have worked on this semester is member attendance and participation-‐-‐ however, that being said, I think MADO was unique and creative in that it took its own initiative and followed its mission (promoting cultural awareness and celebrating diversity within the Carolina community) by supporting other events. These events and initiative include Holi Moli, our video project and the upcoming Real Talk Monologues. We also began documenting the history of MADO and archiving our meetings in a digital space: mado.web.unc.edu. I am personally most excited about this endeavor since it will help future MADO committees in planning events and learning from past challenges and successes. I think Wevine and I did a particularly awesome job in making MADO FUN and EXCITING, something we sometimes lack in Student Government. There is a place and time for taking things seriously when talking about issues in MADO, and I believe Wevine and I knew how to guide conversations around this line. Finally, MADO is always close to my heart so, whatever any platform dictates, the main purpose of MADO is forever and always to provide a safe and fun place for a diverse group of individuals to meet weekly and discuss issues surrounding multiculturalism and diversity. PEACE.
Wevine Fidelis
I can’t believe that the year is already coming to an end! MADO not only provided me the opportunity to meet some amazing people on our committee, but I was also able to learn so much more about the diverse opportunities available within our community. I feel like Jagir and I really worked hard to turn our committee meeting into a comfortable environment where everyone felt completely free to express themselves and their different ideas. We deBinitely started and ended the year with a lot of enthusiasm and fresh ideas. However if there is one thing I would suggest changing in the future it would be to delegate positions and organize committees early on in the year. We divided our committee into three subcommittees, but I feel that we could have ensured commitment to the projects if we gave some members the opportunity to lead a subcommittee. However overall I’m really proud of what we did accomplish this year and how dedicated/hard working each and every committee member was this year. I feel like the new events/ideas that we came up with will deBinitely help to create a solid foundation for the future co-‐chairs. Jagir and I really encouraged everyone to think outside of the box and bring something different to the table. I will honestly miss our meetings/discussions the most and I think the ability to openly share your unique experiences with others is what MADO is all about!
Public Safety
Meghan [email protected]
Calvin Lewis [email protected]
Overview of Responsibilities
The Safety Committee serves to address and communicate student safety concerns to the University administration, the department of Public Safety, and the Town of Chapel Hill. The committee works with other student safety initiatives such as Safety and Security Committee and SafeWalk to gain feedback and address concerns.
Committee Progress
Develop an electronic template where students can access up-to-date security information regarding the UNC Campus and surrounding areas.
We created the website SAFELINK-‐ A TarHeel’s Link to safety -‐found at: www.unc.edu/studgov/safety. All safety resources available for UNC students and additional safety tips are compiled on this site. The site will also feature speciBic concerns, notiBications of recent risk conditions, and tips/advice identiBied and shared by Greek organizations, off-‐campus authorities, and the Residence Hall association during interactive Safety Forums we organized for the end of March. The content is organized between information and how to’s for “Navigating, Living, Talking, Learning, Preventing, Contacting, and Warnings!“. All information is geared towards making students more informed on the resources available to them and making these resources more accessible and appealing for use. Also, there are “comment” options to allow students to contribute any additional insights or concerns on each page.
This site will be launched and publicized at our Safety Day on March 30th. For more information contact Meghan Cannon, Anya McDermott, or Jerri Brown.
Appoint designated go-betweens that relay information between the students and DPS.
We communicate regularly with DPS and invite ofBicers to meetings once a month. We also organized forums to gather student concerns and open the lines of communication.
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Create an arena where contacts between the Greek community and the on-campus community can meet and discuss safety issues that affect both Greek and non-Greek students, particularly in relation to living areas.
We organized a Safety Forum for Greek students on Sunday, March 20th to hold open dialogue surrounding three main discussion points and the future outlook of Greek safety considerations. The three discussion topics covered include having representative members share recent experiences of theft or crime near Greek houses, concerns surrounding safety of members currently and those anticipated in the future, and suggestions for avoiding problem spots and situations. We will host a Department of Public Safety OfBicer to Bield relevant concerns and questions, offer additional tips and insight to students, and so DPS may become further informed of the issues as represented by a student perspective.
Then we will encourage “potential further conversations” between Greek organizations, DPS, and the Safety Committee following the example set by this initial Forum. These future discussions will be overseen and managed by a Greek member from each group appointed Safety Representative. This representative will keep in touch with other groups’ safety person, be particularly mindful of their members concerns, and communicate such as needed to keep all bodies informed. Important points discussed will be synthesized and written up for publication on the new Electronic Template, SafeLink so the insights may be shared and further acknowledged by students.
Finally, we further addressed the need for safety concerns to be voiced and considered throughout the Greek Community through work with the Greek Affairs Student Government Committee and in presenting at the Greek All president's meeting on Monday, February 28th. For more information contact Ben Badgley, Kaitlyn Barnes, Jamison Carpenter, or Meghan Cannon.
Construct pathways to collectively report problems and discuss safety and security issues from respective off-campus living communities to both the Chapel Hill and UNC community so that preventative steps can be taken together to avoid violations of safety measures around campus.
Particular attention is given to “living” tips on the Electronic Template (SafeLink) with speciBic considerations given for off-‐campus student situations and events. Complaints were compiled from attending Chapel Hill community watch meetings and discussing off-‐campus concerns with crime prevention Chapel Hill police ofBicers within various districts with highly concentrated student populations.
Further, we have contacted the Town of Chapel Hill police department about crimes in the immediate off-‐campus area to facilitate open communication and future reporting utilizing SafeLink. The compilation of all Bindings on SafeLink allows for community reference and individual preventative steps to be taken. Overall, students’ being more informed and aware ensures a safer Carolina experience even off main campus.
Establish a Community Government officer that deals specifically with the enhancement of safety and security within each residence hall community. Initiate dialogue between advocates for Residence Hall safety to inform and encourage acknowledgement of the necessary considerations currently taken and that should be taken for enhanced residents’ safety.
We organized a Safety Forum for the Resident Hall Association on Sunday, March 27th to hold open dialogue between some representative dorm Resident Advisors and Community Government members. The topics will surround recent experiences the students have experienced with regard to jeopardized safety, concerns they have currently and anticipated in the future, and tips/advice for each other based on the issues discussed and others’ familiarity. We will host a Department of Public Safety OfBicer to Bield relevant concerns and questions, offer additional tips and insight to students, and so DPS may become further informed on the issues as represented by a student resident perspective.
Also, current situation analysis will be held with extrapolation of how safe residents currently feel, whether they are satisBied with the communication of crimes that occur in dorms and how their concerns and complaints are currently heard, and whether they feel informed with what process should be taken in the event of a crime in dorms.
Finally, going forward, Community Governments will encourage a Safety Representative OfBicer position within each individual dorm executive board framework. This representative would compile concerns and communicate with the Safety committee and other dorm Safety Representatives. For more information contact Brian Harris or Corvis Richardson, our Birst Community Government Safety Representative.
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Encourage the participation of "peer educators" to filter information to the entire student body rather than just a select few liaisons. We planned a quad day for March 30th in order to Bilter information to as much of the student body as possible. The purpose of the Safety Day is to register students for Smart 911, distribute pertinent and relevant safety information, and provide them with an opportunity to meet some DPS ofBicers and discuss views on public safety. The Safety Day will also give them an opportunity to sign up for self-‐defense classes run by DPS.
We have identiBied the Male Allies Program as a potential next step to take against violence. The goal is to set boundaries and encourage conversation throughout campus to avoid situations where violations or abuse could occur. The results from such a program can be used by the Department of Public Safety and the University’s knowledge in policy making. As a committee we have begun conversations that will lay the framework for such a program, which if it is to be successful will have to be planned and implemented over the course of more than one administration.
We also believe that utilizing our current resources is an excellent way of strengthening the Carolina community, speciBically with regards to the creation of a support network among peers. The committee has promoted monthly Helping Advocates for Violence Ending Now (HAVEN) and Safe Zone trainings sponsored by Student Government, in cooperation with the Department of Public Safety and Campus Health Services.
The Co-Chair Perspective
Meghan Cannon
I look forward to the launch of SafeLink and for our Safety Day on March 30th to effectively consolidate all Public Safety Committee initiatives and hard work for this year. Plentiful primary research and interaction between various bodies has led to insightful conclusions on safe practices to which TarHeels will have access via SafeLink. Working with various other organizations through which safety is a mutual priority has been rewarding. I truly believe that coordinating efforts and sharing concerns, experiences, and advice within the UNC community will help each of us become more informed and, in so doing, ensures a safer Carolina experience for all students. This priority transcends all work completed this year. Especially through SafeLink, our primary goal is attempting to make students aware of all available resources and insights while transforming them into more accessible and appealing options for use.
Calvin Lewis
We have had an outstanding year so far. While all of the work we have done isn’t as solid as we would have hoped, I do believe that we have taken a step in the right direction. An example of which is the Male Allies Program. Though it does not consist of a physical body of students, we have talked with administrators and student leaders to try and gather what Male Allies should look like. I have no doubt that in passing it to the next administration, we will see more work done with making this program a reality.
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Public Service and Advocacy
Ashley [email protected]
Will [email protected]
Overview of Responsibilities
The Public Service and Advocacy committee serves to bring together Carolina’s diverse public service community in a manner that raises awareness and encourages student involvement.
Committee Progress
NCSSM Food Drive
This past year we have been collaborating with the North Carolina School and Science and Math to help them attain their goal of beating the Guinness Book of World Records record for the largest 24-‐hour food drive at a single location. One of our Committee Members, Hunter Bryson, travelled between UNC and NCSSM to continue showing our support. On campus, we helped raise awareness and worked with local businesses to get them involved. This event was held on March 5 and beat the current Guinness record by colleting 559,885 lbs. of food.
Enhance Collaboration between Service Organizations on Campus
We have been working to create a list of organizations which incorporate service into their work on campus, and we are Binding that the majority of campus organizations have a service aspect to them! We held the Birst Service Organization Collaboration Assembly in mid-‐November, and there were representatives there from over 15 different groups. We held another collab event in February. We continue to be excited for the productivity, collaboration, and effectiveness of this important event, and we think this is something that should continue next year and we
Service Event at C-TOPS
One of our committee members, Kira Lumsden, has been working on this platform point and contacting the OfBice of New Student and Carolina Parent Programs to meet about scheduled service events at C-‐TOPS next summer (and hopefully in the summers to come) to show UNC students that service is an important part of the Carolina community.
TABS Project
After making headway on this project, we learned that the Ronald McDonald House no longer participates in this program. We discussed alternatives to send tabs to but unfortunately did not Bind any feasible ones. We decided to discontinue this project and focus energies elsewhere.
Brown Bag Lunch Series
We decided to discontinue this series for the semester in order to focus our manpower in other places. We have agreed to work with Build a Block, a project of Habitat of Humanity, to do a sort of discussion like we did in Brown Bag Series.
Participate Actively in the Build a Block Campaign
This April we are co-‐hosting a discussion with Build a Block during their Act Speak Build advocacy week in order to discuss issues particular to Habitat for Humanity. This may include looking at the role poverty plays in our community, housing in the area, or the experiences that builders have had and the role that they can continue to play. Ultimately we hope to address everything from a livable wage paid to UNC employees to affordable housing and cultural differences and think about the reasons why we need to build these houses for UNC employees. The exact topics of the discussion, however, have not yet been decided. We have gotten the support of Chapel Hill Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt.
Disaster Relief
Disaster relief is a subject that PSAC has always worked with on and off throughout this committee’s creation. While we have not done a lot of work with it this year, after the earthquake and tsunamis throughout Japan we have decided to help support current UNC relief organizations and provide our support. We are currently collaborating with the organization Extended Disaster Relief to set up advocacy and aid events throughout campus.
Public Service Scholarship
We are currently working to be able to secure funding for an award given to a senior dedicated to public service. The money will be given to the on-‐campus organization of their choice. We have talked with several area businesses about having beneBit nights in order to raise money. We are going to use our nomination form from last year in order to attain our potential recipient. This will award someone who we Bind to be doing great work in service in the community and beyond.
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Address Local Hunger and Homelessness
In addition to the Food Drive, we have been sharing information and advocating for the IFC Shelter Relocation, which is making headway into construction. There is a Town Meeting on March 21 that some of us plan to go to, in order to lobby for the better treatment and better facilities for our local homeless population.
The Co-Chair Perspective
Ashley Patton
I have had an amazing year with PSAC. I believe that we have done many amazing things, such as Binally providing a forum for different public service groups to collaborate in one place, awarding service scholarships to students who display great commitment to service, and working with other groups (such as Build a Block, C-‐Tops, and NCSSM) in order to support other organizations. I believe that PSAC is a great way for the student government to show its commitment to the Carolina Way, providing service. With this said, I really hope that PSAC is able to further expand the role that it plays. I believe that not many people know of the work that PSAC is doing throughout the campus and community. I also believe that this committee often spreads itself really thin within many different projects and members tend to become overwhelmed and lose their interest. To the Cooper administration, I would suggest that future committee co-‐chairs pick speciBic projects with which to work on. Also, project delegation to committee members helps to ensure commitment. Will and I have learned that when members feel they are playing a powerful role, they will continue their hard work and dedication.
Will Thomason
This year has been a great one in PSAC, with a lot of learning opportunities and many creative ways in which we have been able to serve the community. We have been able to connect and collaborate with groups from all over campus and around the state to encourage a culture of continued collaborative and interactive public service at Carolina. I am proud of the work that the committee has done, and the way in which Ashley and I have been able to work together to improve the Public Service atmosphere on UNC’s campus.
Student Body Outreach
Caitlin Murray [email protected] Overview of Responsibilities
The Outreach Community is responsible for ensuring Student Government is doing all it can to reach out and connect with the Carolina community.
Committee Progress
Multimedia News Update
Student Body Outreach will create a new brief weekly news video segment in partnership with the Journalism school, STV, and Student Government. This update will include a message from Hogan, interviews from students of current topics on campus/across the world, showcase events or projects that week, and more.
This project—which the committee took on as our Birst and almost only focus—has morphed into something very different than what was Birst imagined. Ian Lee and Beth (his EA) have taken point with creating a brief weekly news segment in partnership with Carolina Week in the Journalism school. This program should include most of the main point of this platform point. Thus, Caitlin and Clay (along with our committee) decided to move forward in establishing a partnership with STV to create a different kind of TV short that distinguishes itself with humor and a replicable, collaborative model with campus organizations. Because of a lack of effort on our part is still in the early stages of developing the show with STV. However, the committee has developed a great sketch of how the show would work and have Bilmed the Birst version of an introduction.
However, after October the Outreach/STV project dissolved for multiple reasons. Clay formally resigned as the Co-‐Chair so the committee had difBiculty maintaining its vision. There was some confusion with working with STV because a project with Student Government was already in the works. Once Caitlin and Clay learned that the project was already being put into effect the committee was left with no guidance.
Conduct focus groups with a wide cross-section of the Student Body to investigate how students find out about events/campus organizations a
This was another project that appeared allocated to another committee. The PR committee of Student Government managed the student surveys and input throughout the year. With the creation of the PR committee this past year, the Outreach committee has had undeBined platform goals, making it difBicult to
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actually get projects in the works.
The Chair Perspective
Caitlin
At this early point in the year I think that the Outreach committee’s main concentration is refocusing itself with its new purpose under the Medlin Administration. Last year the committee was targeted as a publicity center for student government and student organizations. With the creation of the PR team, the Outreach committee has shifted its focus to being a creative outlet for Student Government to reach the student body. We see ourselves as think tank for ideas centering on how to better inform students of what is going on in campus. With our main project (This Week at Carolina segment) we are trying to tap into ways that will reach students beyond the overused publicity means of social networks, painting cubes, and passing out Blyers. I really believe that our segment will catch the attention of students on campus and hopefully become something that they recognize as a part of the Carolina culture. I believe that the success to this committee will be collaborating with other student organizations like STV and working with them to brainstorm new ways of informing students how to become involved.
With the year coming to a conclusion I look back on the extension of the Outreach Committee this year as unnecessary. From the beginning our platform goals were similar to last year’s, very vague, and allocated to other Executive Branch committees. Our Birst problem was the recruitment of committee members. The majority of our applicants receive acceptance to the PR committee so many did not recognize the difference between the two (2) committees. Clay and I tried to head up projects on our own, our Birst being the STV/Student Government collaboration, but we ran into major problems. The main deterrent was that the Student Body Secretary and his Executive Assistants were also working with STV on an almost identical project. This was not realized until we all met, but Clay and I quickly Bigured out that other program being organized was further along.
The other project the Outreach Committee was issued in the platform was to survey students through focus groups in order to determine more effective publicity avenues. Unfortunately this is one of the main responsibilities of the PR Committee who has been extremely successful since their creation last year. I truly believe that with the creation of the speciBic PR team for Student Government that the Outreach Committee is no longer needed. I would suggest that an Outreach liaison between Student Congress and Student Government. This person could either be in charge of organizing socials between the two sectors or strictly be responsible for keeping the communication between the two Blowing. I think a sole position would be more effective rather than an entire committee that lacks a true deBinition within Student Government.
Student Life
Olivia [email protected]
Taylor [email protected]
Overview of Responsibilities
The Student Life Committee is dedicated to informing students about all of the wonderful opportunities Carolina has to offer. We highlight student organizations and plan events that foster an amazing Carolina experience for each and every Tar Heel.
Committee Progress
Organize Fall Fest by student organization type so they can be more easily located. The goal is to increase on-campus involvement by helping students find organizations that match their interests.
All student organizations that participated in Fall Fest were organized by type and color. Academic groups were designated by a white banner, Activist-‐Political groups by a red banner, Cultural-‐International groups by a dark blue banner, Fraternity-‐Sorority groups by a silver banner, Media groups by a yellow banner, Performance groups by a black banner, Religious groups by a purple banner, Recreation-‐Sports groups by a green banner, Service groups by a gold banner, Special interest groups by an orange banner, and Student Government groups by a blue banner. Banners were constructed with vinyl and PVC pipes and hung at the Birst table for each section. See below for the color-‐coded chart.
Create a site map of club location by type to be used at Fall Fest. The site map will be e-mailed to all first year students prior to the event for reference. Explore the possibility of printing this map in advance copies of the DTH and having signs at both ends of South Road the night of Fall Fest.
As mentioned above, all organizations were organized by type and color. Hogan e-‐mailed students the Friday before Fall Fest directing them to a website designed speciBically for the event. On the website, students could download a map of the table set ups on South Road as well as a color-‐coordinated organizational chart. See the appendix for the map and chart.
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Collaborate with the Technology Committee to conduct outreach to new student organizations for online resources education, campus connection possibilities, and any other services the organization may need to succeed.
Alexandra Cruz, a member of our committee, served as a liaison between the Student Life and Technology & Web Services Committees. She attended weekly meetings for both committees and reported back each week with information. One resource the committees were particularly excited about was the introduction of CollegiateLink. Our efforts focused on ways to educate students about CollegiateLink once the program ofBicially launched.
Increase education regarding the use of online resources, such as CollegiateLink, to aid organizations in their success.
As mentioned above, Alexandra worked extensively with CollegiateLink. She provided a training session for our committee, educating our members on the intricacies of the program. Committee members made proBiles on the site and explored it, determining how it could best serve other groups they were involved in. We were not able to do as much outreach as initially anticipated because of setbacks with CollegiateLink, but our committee members have a Birm grasp on how to use the program and are able to take their knowledge to the greater campus community.
Host a feedback suggestion stand in the Pit once a month where students can voice their needs or concerns. Continue to increase Student Government’s presence among the student body by promoting increased outreach to students.
We used Carolina Leadership Development’s large cardboard cut-‐out of Hogan and walked around the Pit soliciting feedback from students. Students wrote their ideas and suggestions on post-‐it notes, then posted the notes on the cut-‐out. We divided feedback from students into three categories: things that are already in progress or are feasible, things that are potentially feasible, and things that are probably not feasible.
In terms of things that are already in progress or are feasible, some suggestions included weekly video addresses by Hogan, the ability to access credits earned, grade history, and GPA on ConnectCarolina, and the implementation of a recycling program in Granville. Items that were potentially feasible included offering more social and cultural events, providing more publicity for campus events, and adding more cubes on campus. Suggestions that were probably not feasible included ending all 8 a.m. classes and recitations and canceling all Friday classes. This project was fun in that it did bring Student Government out to where students are, but it could be expanded in the future to be more productive and perhaps more publicized.
We also created a subcommittee entitled Organization Outreach. The purpose of this subcommittee was to act as a liaison between Student Government and campus organizations in an effort to increase publicity and student involvement across campus. This subcommittee was in charge of updating the “Organization of the Week” feature on the Student Life tab of the Student Government website. Since this subcommittee was working on a completely new project, we gave its members freedom to come up with other ideas for increasing organization awareness. The members of the subcommittee were particularly interested in creating an organization search engine on the Student Government website on which students could input their interests and then receive a list of student organizations that matched those interests. CollegiateLink provides a feature that is very similar to this, so subcommittee members provided feedback and ideas for improving this option during the CollegiateLink training session.
In addition, we co-‐sponsored a grant writing workshop with Michelle Rugel, director of development for the Campus Y. This event gave students information on the different parts of grant proposals, how to make an event successful and sustainable, and how to write a successful grant proposal.
Student Life looks forward to taking Carolina Marketplace to a larger, more publicized level. Hogan will host Carolina Marketplace once a semester instead of once a year to allow a larger number of student organizations and businesses to participate.
Because our committee meetings started later this year, we decided to host one Carolina Marketplace spanning over either two or three weeks second semester to allow for a more inclusive and successful event. There was a subcommittee dedicated to this project, and members of this subcommittee drafted e-‐mails to send out to campus organizations to gauge their interest in participating. However, after evaluating the project’s potential for success and its overall impact on the Carolina community, we decided not to host it. Carolina Marketplace is a good idea, but its overall purpose and mission need to be more clearly deBined in order for it to be successful. Hosting mini-‐Fall Fests has not been successful in recent years, and student organizations already publicize their own events in the Pit on a daily basis. We brainstormed ways to revamp the event for the future and thought that holding a showcase for organizations where they could display their projects and accomplishments would not only increase student awareness of different groups, but also recognize and celebrate the great work so many students groups do every year.
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Work with Career Services to better organize and facilitate the Career Services Fair. Collaborate on advertisement, feedback, and event management.
We created a subcommittee focused on Career Services, and through this subcommittee, we were able to establish relationships with Ray Angle, Director of Career Services, and Tim Stiles, Associate Director of Career Services. Members of the subcommittee met with the directors to discuss services UCS provides, different events they put on, and why some events are more successful than others. Mr. Angle and Mr. Stiles came to a Student Life meeting and lead a discussion on ways to increase student participation in UCS events, including ways to best organize and publicize those programs. In addition, a representative from Career Services gave a presentation on networking during Carolina Men’s Networking Night.
Host the Second Annual Carolina Men’s Networking Night.
Carolina Men’s Networking Night was an initiative started under the Jones Administration to give male students the opportunity to network with one another and distinguished professors and alumni. The event proved to be successful its Birst year, so our committee decided to continue it this year. Unfortunately, we ran in to a number of road blocks along the way, and due to a number of unforeseen circumstances, we ultimately chose to cancel the event. We had reserved the Great Hall and booked ten distinguished guests, including Dean Blackburn, Assistant Dean of Students, Josmell Perez, Director of Carolina Latina/o Collaborative, and Rick Steinbacher, Assistant Athletic Director, and scheduled someone from University Career Services to do a presentation on networking. However, though we were able to secure $200 in funding from RHA, we had a difBicult time gathering enough funding for food and other miscellaneous items. In addition, after inviting more than ten people, we were unable to Bind a guest speaker who would give a keynote address. Finally, the UNC men’s basketball team reached the Elite 8 in the NCAA Tournament and the game to determine whether or not they would advance to the Final Four was scheduled to take place at 5:05 p.m., ten minutes before our guests were supposed to arrive. Though it was disappointing, canceling the event was the right decision.
The Co-Chair Perspective
Olivia Hammill
My experience with Student Life has been rewarding and eye-‐opening. Planning events is sometimes easier said than done, and though we faced a few challenges along the way, we were able to accomplish most of what we wanted to this year. Our committee members were not only passionate and motivated, but dedicated to improving the student life experience at UNC as well, making our work that much more enjoyable. By the end of the year, Taylor and I established both working relationships and friendships with our committee members, fostering a sense of group cohesion that made working on our projects more effective and efBicient. I hope to see some of our efforts continued into the future, and I look forward to the introduction of new and innovative projects. It has been my honor to serve as a co-‐chair of this committee, and I cannot wait to see how it evolves.
Taylor Mercado
Working with Student Life and Olivia this year was such an awesome learning and growing experience for me. I can proudly say that, even though there were many challenges, such as having to cancel an event, and rough patches throughout the year, I have come out learning so much about myself as a leader, as a friend, and as a person in general. I can proudly claim that I have formed some friendships and relationships with both my Co-‐Chair and with my committee members throughout this process and that I have learned some ridiculously valuable lessons. For instance, I have learned that time is a virtue and that no matter how far ahead you may think you are in planning ahead, you are already ten steps behind. I owe a lot to this experience and I am so proud of what our committee has accomplished and look forward to seeing how this committee grows in the upcoming administration.
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Technology & Web [email protected]
Overview of Responsibilities
The Technology and Web Services Committee advocates for the interest of students with IT administrators and works to improve existing technological services through support and education, as well as providing sound technological advice to student organizations and Student Government.
Committee Progress
Hogan will assist ITS and the Tech and Web committee in publicizing technical resources available to UNC students.
IT groups on campus offer many services to UNC faculty, students, and staff. However, many of these services are unknown, especially to students. The Tech and Web committee, in coordination with the Student Technology Advisory Board, created a Blyer, which can be found at http://www.unc.edu/studgov/techBlyer, to highlight the most valuable of these resources.
ITS funded the printing of the Binished Blyer and the RAM Shop distributed it to every incoming undergraduate at CTOPS. The Blyer has also been distributed to Cabinet and every RA in Housing, and was made the focus of at least one ResNET presentation. The Blyer was also disbursed through Student Congress representatives to different areas of campus.
Instead of continuing the Tar Heel Tech Fair, ITS and Student Government both decided that the best course of action was to spend our time and efforts publicizing tech resources using different venues and means to reach the largest number of students possible.
On March 1st, a representative from our committee visited the GPSF senate to share the Blyer with graduate student representatives. In addition to sharing information about free tech resources with these representatives as well as encouraging them to publish the Blyer, we also took feedback about revisions to be made to the Blyer.The Tech and Web committee is currently evaluating other methods of distributing the Blyer, particularly to graduate students, and will soon begin the Blyer revision process.
Hogan will collaborate with ITS and the Tech and Web committee to introduce Apple laptops into the CCI program.
ITS administrators involved with the CCI program are aware of the growing Apple laptop use and students’ desire to incorporate these laptops into the CCI program. To this end, the CCI program has engaged in negotiations with Apple and Apple laptops will now be offered through the CCI program.
ITS-‐Help student walk-‐in staff have undergone Apple Laptop support training so that they will be better be able to assist students with troubleshooting issues with Apple products. In addition, ITRC staff is being trained to do physical repair of Apple laptops.
The committee will continue to provide individual website training and support to student organizations.
We have continued our twice-‐weekly ofBice hours, and have had several student organization representatives come to the Student Government suite or email our listserv with questions about their Joomla! website or AFS-‐hosted website. We are continuing to work with the Division of Student Affairs to uncover and Bix problems while planning for the future of AFS space and Joomla! websites with the release of CollegiateLink. The Committee has received a test CollegiateLink website, and after attending an information session sponsored by CollegiateLink, we have been playing around with all of the features the website offers, including but not limited to an elections feature that has potential to be used on a wider scale throughout the university and a calendar function that could efBiciently keep the student body updated on every event/meeting of most of UNC’s organizations. From here, we expect to continue learning more about the website and how it works, and hopefully it will be successfully integrated into the student body within the next year or two.
The committee will keep students updated on the tools available to student organizations for website management.
The Division of Student Affairs’ new student organization management system, CollegiateLink, was released earlier this semester. At this point the system is primarily being used for student organization formal recognition. CollegiateLink will be sending a representative to the school next month to provide training sessions for administrators and students, and the Division of Student Affairs is planning to publicize the program to students in January. The Tech and Web committee will assist the Division in its planning and publicity.
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The committee shall seek student advice and opinions about what content students desire to see on the ConnectCarolina site. Having student opinions reflected will increase the efficiency and use of ConnectCarolina.
Over the past year, the ConnectCarolina team has been very busy. While the registration and student Binancials components of the system were released in Spring 2010, this fall brought grades and transcripts into ConnectCarolina. For the Birst time, faculty submitted their grades electronically, an impressive technological milestone for the university. This semester, advising, degree audit (labeled “Tar Heel Tracker”) and a GPA Calculator were released, Binishing the initial roll-‐out of the student-‐facing portions of ConnectCarolina. Student Central was completely deactivated this February, and all online student information is now found in ConnectCarolina. Throughout this roll-‐out process, the Tech and Web committee has worked to be available and helpful to the ConnectCarolina team, providing input, feedback, and testing as needed. Some of the features, including degree audit, are only currently available for a limited subsection of students, but over time this gap will decrease due to the departure of undergraduates not covered by the new system and as the ConnectCarolina team adds additional support for graduate programs. Throughout t
Due to the completion of the initial implementation, the ConnectCarolina governance structure has changed. The initial representative committees were merged into a public Users Forum, which is responsible for gathering input and suggestions from the campus community and making recommendations for changes to the new ITS governance committee in charge of the Enterprise Applications division (which includes ConnectCarolina), the Enterprise Applications Coordinating Committee (EACC).
The Tech and Web committee felt the best way to improve the ConnectCarolina system is to widely survey the student body, soliciting and ranking feedback in an open and fair manner. To this end, we created a feedback forum on the UserVoice.com platform letting students make suggestions to improve the system as well as ranking the suggestions made by others; and have attempted to comment and respond to the suggestions made, relating any progress made on the suggestion. The page was very well received by the Users Forum and has been expanded to become the ofBicial feedback mechanism for the Users Forum, containing forums for student, faculty, and staff feedback. The Tech and Web committee is continuing to offer technical support for the Users Forum and is currently creating website for the Forum using OASIS’ Digital Commons platform.
The committee will seek to improve the ease of use of iTunes U for students by looking for ways for student organizations to easily record important events and get this content posted.
This semester, the Tech and Web committee has pursued two main avenues for the improving the ease of use of iTunes U for students.
First, Tech and Web committee has been given administrator access to the student section of the university’s iTunes U page. Having administrator access has allowed us to modify the student section interface to make it more user-‐friendly. Additionally, student government now has the ability to upload content to iTunes U giving any student groups a point of contact for uploading any media they may have. Our long term goal is to have a permanent role in student government for assisting in the administration of the students’ portion of iTunes U.
Second, we recognize that the primary barrier to making iTunes U more useful to students is the limited availability of tools to capture events that student groups would like to post on iTunes U. As a Birst step in breaking down this barrier, Tech and Web has compiled a list of all media resources offered to students on campus. Our next step is to Bind the best method to publish this list, so that students can be aware of what is available to them.
Ad-Hoc Projects
HeelMail
Last year ITS, in cooperation with Student Government, made the decision to outsource student email to Microsoft’s Live@edu email solution. We are excited about this transition as Live@edu, which has been relabeled HeelMail, will provide students with a much more powerful, comprehensive set of services going above and beyond simple email. Nevertheless, Student Government is committed to ensuring that the system provided to students, as well as the transition process itself, are what best Bit the needs of the student body.
To this end, Tech and Web, in coordination with the PR team, has been involved in weekly meetings with ITS about the HeelMail rollout process. We receive updates on the current state of the project, raise concerns about any roadblocks we think may arise, and request features that we think will beneBit students. Additionally, we act as a liaison between ITS and the Executive Board of Student Government for when an ofBicial student opinion is needed.
On February 25, all of the issues hindering the beginning of rolling out HeelMail to students had been resolved. On March 3, ITS began its early adopters program for HeelMail. This program will continue throughout March, and the service will be opened for opt-‐in to all students this April.
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Student Congress
Until early November, the databases that stored all information on the Student Congress website, including appropriations information, were hosted and controlled by a former Student Government member on his personal server in California. Recent security changes made by ITS alerted us to the situation and provided the former member an impetus for transferring the hosting and control over to the University. Thanks to the Division of Student Affairs, the information is now hosted on their servers, located in the basement of Teague. Tech and Web facilitated the transfer process and is continuing to set the technical foundation of the Student Congress website in order by updating the permissions on the Student Congress website to reBlect the current Congress administration and has started the process of looking for an underclassman who would be interested in the technical maintenance and development of the Congress web applications.
Deputy CIO
ITS’s search for a new Deputy CIO is drawing to a close; they have narrowed down the possible candidates to three Binalists. These three Binalists recently came to the university to present on their view on the role of the Deputy CIO as well as their ability to Bill this roll.
A Tech and Web co-‐chair attended all three presentations, taking notes on each of the candidates. After all three, we discussed the strengths and weaknesses of each candidate and provided feedback to ITS to assist in their hiring, and look forward to working with the selected candidate.
Student Government Website Assistance
The Tech and Web committee has responded to requests from the Environmental Affairs Committee and the Public Safety Committee for website assistance. The Environmental Affairs Committee wished to move from a Google Site, and the Public Safety Committee wanted to create a site aggregating safety resources from around campus. Max set up Digital Commons websites for both groups and showed them how to operate the site; answering their questions.
Student Technology Advisory Board restructuring
Akin to Tech and Web’s goal to publicize technological resources to the student body is the process of coordinating students across campus who are involved with IT policy so we can learn quickly of new resources and disseminate the information effectively. While strong leadership from the Tech and Web committee has served this role the past Bive years, we feel that more concrete structure is needed to insure the future of student IT coordination is strong. To this end, we proposed the creation of a new student committee consisting of all students who work on IT policy (and related groups, such as the PR Team and Academic Affairs committee) with the goal of sharing information, providing support to each other, and encouraging campus IT groups to solicit student feedback and input. This committee will adopt the name and certain functions of the current Student Technology Advisory Board, which will be turned into an ITS-‐speciBic feedback committee. The current members of STAB, the Medlin Administration, and relevant ITS staff and administrators all agree that these are positive changes, and we hope that the new committee will make future Tech and Web committees’ job easier and more productive.
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The Co-Chair Perspective
Max Beckman-Harned
Looking back over the four years I’ve spent at Carolina and the three years I’ve spent with the Tech and Web committee, there have been very many changes. When I entered the university, we were still using the twenty-‐year-‐old SIS and the Bifteen-‐year-‐old Student Central, Blamboyantly styled with the very Binest tables and buttons of 1995. Everyone on campus was using a mail server with an unenforced quota of 20mb and a webmail interface that had not been updated in many years. The school-‐supported calendar system was a horror to use (and thus very few did). While the university paid Microsoft a license fee for every student on campus to have access to Microsoft software, only purchasers of CCI laptops (or payers of a $170 fee) were actually granted access.
It’s incredible to see how far we’ve come. We now have a brand-‐new academic computing system whose primary interface is the Web and not a green-‐screen terminal. The clunky webmail interface is gone, replaced by one which is simple and clean. Faculty and staff are receiving a modern email system with mobile support and an integrated calendar. All students on campus now have access to Microsoft software through the school (due to a $22/year student fee) and the cost of the entry-‐level CCI laptop has dropped $200, allowing more laptops to be given out with the same amount of grant money.
As much as I’m pleased with our progress, I’m excited about what is just around the corner. Students are on the cusp of getting access to the same modern email system that faculty and staff are (while the university saves money due to email outsourcing). The current Course Management System used by only 35% of the university is being replaced by an open-‐source alternative which promises more features, more Blexibility, and lower cost. And incoming Birst-‐years will soon see even greater choice in the CCI program when Macs join the lineup of available computers.
I cannot and would not claim that all of this progress was due to the Tech and Web committee, but I am proud of how involved we have been during all these changes, ready at any point to offer feedback or test the pre-‐release system, and to lobby on behalf of students so the released systems are the best they can. I can conBidently say that the Tech and Web committee and Student Government has been instrumental with the Microsoft license changes, the student email outsourcing process and have provided valuable feedback, advice, and support to the ConnectCarolina team and Users Forum.
I have high hopes for the future of the Tech and Web committee and student IT policy discussions. The incoming Cooper Administration has a strong technical platform, our current committee members have worked hard and learned much this year, and I believe the new STAB will be a powerful force for the discussion
and dissemination of IT policy information. We have done good work, and I have no doubt that the future of Tech and Web and technology at UNC is bright.
Ben Hawks
As Max has already pointed out, the amount of technical changes the university has undergone in the past few years is absolutely astounding. In fact, just this year has been one for the record books. With the introduction of a new, powerful email system, the completion of the ConnectCarolina system, the inclusion of Apple computers in the CCI program, and the decision to move the university to Sakai instead of Blackboard, the technical landscape being introduced to next year’s incoming class will be vastly different from the one introduced to our current Birst years.
Tech and Web has played a signiBicant role in many of these changes over the past couple years. We have provided valuable student input on the email transition, worked to improve awareness of the abundance of resources available to students, and been intimately involved with the creation of the ConnectCarolina Users’ Forum. At this point, I feel it is necessary to note just how important the work of my co-‐chair Max has been during his college career. He has worked tirelessly for students over the past three years, and his contributions to the technological advancement of the university have been invaluable. Thanks, Max.
Nevertheless, this past year I have realized the amount of work we need to be done to make Carolina competitive with other top institutions in the technical resources it offers to students. While many great strides forward have been taken, we must keep working to ensure that Carolina is technically equipped to provide its future students with the world-‐class education they expect. I am conBident that the Tech and Web committee will continue to be instrumental in accomplishing this task. The relationships that Tech and Web has cultivated over the past few years (with no small thanks to Max) will continue to bear fruit, and the experience garnered by our younger committee members will be a great asset to the Cooper administration. Although the Era of Max is over, technology at Carolina remains in good hands.
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University Services
Marissa [email protected]
Overview of Responsibilities
The University Services Committee works to address the basic concerns of students with regard to facilities, dining,parking, safety, recreation, and other similar areas.
Committee Progress
“Full-Lot” System in Cobb Deck
The committee sought to install and activate a full-‐lot indicator. During the committee’s work, the Department of Public Safety installed a full-‐lot indicator, but did not activate the system. Despite several requests for DPS to activate the indicator, the system has still not been activated. The next committee should continue attempts to activate the system in coordination with DPS.
UNC OneCard
The committee has investigated additional methods for students to add value to their expense account. The possibilities discussed thus far include an option for students to bill their student account and also the implementation of additional credit card carriers. The committee should continue to speak with the UNC OneCard ofBice to evaluate the practicality of these options.
On-Campus Dining Options
The committee held discussions with the Sean Gaynor, the president of the Student Dining Board, and Scott Meyers, the Director of Food and Vending Services, regarding on-‐campus dining options. The Birst point of discussion related to on-‐campus food options on the weekends when students return from Fall and Spring break. The second point dealt with the hours of operation for the dining halls on weekend mornings. They agreed to consider opening the dining hall earlier in order to accommodate students who wish to eat earlier. We encourage the committee to maintain contact with Dining Services.
Dining Hall Consumer Counting System
Our committee investigated the feasibility of installing a counting system into both Ram’s Head and Lenoir Dining Halls in order to quantify the number of seats available in each dining hall. However, after performing surveys, students did not agree that this was a necessary measure. Survey feedback indicated that students have a general idea of when the dining halls will be full and that an electric counting system would only be mildly beneBicial.
The Co-Chair Perspective
Jim Broughman
I am pleased with the accomplishments of this committee through the term. In hindsight, I wish that my committee had stronger access to administration. Because our platform points deals with the housing, dining, and recreational facilities, we must maintain close correspondence with each department. Even the most developed plan will not be able to be carried out by the committee unless the committee can reach the administrators who have the power to implement it. I encourage the incoming committees to maintain and strengthen the relationships between student government and campus facilities.
Marissa Gluck
As co-‐chair of the University Services committee we face challenges speciBic to the operations of our committee. Because much of our work involves the improvement of campus facilities, programs, and services, we often have to work with administrators. Though UNC administrators and campus service employees do value student input, it is often vary hard to navigate the red tape of a beaurecratic university department such as DPS or Campus Facilities. Once we do get past this red tape, Binding a solution that suits student needs, administrator responsibilities and is feasible is often quite difBicult. Though Jim and I both worked hard to build relationships with these departments for the upcoming year, it will still be the responsibility of the next co-‐chairs to maintain them and Bind good paths of communication. These challenges made committee progress difBicult, but I feel myself and my committee have learned a lot of great skills through our interactions with these departments that we can take away and apply to other leadership opportunities.
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Cabinet Special Projects
Carolina Advocacy
Jordan [email protected]
Russell [email protected]
Overview of ResponsibilitiesThe Carolina Advocacy Committee is a student lobbying organization which regularly communicates and meets with members of the North Carolina General Assembly and others in order to advocate the interests of the Carolina community. This group will promote these interests through routine visits to our state's capitol, holding media events, and gathering student support for issues surrounding higher education funding, among other ideas.
Committee Progress
Improving our lobbying skills
Since October, we have met several times with Erin, the University’s Lobbyist, to improve on our skills as a lobbying group for the University. She has proved to be a tremendous asset and a valuable resource to Carolina Advocacy and Student Government. Through meeting with her, we have learned the most efBicient ways to engage in talks with members of the General Assembly. We have discussed the importance of having a clear message and having a reBined list of points and issues when meeting with legislatures.
Erin has also helped us to target those in the General Assembly that are most advantageous for us to meet with. She has helped us to identify key members who are open to discussing tuition and the problems with the tuition hikes with us. She has also helped us learn how to meet with those legislatures in the General Assembly that are in opposition to the ideals and policies of the University, so that we can know who it is that we need to talk with to gain support and present our side of the argument.
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Contacting the General Assembly
In the past three months, we have worked to make initial contact with members of the General Assembly. Even though it will not be until this summer that the GA has a fully working budget plan to vote on, it was still important for us to establish contact with the incoming new legislature in the beginning of the year. We sent them a letter congratulating the new members and saying our greetings and that we looked forward to meeting with them as the session progressed. On University Day, along with Hogan and other members of Student Government, we held meetings with legislatures to begin discussing the tuition issue that is facing us.
As the year continues to progress, we will further meet with the General Assembly. We will also work with the incoming Cooper Administration to bring them in on what we are doing so that they will be prepared to meet with the General Assembly. Carolina Advocacy will continue to meet during the summer with legislatures as they move forward with a budget and discussing the tuition increases for the following year.
The Co-Chair Perspective
Jordan Funke
Things have kicked into a higher gear this spring semester. In just a few short months we have formulated the issues and stance that the University wants to present in Raleigh. We have worked hard to ensure that we will be at our best when meeting with the General Assembly. Erin has helped us so much in that regards, giving us the skills to better our lobbying efforts. She is an invaluable asset to us. Since Carolina Advocacy has shifted to a committee with tuition as its priority, we have done a good job of assimilating into this role. However, despite the semester steadily creeping to a close, our work is not done. The coming months and into the summer will be serious as the GA begins to fully discuss the issue of tuition. We also have to work with the incoming Cooper Administration as we exit and our followers take the reins. We will have to bring them up to speed on what we are working on and prepare them to meet with legislatures.
Russell McIntyre
This spring we’ve really been able to enact a lot of our goals that were formulated and discussed last fall. Last semester we put forth a great plan for interacting with members and understanding the priorities of the University’s administration, the undergraduate population, and the graduate population. Our work and meetings with Erin have greatly prepared us to lobby more effectively, and with her experience and guidance we have made great progress with preparing our committee and ourselves to best represent this university. We have fully grasped the issue of tuition and understood how the policies of the GA will directly affect us. Because of this, we have an understanding of how to best lobby to push forward our goals and concerns.
As Jordan mentioned above, we still have a lot of work left to do. The true discussion and debate on tuition within the General Assembly is just beginning. The next months are the most crucial in the budget process. We look forward to working with the incoming Cooper administration to best prepare them on the issues, concerns, and great progress we’ve made with the GA. We both feel like we will be able to update the upcoming Carolina Advocacy co-‐chairs very quickly and that they will be able to take charge leading into the summer months and represent this university extremely well.
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Committee on the University’s Role in State Education (COURSE)
Nina Brashears [email protected]
Grayson [email protected]
Overview of Responsibilities COURSE is charged with investigating and promoting ways in which the University can better utilize its resources and expertise in education to improve the achievement gap in the state of North Carolina’s primary and secondary education systems.
Committee Progress
Minor in Education
COURSE continues to pursue the development and proposal of a Minor in Education. We are hoping to this will serve as an alternative for studying the practice of education with greater Blexibility than the courses provided by the major in the School of Education. The minor has relevance to those interested in administrative or policy roles in education, those interested in educational technology, and those preparing for graduate work or lateral entry to the practice.
This semester COURSE continues to work closely with the Faculty Committee at the School of Education to develop the proposal for the Minor in Education. Nina Brashears, Lucy Berrier, and George Ramsay meet with the committee and maintain communication with the faculty members. COURSE reviewed the proposal document and elicited feedback from COURSE committee members to write a written response and suggestions for the Minor. We will continue to reBine the proposal and work with the Faculty Committee to hopefully present to the Chancellor by the end of this school year.
Movie Screening
On March 23 COURSE will be sponsoring a movie screening of Waiting for Superman. Waiting for Superman is a documentary about the status of education and reform movements in the United States. The event will take place in the
Union Auditorium. The movie screening will be followed by a panel discussion. Panelists represent local leaders in education including a representative from NCEA and the Dean of the School of Education. We are hoping to raise awareness about educational inequity and provide students with the resources to get involved in education within some capacity on campus or in the community.
Students for Education Reform
In order to keep the efforts and perspectives of COURSE sustainable on campus we have applied to become a national chapter of Students for Education Reform. Students for Education Reform is currently active at Ivy League and other northern schools so we are hoping to join the network of colleges and universities that are committed to addressing educational challenges with a mission very similar to COURSE.
The Chair Perspective
Nina Brashears
The experience of developing COURSE into a special project with visible results has been very rewarding. I am pleased with the progress of the committee and the commitment of the committee members. Since Grayson is abroad for the Spring Semester I am the only chair of COURSE. However, Lucy Berrier and George Ramsay have assumed greater responsibilities within the committee as Vice-‐Chairs. Their perspective and work has deBinitely promoted the success of the committee. With the end of the school year and the end of the Medlin Administration COURSE will continue to wrap up our Binal projects. The committee members all have great perspectives and passion for education and I know they will continue to work towards raising awareness about the importance of education issues in whatever capacity they can.
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Excelling Through Mentoring
Cory [email protected]
Peter [email protected]
Overview of Responsibilities
ETM is a mentoring program for Birst-‐years run by the Student Government Executive Branch and runs for six weeks during the fall semester. Our aim is to provide a network of resources for Birst-‐years through group mentoring pods, led by student mentors. Each pod will meet once a week to discuss topics relevant to Birst-‐years. Our program will also include speakers and social events organized by coordinators.
Committee Progress
Develop and expand “Excelling Through Mentoring”
Excelling Through Mentoring is a Airst year mentoring program in its second year of existence. The program’s vision is to:
• assist Airst-‐year students in succeeding in academics and in campus involvement;• introduce Airst-‐year students to valuable opportunities to explore their interests;• create a support network for Airst-‐year students by establishing connections
with student mentors, faculty and other Airst-‐year students;• maximize the potential of Airst year students to express their leadership through
service to the UNC community.
Mentoring pods, consisting of 2 mentors and 8 Airst years, are the core of ETM and meet for Aive weeks during the fall semester. A wide variety of topics concerning all aspects of student life are covered ranging from academics and class registration to internships and budgeting. Several social events, including an ice cream social and participation in a service project, are being planned to give Airst year students a chance to further interact with each other. There are also three large group events that are educational in nature; examples include a Kickoff Event and presentations by University Career Services and the Study Abroad OfAice.
ETM’s structure was modiAied in several ways for this year. To assist the co-‐directors in running the program, a group of coordinators was selected for outreach, organizing social events, and planning large group events. The program itself was moved from the spring semester to the fall semester since that is when Airst years experience the transition the most. Due to its growing popularity, ETM was also expanded from 10 pods with 20 mentors and 60 Airst years to 16 pods with 32 mentors and 128 Airst year students, which is 3% of the entering class. In total, 167 Carolina students are involved in ETM.
In late August, applications for coordinators and mentors were released, and decisions were released in mid-‐September. The mentors represent numerous majors, hail from all over the country, and are campus leaders in many organizations. Next, applications for Airst years were released, and decisions were released in early October. The Airst year students were sorted into pods based on their preferences after reading mentor proAiles, and the majority was able to receive their top choice. A Kickoff Event took place on October 17th, which had great attendance. Mentoring pod meetings started the week of October 25th.
For the remainder of the semester, the committee focused on updating the curriculum for the program. The coordinators worked hard on planning large group educational and social events for the Airst years.
The Co-Chair Perspective
Cory Gu
Last year, I served as a Mentor for Excelling Through Mentoring in its inaugural year. I applied for the Co-‐Director position because I really wanted to undertake a leadership role with the committee in order to help expand the program and move it to the fall semester this year. I think it’s a real testament to the program that 11 of the mentors were Airst-‐year students in the program last year.
This year we were able to improve efAiciency and organization in the program by utilizing Google Docs for mentors/students to submit their applications. Our coordinators have been an amazing help in recruitment and organizing events for our program. The educational events allow for students to learn more about campus opportunities from speakers and social events give them an opportunity to meet other Airst-‐year students and network with mentors.
Peter Sheng
I am excited to see Excelling Through Mentoring improve and grow from a pilot project into an established program with its own niche in the university. A 50% increase in the number of applications from last year show that more students are becoming aware of the program. Better attendance and participation at our events and pod meetings reAlect that more Airst years are taking advantage of this opportunity. I am very grateful for the support of my co-‐director, coordinators, peers in Student Government, and especially the mentors because ETM would not have seen such success in its second year without all their hard work.
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First Year Focus Council
Jeremy [email protected]
Olivia [email protected]
Overview of Responsibilities
The mission of the First-‐Year Focus Council as deBined by this year's members is to introduce committee members to student government and other leadership opportunities at UNC, while familiarizing other Birst-‐years with UNC student government and the Carolina community.
Committee Progress
Address critical areas of the first-year experience.
First-‐year focus has deBined areas pertinent to the Birst-‐year experience as academic success, community service, social networking, and outreach from student government to the Birst-‐year class. The committee is split so that there is an equal focus on each area. The academic committee is currently planning a Birst-‐year forum to provide an opportunity for Birst-‐years to give feedback about their Carolina experience. The academic committee has been in contact with the OfBice of New Student and Parents throughout the Birst semester. One member of the academic committee will serve on their panel. The community service committee planned an event at the Ronald McDonald house in which our committee volunteered. The committee was able to clean the entire house as well as the outside. The community service committee is currently planning a community service event to extended to the entire Birst-‐year class. The social committee held a Birst-‐year tailgate before the North Carolina State University football game on February 23rd. We provided pizza and soda on the Ehringhaus lawn. Currently the committee is planning a social for South Campus dorms. The Outreach committee has made a listserv for the Birst-‐years who signed up in the pit Birst semester. They have sent out updates about things such as winners of our rafBle and student body elections. The listserv will also be used to announce the upcoming dorm social and community service opportunities.
Seat FFC members on committees, special projects, and external appointments.
Several of our committee members serve on alternate committees, special projects, and external appointments including Academic Affairs Committee, Environmental Affairs Committee, Student Advisory Committee to the Chancellor, Student Life Committee, Carolina Advocacy Committee, Tech & Web Committee, and Public Service and Advocacy Committee. This gives these Birst-‐
years an opportunity to see how other committees operate under the Executive Branch and possibly another realm to pursue leadership opportunities within Student Government. Hopefully, committee members will Binish the year with a more well-‐rounded view of the Executive Branch and will plan to continue their work in the organization.
Expand visibility and accessibility of the First-Year Focus to the students.
First semester, the committee spent a week in the pit collecting emails for the First-‐Year Focus Council listserv. We have used this listserv to send student government and committee updates to Birst-‐years throughout the year. The committee also hosted a Birst-‐year tailgate before the North Carolina State University football game. We plan to Binish the semester with a Birst-‐year community service event and academic panel. We, also, just received our order of committee t-‐shirts. We also have t-‐shirts for those who won the rafBle during out pit/email collection time last semester.
The Co-Chair Perspective
Olivia Smith
It has been an incredible experience to watch the Birst-‐years develop into leaders on this campus. As they have all begun to obtain their own leadership skills, it is also evident that they are learning the hardships this leadership entails. Throughout the year we have been striving to teach the committee that leadership at Carolina requires time, collaboration, and sacriBice. We are still instilling the fact that when you made a commitment to be a leader, you need to fulBill that commitment. The committee has taken on every struggle we’ve faced head-‐on and has worked together in tremendous ways to fulBill their duties. One of the hardest things we’ve dealt with in planning events is a lack of funding. Obtaining donations, whether it be food or monetary takes time that could be spent in improving an event. The committee has certainly worked well under the circumstances and has nevertheless worked to spread the role of student government throughout the Birst-‐year class. I truly believe that some of these committee members will be amazing leaders on this campus in due time. First-‐year focus council has expanded its reach on Carolina’s campus. From a presence in the pit to a presence on South campus or in community service, the committee has certainly spread the word about student government throughout the Birst-‐year class. We plan on increasing the exposure we have begun and continue to get more Birst-‐years involved with student government through the duration of the year.
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Jeremy Knight
This semester, committee members have had a larger role in determining the direction in which the committee goes. They have created and executed all events themselves with us as co-‐chairs to help. Each committee has worked more independently spearheading their initiatives. They have realized the challenges that come with executing some of their ideas. I think this will assist them in the future when running and starting campus initiatives. They have really used our lessons in utilizing organization tools—creating a listserv, speaking with housing and dining, seeking donations, reserving space on campus. I’m glad to see them using these tools and skills that will prove beneBicial in the future.
Music Festival
Sunny [email protected]
Vilas [email protected]
Overview of Responsibilities
The Music Festival Committee is charged with organizing a spring concert for students that attracts top-‐rate talent to Carolina.
Committee Progress
Working Towards a Collaborative Carolina
The committee has met with or contacted a wide variety of campus organizations with the goal of possible partnerships, including:
• CUAB• Student Congress• RHA• CAA• Vinyl Records• Campus Y• Carolina Greek Associations• Senior Class
Highlight Carolina’s Spirit of Service
We investigated the possibility of sponsoring a charity that beneAits Carolina and the surrounding Chapel Hill area. We thought that Build-‐a-‐Block was the ideal organization for our purposes, but that unfortunately fell through.
Attracting First-Class Musical Talent
In order to make SpringFest 2011 the success that we envision it to be, we’ve attempted to get an A-‐list artist to perform at the event. Before we can start contacting artists and their agents, however, we had to Aind a sponsor in the form of Microsoft who was kind enough to partner with us for the launch of their HeelMail emailing service.
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The Co-Chair Perspective
Vilas Sankar
Thanks to the budget cuts that have hit the entire UNC system, the majority of campus organizations we contacted did not have the amount of funding they were accustomed to. This forced them to carefully choose which events and projects they could sponsor, and oftentimes Springfest did not make the cut. Traditional sponsors such as UNC Athletics balked at sponsoring, severely curtailing our ability to contact, much less book, a headline artist. Many organizations, such as CUAB, wavered in their support of Springfest and the amount of money they could contribute. Our prospects were dim until we found out about Microsoft’s interest in sponsoring, but their funding was not a sure thing until a few weeks ago. Our partners at this juncture are CUAB and Microsoft, and we have been able to contact some artists and put in some offers. We are currently attempting to book a Tribe Called Quest, and we should hear back over the weekend of March 18, 2011.
In the future, sponsors and funding must be established as early as possible (which is much easier said than done). However when attracting initial funding, future co-‐chairs should be wary that the support of organizations is very Bickle and can change in a heartbeat. CUAB is the best partner we can have, and I strongly recommend working with them, and especially their advisor Lauren Sacks. She has been an invaluable asset in the planning of this project, as has the rest of the CUAB team.
Sunny Huang
Vilas has essentially summed up the important points. In addition to the thoughts related above, I would like to also stress the importance of assembling and mobilizing a strong team of committee members. We did not do a great job of that, and as a result, we sometimes overloaded on tasks and responsibilities and fell short of certain goals.
My primary piece of advice is that once the major funding players have been established, be assertive and set weekly (or monthly) meetings. That way, updates can be relayed quickly and organizations are more likely to contribute if they know others are as well.
Last but not least, START EARLY.
Second Start
Jasmine Colquitt [email protected]
Uhlee [email protected]
Overview of Responsibilities
The Second Start Committee is charged with helping Sophomore Students overcome the problem of a Sophomore Slump and excel in their academic experiences.
Platform Progress
Help sophomores avoid the “sophomore slump” by providing information about the variety of resources Carolina has to offer
Throughout the 2010-‐2011 academic year, the Second Start committee has succeeded in its goal of launching a completely new event on campus designed speciBically for sophomores, but still open to students of all grade levels. This was achieved through the Birst annual series of Coffee Hour events. This is an event that we hope will continue and earn the support of future administrations.
Coffee Hour was essentially an opportunity for sophomores to become better acquainted with their professors outside of the classroom on a more personal level. Often times, students are too scared or intimidated to approach their professors in ofBice hours, especially if they are not performing their best in class. The Coffee Hour functioned similarly to a traditional ofBice hour, in that it allowed students to ask questions and converse with their professors about any topic, ranging from classroom lectures to career opportunities; however, the difference was that it was held outside of the professor’s ofBice in a local coffee venue. The outside venue helped create a more relaxing and comfortable atmosphere to foster student-‐professor relationships. During the Fall semester, the committee as a whole put on two Coffee Hour events for professors of sophomore (200) level courses at two of our local coffee venues-‐-‐one for Professor Loeb (psychology) at McAlister’s Deli and one for Professor Balaban (economics) at Jack Sprat Café.
During the spring semester, the Second Start committee was divided into two subcommittees, and each subcommittee was held responsible for hosting its own Coffee Hour event for a professor of their choice. These professors happened to be Dr. Johnson (biology) and Professor Bliem (chemistry). The average turnout of each event was approximately 6 to 8 people, and the professors tended to speak to groups of students at one time, rather than seeing a single student one after another. This method of communication allowed quality time for the
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professor and all students in attendance to engage in building deep and impacting relationships that oftentimes is not achieved in traditional ofBice hours due to intimidation and feelings of time constraint. Overall, seeing that this was a Birst time effort, we consider these series of Coffee Hour events to be very successful, with room for improvement in the following years to come.
The Co-Chair Perspective
Jasmine ColquittOverall I feel that Second Start is an amazing program and will have a positive effect on the lives of many second year students here at Carolina. I have discovered that it was not as challenging this year to create a new program that was speciBically targeted to sophomores without overlapping with already established programs and events; however, I feel that much more can be accomplished next year and that the event that was created is just a preview of great things to come for Second Start in the future. I feel as though Second Start also had a very dedicated committee this year. It was great to see that Second Start did show an increase in the number of committee members and I enjoyed working with them. Like last year, Second Start did face some hurdles, but I feel that with the persistence, hard work, and diligence of not only the committee members but also of the co-‐chairs, Second Start will succeed. I have learned a great deal by being co-‐chair of this committee and all that I have learned and experienced in the Second Start Program I will carry with me in my future endeavors.
Uhlee Oh
Working with the Second Start committee has truly been a rewarding learning experience! Our committee was able to assess a need on campus, envision a way of resolving the need, and turn the vision into a reality! I am so honored to have been able to work with a unique group of people who were able to share their various creative ideas to collaborate on this project! I hope that this project will be picked up by the next administration because although this is our Birst year carrying out the Coffee Hour project, we were able to make a difference in the lives of 38 sophomores by helping them approach professors that they normally would not have approached without the help of Coffee Hour. Through my experience of working as a leader, a team player, and a liaison on student government this year, I’ve gained a plethora of useful skills that I know will be of great value in all aspects of my life. One thing I would have done differently, however, is to incorporate fun bonding events like weekend outings for the committee members, just so they could have gotten to know each other on a more personal level as well to form friendships outside of student government. Having said that, I’m truly blessed to have worked as part of this administration, and I wish the best for the incoming co-‐chairs and members of Second Start!
Speaker Series
Matt [email protected]
Cameron [email protected]
Background on Series
The Speakers Series is a student-‐led and student-‐run series that was created in 2007 by our late student body president, Eve Carson. Our series brings to UNC nationally and internationally renowned Bigures—men and women who have distinguished themselves through their ideals and accomplishments—for the purpose of stimulating a campus-‐wide dialogue about important contemporary issues. The values set forth for speakers in our series are those to which we, as Carolina students, aspire: a strong ability to lead themselves and others, a commitment to public service, and the proven ability to enact real, positive change in a community. Eve believed strongly in Carolina students, saying, “it’s us – the student body – who make UNC what it is.” She believed in the importance of speakers to strengthen the values of the student body and better equip the students of our University to serve their communities and the world.
Committee Progress
Improving the sustainability and publicity of Speaker Series website:
This area has been a slow start, but we are now well on our way to having an improved website before the semester break. Brian Payst, of Student Affairs, is working on how to make our website easier to populate, and we have expanded the committee’s involvement in the day-‐to-‐day updating of the website. While sometimes a mundane task, this opportunity gives our committee members a chance to feel more involved throughout the semester and take ownership of the events. We have also kicked off our collaboration with other groups on campus, so that more speaking events are included. We fortunately had a freshman take over as the webmaster for the group, which was a great way to involve some junior committee members.
In addition, we received an e-‐mail from the SGA Chief of Staff at Georgia Tech, Jimmy Williams, who was interested in our feedback on how to best foster collaboration with disparate groups on campus for speakers. We have been in contact and are helping them on this issue. Perhaps our website will lead to improved collaboration on other campuses.
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Continue to generate funds for the Speaker Endowment:
We met with Lanier Brown May, our contact in the Development OfBice, repeatedly this past year about this project and have begun moving forward. The Women’s Leadership Council had a great spring meeting, which Matt Miller was able to sit on to promote the series. Including pledges, we are nearly a quarter of the way to our increased endowment goal of $200,000. She also said the Women’s Leadership Council will make funds available to Binance our speaking event this year independent of the endowment.
Other Projects:
We have ofBicially named the series The Carson Lectures: The Students’ Speaker Series. We learned that we did not need go through the naming committee, so we hope to have the Birst ofBicial lecture of this series this Spring or next Fall.
We have been working hard on bringing speakers with name recognition to campus in conjunction with the Women’s Leadership Council and the Johnston Center for Undergraduate Excellence. We nearly brought Governor Beverly Purdue to campus, but she had to cancel at the last minute. We are still in the process of raising funds to bring former White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs to campus this Spring. We have also reached out to many more speakers to prepare for future years early. Hopefully these speakers will respond positively and we can continue to grow the presence of this series on campus.
The Co-Chair Perspective
Matt Miler
While I feel like we may have gotten off to a slow start this year, I am conBident we have had an enduring impact on the series. I am optimistic about the improved website, a project I began work on last year as a member of the committee. Furthermore, the letter from Georgia Tech was a nice conBidence boost that our committee is being looked to for advice because of our previous success.
I also believe that our new name may allow us to bring further big name speakers to campus and hopefully we have brought Robert Gibbs by the end of the semester, further strengthening the Series’ reputation on campus. Once we are an endowed lectureship, I think we will be better able to attract top speakers. Helping to build this endowment probably has been our biggest impact on the series.
As for lessons for future years, we fell into the trap of relying too heavily on the Governor’s commitment, which is a valuable lesson for next year’s co-‐chairs. Furthermore, the importance of having a solid pipeline of speakers far in advance cannot be stressed enough.
Cameron Kneib
This year on Speaker Series we have been working hard to achieve our goal to bring a speaker. Due to budget cuts in departments and professional schools, it has been harder to Bind the funding needed to bring a big name speaker to campus. I feel that if we can Binalize bringing one of the few people we are in contact with, we will go a long way toward building the presence of this committee on campus. Our website and listserv has grown quite a bit this semester, and I think we have done a rather good job of publicizing most of the larger speaking events on campus. We still need to do a lot of work to build our endowment, which is currently struggling to Bind the funding pledged. All in all, I feel that we have done a lot of good work this semester and are on our way towards building a well supported lecture series on this campus.
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Peer Advising
Kelsey [email protected]
Jesse Addison [email protected]
Overview of Responsibilities
The Peer Advising Committee is charged with overseeing and expanding the student run peer-‐advising program that seeks to expand student access to course related help.
Committee Progress
Select Peer Advisors for the 2010-2011 School Year
In the spring of 2010, we selected 12 Peer Advisors to serve in the 8 academic departments that are associated with the Peer Advising Program at Carolina. The Peer Advisors were selected based on achievements in their majors, relationships with faculty, and depth of understanding in their Bields of study. These 12 Peer Advisors were trained in September 2012.
Train Peer Advisors
Each Peer Advisor attended an hour long training and information session on peer advising. The training session went over the programs mission and the peer advisors responsibilities and restrictions. This year's Peer Advisors have developed methods for how to get the word out about their services. Peer Advisors are supposed to contact their academic departments by November 1st and brainstorm more ways to spread the word (via listservs, presentations in front of introductory, lecture classes, Bliers, blackboard, etc.).
Develop the Peer Advising Program
The Peer Advising program is a special project of the Hogan Administration and a newer addition to the Carolina community. The goal of this year’s Peer Advising Committee is to spread the word about peer advisors. The co-‐chairs of this committee aim to work with peer advisors, academic departments, and students to spread the word about the program. Students have demonstrated an interest in peer advising and this project aims to address that need.
A goal of ours during the spring semester is to work more closely with those programs on campus that are more established (e.g. major unions, peer tutoring). For instance, there is peer tutoring for mathematics and Spanish that
occurs in Dey Hall throughout the week. Peer Advisors are encouraged to go and answer any questions that students may have about the major. Also, we hope to encourage the major unions (e.g. Public Policy Majors Union) to spread the word about the services that Peer Advisors can provide.
Increase the number of Academic Departments in the Program
Our fourth platform point is to grow the size of the program. There are currently 8 departments involved (mathematics, biology, political science, geography, chemistry, Spanish, English, and public policy). By the end of the school year (Spring 2011), we hope to have increased the program size to 12 academic departments. Our focus this spring is to increase the size of the Peer Advising program.
We have started to discuss what departments we would like to have expand the Peer Advising program, but we have not yet met with any of the departments as of March 2011. The following departments we are looking in to working with in the future are Physics, Arabic, Anthropology, Economics, Statistics, and PWAD.
Collaborate more effectively with Academic Advising
This is an additional platform point for the spring semester. We met with the Dean of Academic Advising, Dr. Lee May, in February to discuss future collaboration between Peer Advising and Academic Advising. We developed several ideas, including expanding the programs we currently have, creating an event in April for advisors and peer advisors to sit in the Pit to advise students with classes, and increase the cooperation between Peer Advisors and Academic Advisors. We all recognized that both Peer Advisors and Academic Advisors have a lot to offer Carolina students. Academic Advisors know what the students need to accomplish to graduate, while the Peer Advisors have had experience with the classes that the students need. We discussed with Dr. May other areas in which we could collaborate with other academic programs that are already in place to increase the awareness of Peer Advisors (e.g., Peer Tutoring).
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The Co-Chair Perspective
Kelsey Farson
It has been exciting to see the development of the Peer Advising program over the past two semesters. I have high hopes that the program will continue to grow and develop over the next few years. The program was just formalized this past year and I’ve been impressed to see the growth in the program.
I hope to see more academic departments join in the coming years and have their own Peer Advisors. It has been great to hear that the Peer Advisors are being utilized by students in their departments. The demand for Peer Advisors varies between departments (the most used being Psychology and Geography), but each department can beneBit from having a Peer Advisor. The feedback we have received from some of our current advisors, suggests that students feel like their peers are easier to ask basic questions to. While our advisors can’t always address their speciBic needs, they can always tell them who to contact or where to go to Bind that information. Access to information is a vital role Peer Advisors are playing.
In the future, I hope to see greater collaboration between Academic Advising and Peer Advising. The two play a reciprocal role in a student’s education at Carolina. Academic Advisors know the classes students need to graduate, while the Peer Advisors have had actual experience taking those classes. Peer Advisors have an important role to play, distinct from that of Academic Advisors however, both are crucial to the academic success of Carolina students. Jesse Addison
Peer Advising's Birst year as a committee-‐like apparatus of the Executive Branch of Student Government has been a success. We have rendered the peer advising program more salient in campus life by working to recruit and support our team of capable, outgoing, approachable peer advisors who represent what Carolina is all about. The peer advising program at UNC has a bright future. As we move forward, peer advising needs to become institutionalized as a program like traditional advising or other longer-‐lived campus resources. Moreover, peer advising's perceived legitimacy and usefulness will be greatly bolstered by its expansion into new programs and departments, which should remain one of the central goals for our incoming co-‐chairs.
Public Relations & Marketing Team
Maria [email protected]
Committee Progress
Microsoft Live@edu: HeelMail
The team has worked closely with representatives from ITS for almost a year to establish a cohesive campaign strategy for the new e-‐mail system. Bi-‐weekly meetings offered us knowledge of the program’s development and helped us shape our goals. We worked with the executive branch of student government and ITS to choose the domain name, service name, program appearance and a communications timeline.
We branded the system “HeelMail.” Our strategies that we created before the October report are currently being implemented. HeelMail social media has launched and the student body will be able to make the switch to the new system in April. It will be mandatory to switch by August.
We worked closely with the Tech & Web committee to make sure that ITS was working with the students in mind. We helped form a complete strategy between the two organizations, ITS and student government, to promote the new e-‐mail system.
We have worked really hard to make sure that this is a successful switch from Webmail. The team is currently working with Microsoft, CUAB and Springfest to put on a concert sponsored by Microsoft. They have provided funding for a concert, giveaways and materials to pass out. We are looking forward to a successful launch in April.
UNC Build A Block
UNC Build a Block is a 10-‐month initiative to build 10 Habitat for Humanity homes for 10 UNC employee families. Representatives from our team attend bi-‐weekly meetings with other Build a Block leaders to get updates on builds, volunteer efforts and share our public relations and advertising efforts.
We worked with Build a Block to help them get media attention by writing and distributing press releases, media alerts and facts sheets to campus, local and state-‐wide publications. Throughout the year, we garnered media coverage from all major broadcast stations and print publications in the Triangle.
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We collaborated with Kangaroo Express, Largemouth Communications and Tar Heel Sports Properties to participate in the Battle for Bean Street. The competition is between UNC, Duke and NC State to see which university’s fans purchase the most branded coffee cups at Kangaroo Express convenience stores. The winner will receive a $20,000 donation to the charity of their choice, with UNC’s proceeds going to Build a Block.
Environment Affairs
We worked with the Environmental Affairs committee on their project during Homecoming weekend for the Game-‐Day challenge. We attended their meetings and advised them on their public relations plan.
Since the beginning of the spring semester, the student government PR team, along with the EAC, has been working together to promote their event, Recyclemania. To assist with this campaign, the PR team created a new logo and slogan for the organization. The PR team also wrote a press release for the event and we helped members of EAC to create a PR campaign to promote Recyclemania. The campaign includes a Facebook event, tweets, a painted cube, and a recycling drive to be held Wednesday, March 23. Recyclemania ends April 2nd.
Public Safety
During the spring semester, the PR Team worked with Student Affairs to brainstorm publicity strategies for Smart 911. Smart 911 is a service that allows UNC students to create a proBile in case of an emergency. If the student calls campus police, the student’s proBile will become available to responders. The proBile can include anything the student thinks might be useful: name, physical description, photos, make and model of her car, and any medications she is taking. The proBile also uses GPS signals from the student’s cell phone to determine an approximate location. Information is voluntary, private, and helps prepare police so they can respond quickly and effectively—even if the student never says a word on the phone.
Student Affairs planned to launch a UNC-‐Chapel Hill Smart 911 website in early March. Prior to the launch, the PR Team met with Student Affairs to discuss their vision and recommend several strategies. We recommended that Student Affairs operate a table in the Pit after the launch, where students could learn more and sign up for the service. We also suggested contacting The Daily Tar Heel and running a Smart 911 piece, perhaps as a letter to the editor. Finally, we agreed to write a blog about the service, which is awaiting publication on Student Government’s blog page.
The student government public relations team also worked with public safety to create logos for Smart 911 and a logo for their new website. We advised them on a slogan for their website in addition to general content.
Other Projects
We worked on smaller publicity campaigns for several different committees. We helped publicize the diversity awards for the university diversity awards committee. We helped PSAC with publicity for a couple of projects. The PR team assisted them with the Food Drive and we also started developing a campaign for Carolina United. And Binally, we worked with student life to create a Blyer, a Facebook event and a logo for the Carolina Men’s Networking Night.
The Chair Perspective
Maria Mayorga
This year has Blown by and the PR team has accomplished so much more than I ever thought was possible. We have successfully worked to complete a major Medlin Administration goal by implementing HeelMail. That was a major accomplishment and we spent almost a year working to make sure everything went smoothly. I am proud to say that the PR team is looking forward to a seamless transition from Webmail to HeelMail.
We have worked on so many projects this year for various committees that it was hard to remember everything we have done. We were able to consult with everyone that came to us for help and advice. I am proud that we were able to serve our fellow members of cabinet.
Our team has grown again this year to 25 members. The team is made up of mostly journalism students. I think this makes a great addition to student government because many of them have never before worked in student government before. They are able to help on many projects that they have never even thought about working on.
I will be sad to leave the team after graduation but I know they will do great work. We have been around now for almost three years. This committee has been of great use for student government. The team will continue to work with on big and small projects for years to come. I believe the work we are doing now will allow them to keep doing bigger and better things. I wish the best for the team!
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Additional Programs
Eve Carson Scholarship
Katherine Novinski, Executive [email protected]
Description: The Eve Carson Scholarship is a student run scholarship dedicated to continuing Eve Carson’s vision of Students serving Students. Each year, the Scholarship awards those students who have demonstrated ability, service, and dedication to the University and their fellow students.
Scholarship Progress
Recruitment and Selection
Selection Timeline
Tuesday, October 12 Applica=on OnlineFriday, November 19 Applica=ons Due by 5:00 PMSunday, November 21 Recommenda=ons Due by 5:00 PMSaturday, December 18 Finalists No=fiedFriday, January 15 Addi=onal Materials from Finalists DueSunday, January 30 Finalist Interviews and Recipient(s) No=fied
A total of 95 applications were received for the Eve Carson Scholarship this year, by the deadline on November 19, 2010. That is a decrease from the 123 received last year, which was a decrease from the approximately 140 received the previous year. This means, we need to consider how to more effectively recruit applicants especially as the classes continue to know less and less about Eve, since next year will be the Birst year no one who attended UNC with Eve will be on campus.
The Selection Committee had three rounds of application reading. During the Birst round, each application was read by three members of the Selection Committee. The applications were ranked according to the Selection Criteria. Approximately the top 20% of applicants were moved forward to the second round of reading. In this round, all of applications were read by every member of the Selection Committee. The committee then met to deliberate on which of these applicants would move on to the Binal round. Six students were chosen as Binalists.
These six students were asked to provide supplementary materials outlining their potential plans for the summer, their current Binancial aid situation, some sort of original work that gave the committee further insight and a peer recommendation. All six of the applicants were interviewed by the entire Selection Committee on Sunday, January 30th, 2010. After all six applicants were interviewed, the
committee deliberated, selecting Mark Clarke and Zach De La Rosa as this year’s Eve Carson Scholars.
Mark Clarke, of Fairview in Buncombe County, is majoring in English in the College of Arts and Sciences, with minors in history and creative writing. Clarke, a 2008 graduate of A.C. Reynolds High School in Asheville, is the son of Betsy and Douglas Clark. Growing up on a farm that has been in his family for generations, Clarke gained a passion for food, the process that it goes through before it reaches our plates and its integral place in building a community. He helped start the Carolina Campus Community Garden over the past year and a half. The garden began as a student garden co-‐op but was changed to a community garden that grows fresh, organic, inexpensive produce for housekeepers and other low-‐wage UNC staff members. It also helps strengthen relationships between students and UNC staff. Clarke loves helping build community, either through gardening or in his work as the Outreach and Service Chair at the Reformed University Fellowship at UNC. In his spare time, Clarke plays the harmonica in a band and spends as much time gardening and with friends as possible.
Zach De La Rosa, of Raleigh, is double majoring in mathematics and economics in the College of Arts and Sciences with a minor in philosophy. De La Rosa, a 2008 graduate of the North Carolina School of Science and Math, is the son of Mark and Carol De La Rosa. He helped start the economic development center of the Carolina chapter of the Roosevelt Institute Campus Network. He believes that economics and access to money help people realize their dignity as humans. De La Rosa’s peers recently elected him president of the Carolina chapter. De La Rosa hopes to spend his Eve Carson Scholarship Summer Experience working with a micro-‐Binance initiative internationally. He wants to better understand the real-‐life effects of poverty in other countries so that his study of economic development is more tangible and applicable. De La Rosa has overcome hearing problems and taught sign language to students in the Triangle. He has not let his hearing problems as a child stop him from becoming a strong public speaker. He is a senator in the Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies – a student debate and literary group –chair of the rules and judiciary committee of Student Congress and a member of the choir at the Newman Catholic Student Center.
The members of the Selection Committee for this year were:
Name Posi*onHogan Medlin Student Body PresidentKatherine Novinski DirectorLauren Shor Senior StudentMaribel Sierra Senior StudentTed Baxa Senior StudentMeg Petersen Faculty/Staff Member
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Dr. Joe Templeton Rep. of Scholarships and Student Aid Jon Cur=s Rep. of Division of Student AffairsJordan Meyers Alumnus
Jon Curtis and Jordan Meyers will serve on the Selection Committee again next year to complete their two year commitment. Meg Petersen and Joe Templeton will have the option to serve on the Selection Committee again. If they choose not to serve another term, other individuals will be appointed.
Both Zach De La Rosa and Mark Clare are currently Binalizing their Summer Experience plans.
Fundraising
The Eve Carson Scholarship Executive Committee set a goal to raise $100,000 in the June 2010-‐June 2011 Biscal year. By February 8, 2011, we had raised $84,441.54.
Major Events
The Eve Ball
• On Friday, November 5, 2010, we had the second annual Eve Ball, hosted by Lori Burgwyn and Franklin Street Yoga.
• Ticket prices were reduced from $20 to $15 in order to be able to sell more ticket to seniors and we worked with the Development to make sure that the Eve Ball Ticket, since it is a donation to the Eve Carson Scholarship, counted as a Senior Class Gift.
• For this reason, SoBia Wilson, Co-‐Director of External Development for the Scholarship, established a relationship with the Senior Class Marshalls. Each Marshall was given tickets to sell to help them reach their Senior Campaign Goal and to help us sell tickets. This relationship will continue next year, as
• This year, the Eve Ball raised $10,000 instead of $12,000 despite our efforts to involve the Senior Marshalls. Approximately the same number of seniors attended, however, Lori said her attendance was a bit lower as were sponsorships. The fact that the event was the weekend after Halloween did not help, but there was no option since Homecoming was Halloween weekend.
• In the future, we discussed with Lori making sure the Eve Ball always falls on the weekend of Halloween or earlier. Additionally, the Eve Ball will be open to all classes next year, not just 21+.
• The “Thriller in the Pit” Event was new this year and was held on Monday, November 1st to publicize the Eve Ball. This event will occur again, as it created lots of media publicity thanks to Chancellor Thorp, Patti Thorp and the Mayor volunteering to learn the dance to Thriller in the Pit.
• Bob and Teresa Carson came to the Eve Ball this year as a surprise!
Eve Marie Carson Memorial 5K for Education
• This year, the Eve 5K and Eve Ball fell on the same weekend, as the Eve 5K was on Saturday, November 6, 2010. This was a challenge for publicity and attendance, because individuals who would have normally attended both did not want to spend $30 in the same weekend. Additionally, the Eve Ball was the night before the Eve 5K, so that also hurt attendance. Next year, the Eve Ball will be on the weekend of Halloween and the Eve 5K will return to the weekend of Eve’s Birthday, Saturday, November 19th.
• Still, the Eve 5K was a huge success as more runners registered than last year and fundraising increased, which is a huge testament to the work of Katherine Richey and Bill Cook who were the Eve 5K Directors. They worked tirelessly to make sure the Eve 5K brought in more money than last year, because normally memorial 5K’s raise less money the 3rd year.
• It actually was raining the morning of the 5K, however, it was inspiring to see that over 1,000 people still showed up to run in the rain.
• This year, we received $25,000 from the Eve 5K, whereas last year we received $12,700. This is a result both of an increase in overall funds raised, but also because the Eve Carson Scholarship received 75% instead of 60% of funds raised this year.
• We also established a much better working relationship with the Eve 5K this year and will be able to improve upon that relationship even more next year, especially in terms of publicity efforts.
• Both Chase Jones and Caroline Fish spoke at the Eve 5K. Additionally, Chase and Caroline visited the Eve 5K meetings to that the 5K Committee could really see who they were supporting. Letters from the Scholars were also included in the registration packets to enable participants to see where the money was going.
Other Fundraising Events:
• LSU-‐UNC Tailgate – Atlanta -‐ Raised $3,000. This event will not occur next year.
• Chi Psi – Chi O Barbecue and Bluegrass Night – Friday, November 12th. This event will occur again next year.
• Eve’s Birthday Bash – We had an event on Eve’s Birthday, Friday, November 19th that was originally intended as a Fundraising Venture. However, we had had three fundraising events the weekends before, so we shifted the focus to be a celebration of her life. The event was held on the quad, students participated in a scavenger hunt, danced and participated in the “Why do you do what you do?” photography activity. Around 100 people attended, including some faculty and staff. We also received media coverage.
• At this event, we released the new Eve’s Dance Party T-‐Shirts:
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We wanted to create a T-‐Shirt which continued the tradition of the Eve’s Dance Party T-‐Shirts but which also connected the idea to the Eve Carson Scholarship. Keeping the idea of “Eve’s Dance Party” alive maintains the student, silly, ridiculous, fun, human side of who Eve was so that she does not become idealized in the minds of the students. Every student at the Eve’s Birthday Bash received a T-‐Shirt, thanks to a generous donation. Next year, we are considering doing an “Eve’s Dance Party” event as a kick-‐off to Every Moment Counts in March, as opposed to doing it in the Fall, because we already have so many events in the Fall. This event would be focused on providing outreach and awareness to the Scholarship as opposed to being a fundraising event.
External Fundraising Campaign by Chase Pickering
Chase Pickering, Co-‐Director of External Development, developed a fundraising letter campaign with new potential donors, which raised approximately $10,000 for the Eve Carson Scholarship.
Fundraising Events Left:
• Fourth Annual Tri Sigma Cookout for the Carolina Way – Tuesday, April 5th
• Sigma Epsilon’s Slugfest – Last Day of Class • Eve’s 80’s Dance Party in Atlanta – May • Annual Appeal Letter to Former Donors – Last year, Elinor Benami wrote a
letter to all donors of the Eve Carson Scholarship. However, this year, I wrote a letter following the Selection of the Scholars, which gave an overview of all
5 Eve Carson Scholars. This letter will be sent out to all donors by the end of March.
Stewardship
We have also placed an emphasis on Stewardship this year. A video was created and distributed to all UNC donors in the Fall. A one-‐pager about the Scholarship has been created which can be distributed to donors, with plans to create a more formal PowerPoint presentation that External Development can use when approaching donors.
Lori Burgwyn of Franklin Street Yoga and the Director of the Eve 5K, Katherine Richey and Bill Cook, both had the opportunity to meet both Chase and Caroline, as did the Morehead-‐Cain Foundation Staff. We have met with other donors and supporters of the Scholarship as well, and have stayed in good contact with Bob and Teresa Carson, but this is an area that we need to continue to improve upon.
Notable Scholar Updates
Caroline Fish received the Chancellor’s Award for the Advancement of Women because of her work with Project Dinah and One Act. She is still Binishing all of her story portraits based off of her research from her Summer Experience and Binishing her Honors Thesis.
Chase Jones won Mr. UNC this year. He was motivated to run because he wanted to be able to share the story of who Eve was and also how he has been motivated by his receipt of the Scholarship to give back more fully to campus. He has been working hard to raise money for Basebald for the Cure again this year, in order to help it grow into a bigger event. Basebald for the Cure now has a stronger relationship with the Lineberger Cancer Center and the event will be held on Saturday, April 2nd.
Scholar Support
Next year, a goal will be to increase the support that we provide Scholars in the planning of their Summer Experiences, as well as during the year.
Eve Carson Scholarship Network
I have compiled a list of all members of the Selection Committee from all the years, Executive Committee, Scholars and Friends of Eve for record-‐keeping sake. The plan is to create a network of these individuals, which the scholars can use for support for planning their Summer Experiences and for career development opportunities.
Development has agreed to help code in their Database with “Eve Carson Scholarship Network.” We have discussed starting with a LinkedIn Group but also
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plan to explore options of how to create a log-‐in to the Eve Carson Scholarship website, especially with plans to do a website re-‐design. We feel keeping track of all of these individuals now is extremely important for long-‐term sustainability of the Scholarship as well.
We also met with Jim Ferguson, Director of the EATS Program, to discuss the idea of a “Faculty Connections Program” for Scholars. A “Director of Scholar Support” and “Assistant Director of Scholar Support” have been added to the Executive Committee for the Eve Carson Scholarship. Matt Fox, the 2011-‐2012 Director of the Scholarship will make Applicant Recruitment and Scholar Support a focus for next year.
Perspective of the Director
The biggest question is still long-‐term sustainability. How do we ensure the Scholarship still exists and is operating effectively, with credibility in 20 years, when students take over from year to year?
This is a question that we have not entirely answered, however, we have formalized processes for Summer Experience Approval, written By-‐Laws, and required Final Reports and Summer Reports of the Scholars.
Additionally, A Year-‐End report will be written and distributed to the beginning of what will become a “Board of Advisors.” Currently, the Executive Directors of the Scholarship for the last three years, Thomas Edwards, Andy Woods, and myself will be a part of the Board of Advisors. Additionally, Beth Braxton, the Director of the Carolina Annual Fund, and Dan Thornton, the Associate Director of Scholarships and Student Aid, as well as a representative from the Division of Student Affairs, will also be a part of the “Board of Advisors” because of their internal role within the University which necessitates they work with the Scholarship. Matt Fox will work on further establishing the Board of Advisors over the coming year by adding individuals who do not work within the university.
Next year will be the Birst class where very few students knew Eve personally. However, we are currently Binalizing the Executive Committee for next year and are very happy with the applicants. Additionally, the underclassmen who we involved this year really gained a good understanding of the mission and vision of the Eve Carson Scholarship which is beneBicial for future years.
SafeWalk
Christina Lynch, [email protected]
Description: SafeWalk is a student run, late night safety escort service that pairs students with a team of DPS trained walkers to ensure students are safe on campus. The service operates from 11pm-‐3am Sunday-‐Thursday.
Program Progress
Increase Numbers
In spring 2010, SafeWalk had a total of 1,010 walks, and in fall 2010, we increased the number of walks by more than 200 – a total of 1,291 walks in fall 2010. We had our record amount of walks in one night at 43 and averaged over 18 walks per night. This semester has had a slower start, but it is now beginning to ramp up to average almost 18 walks per night. We hope to beat last semester’s 1,291 walks by the end of this semester.
Expand Off-Campus
Expansion has been the focus of this spring semester. The SafeWalk Executive Board has met with Dean Blackburn and Chapel Hill police to speak about the risks of expanding off campus. We have set up an expansion plan that takes into account all potential scenarios that could occur. It is a three-‐phase expansion plan to ensure that our off-‐campus plan is going well each step of the way.
We implemented the Birst phase on Wednesday, February 16. It includes Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. up to Longview Street and Mill Creek Apartments; Hillsborough Street down to Townhouse Apartments; Henderson Street; and North Street. The Birst phase will also expand coverage of Franklin Street and Rosemary Street. On Franklin Street, SafeWalk will cover between Roberson Street and Davie Circle. On Rosemary Street, SafeWalk will serve locations between Rosemary Village/Mitchell Lane and Boundary Street.
The second phase began on Sunday, March 20, 2011. It includes Cameron Avenue and McCauley Street. SpeciBically, the locations that will be added are Mallette Street, Kenan Street, Cameron Court, Basnight Lane and Roberson Street. Additionally, Ransom Street, Vance Street and Pittsboro Street will be covered along McCauley Street.
The third and Binal phase, beginning on Sunday, April 17, 2011, will cover areas around Church Street. On Church Street, SafeWalk will serve up to Caldwell Street, thus covering Lindsay Street, Cotton Street, McDade Street, Brooks Street, Carr Street and Pritchard Avenue. On North Columbia Street, SafeWalk will
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expand coverage up to and including Longview Street, Stinson Street, Stephens Street and Isley Street.
After the implementation of the third phase, SafeWalk will be expanded to its fullest extent that it feasibly can at its current state of operation.
Funding
We are doing well in terms of budgeting and having enough money to cover the budget. We saved $1,200 by hiring three work-‐study employees last semester. We are also using demand-‐based stafBing to control costs. Makani Dollinger, the Finance Director, has been keeping up with our budget and advising the team on how much money we have to spend in speciBic areas such as publicity, wages or insurance.
Parents Council gave us $15,000 again for the fall 2011 to spring 2012 school year, and we will be requesting money from more of the same places. We have also applied for the Strowd Roses grant from the Town of Chapel Hill, and we are awaiting the results of the grant.
Publicity
Jacob Horvat, the Marketing Director, has been coming up with new ways to promote SafeWalk such as an A-‐frame outside of the Undergraduate Library. We are putting up Blyers in all of the dorms to promote the expansion. We are also doing a large social media campaign through Facebook by having people tag SafeWalk in posts and giving gift certiBicates out every few weeks.
We recently sent out a survey to 5,000 random undergraduates and had 730 people respond. In this survey, 96 percent of the people responded that they had heard of SafeWalk. The respondents said that The Daily Tar Heel, CTOPS, friends/word of mouth and the announcements in the UL and Davis are the top four places that they had heard of SafeWalk. Of the respondents who had used SafeWalk before, 97 percent felt safer using SafeWalk.
The Co-Chair Perspective
Christina Lynch, Director
Expansion has by far been the most exciting thing to happen to SafeWalk besides its launch. The campus has shown enthusiasm and support for this move as it will begin to serve way more of the students. I expect this to increase our number of walks, which is great because that means more students are getting home safer!
These are my Binal couple of months working on SafeWalk. I have been with the program since its inception back in the spring semester of 2009. I have witnessed its launch in January 2010 and its expansion to a fourth team in the fall semester of 2010. Now, I get to witness its expansion and success that this semester will bring. I will be leaving SafeWalk upon graduation in May, and I am fully conBident in the team of sophomores and juniors to take on this large task. I am excited to see what this team will do and to come back in a couple of years and see how far SafeWalk has gone and how much it has grown.
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For More Information on the Executive Branch of Student GovernmentPlease see http://www.unc.edu/studgov
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