THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL EXECUTIVE BRANCH OF STUDENT GOVERNMENT DEARMIN ADMINISTRATION OCTOBER REPORT Prepared by the Office of the Student Body President Tuesday, October 25, 2005 Campus Box 5210, Box 47, Carolina Student Union Chapel Hill, N.C. 27599 This publication was paid for, at least in part, by Student Activity Fees THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL EXECUTIVE BRANCH OF STUDENT GOVERNMENT DEARMIN ADMINISTRATION OCTOBER 2005 REPORT Prepared by the Office of the Student Body President Tuesday, October 25, 2005 Campus Box 5210, Box 47, Carolina Student Union Chapel Hill, N.C. 27599 This publication was paid for, at least in part, by Student Activity Fees 2 TABLE OF C ONTENTS I. Reports from the Executive Officers Student Body President Seth Dearmin 6 Student Body Vice President Adrian Johnston 10 Student Body Treasurer Daneen Furr 17 Student Body Secretary Neepa Mehta 20 Chief of Staff Mark Laabs 23 Senior Advisor Erika Barrera 26 Graduate Professional Student Federation President Mike Brady 27 II. Reports of the Executive and Special Assistants to the… Student Body President 30 Student Body Vice President 35 Student Body Treasurer 37 Student Body Secretary 38 Chief of Staff 39 III. Reports from Executive Committees Academic Affairs 43 Arts Advocacy 50 Communications and Publicity 53 Environmental Affairs 54 Greek Affairs 57 Health Services 58 Minority Affairs 60 Public Service and Advocacy 62 Student Advocacy 64 Student Life 66 Technology and Web Services 68 Town Relations 70 University Services 71 Women’s Affairs 72 3 IV. Appendices Appendix A: Directory of the Executive Branch 74 Appendix B: Press Releases 78 Appendix C: Events and Activities 82 Appendix D: Letters and Speeches 88 Appendix E: Student Advisory Committee to the Chancellor 105 Appendix F: Legislative Advocacy 112 Appendix G: Tuition 116 Appendix H: Student Fees 125 Appendix I: Platform of the Dearmin Administration 131 V. The Daily Tar Heel coverage See supplement. 4 The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Office of the Student Body President Box 47, Carolina Union Chapel Hill, NC 27599-5210 (919) 962-5201/(fax) 962-4723 Fellow Tar Heels, The first six months in office have proven to be an exciting challenge for the officers of the Executive Branch. Immediately following our inauguration on April 5, we assembled a team of intelligent and proactive students who entered our cabinet with varying levels of experience in Student Government. These students were drawn from a wide variety of backgrounds and have been a part of virtually every aspect of student life at UNC-Chapel Hill. After assembling our team and filling our first round of appointments to external committees on campus, we parted ways for the summer. Officers, committee chairs, and executive assistants were able to take part in summer enrichment opportunities ranging from work with the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland to internships in Washington, D.C. with Senator Ted Kennedy’s office. This disbursement early on led to a need to re-energize and re-focus upon everyone’s return in late August. With the Student Body President and Vice-President remaining in Chapel Hill throughout the summer, much planning and preparation took place during this time period in order to ensure a swift start following our cabinet’s reunion. At the release of this report, we are effectively reporting on a little over a month’s work as a full team. Recognizing this constraint, it is clear to anyone paying attention that the strides that have been made to date reflect the hard work and determination of a committed group that comprises the Executive Branch of Student Government. We look forward to the continued growth and further development of our team as we continue our service to this great university. Thank you for taking the time to review our accomplishments thus far and stay tuned as the excitement continues to build throughout the second half of our term. Seth Dearmin Adrian Johnston Daneen Furr Student Body President Vice President Treasurer Neepa Mehta Mark Laabs Erika Barrera Secretary Chief of Staff Senior Advisor 5 REPORT OF THE STUDENT BODY PRESIDENT SETH DEARMIN A New Student Government The single, most important goal of this year’s Student Government is to create a more accessible and friendly governing body. By inviting more inclusion in Student Government, the student body will experience a more transparent Executive Branch and one that is able to provide a greater impact over the next six months. The President is continuing to focus resources in this direction and he is learning and developing more effective ways to reach students all the while. In order to meet such an end, Dearmin has sought student feedback, worked to include all students interested in an Executive Branch committee, and experienced record numbers of applications for the cabinet chair, committee member, and external appointment positions. The overall interest in Student Government is perhaps most clear when viewed in context of the over 200 students who attended the interest session in early September and the constant flow of students that are signing up for committees and eagerly seeking to help develop the platform projects. Student Organization Relations With the assistance of the Student Body President’s Executive Assistants, Committee Chairs, and fellow Officers, Student Government has worked to reach student organizations by attending their meetings and contacting their leadership. More effectively, Student Government has worked to invite members and leaders of other student organizations to be a part of the government. This effort has taken place in an attempt to re-focus Student Government as an umbrella organization that can provide resources for each of the over 600 student organizations on campus. The presence of student leaders from some of the most well known organizations like Dance Marathon and BSM speaks to this end. One of Student Government’s greatest contributions to student organizations, Mambo, is being introduced as a new online web and calendar technology. Reference the ‘Report of the Chief of Staff’ and the ‘Technology and Web Services’ portions of this report to learn more. Transparency with Student Body More effective communication has proven to be a struggle for student organizations across the board; this has been the same case for Student Government. In realizing there is no single full-proof method for reaching the entire student body, Dearmin has worked to expand the methods of communication. The use of the Student Government website and the integration of the new Mambo technology have shown to be effective methods for promoting Dearmin’s calendar of events. Columns in The Daily Tar 6 Heel and Chapel Hill News and Observer, letters to the editor, office hours in the Pit every Wednesday at 1:00 p.m., forums on issues such as tuition, informational emails, and the Student Body President Radio Show have all shown various levels of success. In addition, Dearmin has worked to post materials, including documents from the Tuition Advisory Task Force and Chancellor’s Committee on Student Fees, on the website in order to allow students access to the same information he uses in making his decisions. Dearmin is currently in the process of developing a monthly newsletter that will be distributed to the student body in order to keep them up to date on happenings within Student Government. In addition to his office hours, Dearmin has developed a bi-monthly ‘Outdoor Office Hours’ that will float between Rams Head and the Quad. These events are meant to be fun and to disseminate information to students. Tuition Advisory Task Force The greatest responsibility and expectation of any Student Body President is to focus his time and energy toward the tuition process. Efforts relating to tuition began in late Spring 2005 as lobbying efforts commenced surrounding the budget cut the University was facing. See the ‘Report of the Student Body Vice President’ for more details. After working with the Provost to set up this year’s Tuition Advisory Task Force, a series of meetings were undertaken in order to provide background information surrounding tuition as it relates to Chapel Hill. Documents were distributed to the committee outlining the unversity’s overall funding picture, a history of tuition increases, priorities and needs, and a plethora of studies, philosophies, and comparisons with our peer institutions. The Advisory Task Force focused much of its time on graduate student issues, working to better understand the state of graduate students on campus. Information for graduate students was scarce in comparison to that centered on undergraduates. After the Task Force fleshed out questions and concerns, it focused on the needs of our campus. The Task Force determined there is a serious need to increase funding for Teaching Assistant stipends as well as faculty salaries. In transitioning to looking at numbers for a potential increase, the Task Force entertained a great deal of discussion around the idea of tuition predictability. Please reference the ‘Report of the Student Body Vice President’ for more detail on efforts surrounding this core principle. The Tuition Advisory Task Force Report, to be released in early November, will outline the workings and recommendations of this committee in much fuller detail. Senate Bill 98: Orange County Super Precinct Senate Bill 98, a pilot initiative allowing residents of Chapel Hill and Carrboro to vote outside of their assigned precinct on Election Day, consumed much of the Administration’s summer workload. Adrian Johnston and Seth Dearmin made numerous trips to the state capitol and worked with Senator Ellie Kinnaird and Representatives Verla Insko and Joe Hackney in order to see this bill through to fruition. After Senate Bill 98 is implemented, students and residents of Chapel Hill and Carrboro will be afforded the opportunity of voting on campus on Election Day- as opposed to traveling off-campus as the current system mandates.