Technician
monday october
12 2009
Raleigh, North Carolina
Senate president explains criteria, resolution Student Senate leader says three questions concerning Student Center fee were considered Ty Johnson Editor-in-Chief
The Student Senate took three criteria into account while considering the results of the student fee referenda leading to its vote to encourage the fee review committee to approve the $83 fee increase for the Student Center Expansion fee which 61.6 percent of voters opposed. According to Resolution 22, the Student Senate chose to evaluate the data collected in the referenda based on three criteria: whether students see a need for increased funding for a respective project or service, whether students expressed a particular fee is a top priority among all other proposed fee increases and whether a majority of students voted in support of at least partial funding of a proposed fee increase. Student Senate President Kelli Rogers said the inclusion of the three questions on the referenda informed students that all of their answers would be taken into consideration. “That’s how the questions were on the referenda. That’s the three ways we were assessing support on the fee,” Rogers said. “If they read the whole referenda, then they knew there were three questions.” Rogers said the tuition and fees committee determined the three criteria would be what the Senate used to
Technician staff contacted 15 senators who voted in favor of Resolution 22:
Jessica Neville Staff Writer
The Board of Governors, the governing body of the UNC System, discussed manners to enhance the importance of service at its 16 institutions at its October meeting Friday at the Spangler Center in Chapel Hill. Much of Friday’s meeting was spent recognizing the 2009 recipient of the Board of Governors Award for Excellence in Public Service. James R. Cook, associate professor of psychology at UNC Charlotte, received the honor for his commitment to improving the lives of disadvantaged people in his community and for encouraging his students to value community service. The BOG also discussed revising the mission statements of each school to better reflect a commitment to public service on behalf of the faculty and staff. Chancellor Jim Woodward said the award and the discussion over revision of the mission statements “strongly emphasize the direction the Board of Governors is trying to take in regards to community involvement.” “N.C. State has already shown a commitment to public service, and is leading the other universities of our system in making our campuses more involved in their communities,” Woodward said. The board also voted to adopt a University Sustainability Policy, which applies to all universities in the system. The policy states that the UNC System “shall establish sustainable development and resource management, or ‘sustainability,’ as a core value of institutional operations, planning, capital construction and purchasing practices.” “This shows another priority of the UNC School System, to make all our campuses more sustainable,” Woodward said. “NC State has already taken
William, Lahti, Graduate Do you feel you’re representing your constituents? “I feel that I acted in the best interests of my constituents. We discussed Talley at the University Graduate Student Association but no formal decision was made.”
Stephen Kouba Jr., CHASS Senior What compelled you to vote against the student body referenda? “I did not vote against the student body referenda, I voted for the entire fee referendum on the bill, which included increasing funds for three out of six programs. Rally 4 Talley met two out of the three criteria necessary to be passed. Students voted that they wanted a new student center and also placed it as the second top priority after ETS, they just didn’t vote to pay for it. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way. I don’t think students were informed of the consequences of not paying for a new student center now. In four years, the fee will be greater than $80-would students want to pay the fee then? Although I realize that this is a big financial burden, it is not an ordinary circumstance. This is our chance to leave a legacy at our
First Year College Senator Sarah Lindh said in an e-mail: “There were other fees on the referenda that needed our support for the fee
evaluate the referenda. Rogers assured she and the committee worked hard to assure no bias was given to any fee. Tuition and Fees Committee Chair Jake Bloodworth could not be reached for comment Sunday. Rogers said objectively wording the referenda in a way so students ranked the most important issues to them was difficult, especially since the instant runoff process was used. “It doesn’t give you what’s most important to every student,” Rogers said.
“It tells you, when comparing to what all other students said, this is what students would prefer.” Rogers said the tuition and fees committee did consider looking into a smaller fee, but said construction would be delayed by two years. “The first-year fee would have to be financed for so long it would delay construction for two years,” Rogers said. “They had the other options and looked at it.” Rogers said previously her stance on
Board of Governors encourages service Woodward says University is leading others toward community involvement
University for future generations to enjoy.”
Kyle O’Donnell, Engineering Senior What compelled you to vote against the student body referenda? “I disagree with the premise of this question. 56% of students voted to support a new student center, but the students were against the $83 fee. 35% of students also placed Talley as their top priority. The Senate voted to pass the Rally 4 Talley fee after all the data was evaluated, and two out of the three criteria were met.
increases that the students voted in favor. The referendum was not created only for the Talley/Atrium renovation and each fee needed equal attention. It’s easy for the student body to see that we voted in favor of the fee referenda solely on the Talley/Atrium fee, but that was not our main focus. The Senate’s approval of the referenda is only one phase out of many to decide on each fee increase, which is all overseen by the Board of Governors and further to the General Assembly. Regardless of how the Senate voted, the student’s opinion was seen and will be heavily considered in the future decisions of this University.” Senators Katie Mills, John O’Daniel, Kelly Maryman, David Bascombe, Kristen Baughman, Jake Bloodworth, Jasmine Brown, Sarah Center, Jeanne Chen and Heather Chiang could not be reached for comment. Sen. Brianne Bower declined to comment. Compiled by Jessica Neville and Alanna Howard
the Talley Student Center fee would be determined by the referenda, and she maintains she sought to represent students as best she could according to the criteria. “I looked at the other options as well,” Rogers said, referring to the smaller fees and longer delays in construction. “I voted with the [56.6] percent of students that said it was a need.”
Halftime highlights
What is the BOG?: The Board is made up of 32 members elected by the General Assembly for 4-year terms and also includes some non-elected members, such as former governors and former chairs of the board. The BOG is a policy-making body for the 16 universities in the UNC System and the N.C. School of Science and Math. Source: northcarolina.edu/bog
steps to make our campus environmentally-friendly, so we are leading the System in this goal as well.” On Thursday the five committees of the BOG met to review and finalize decisions to be voted on in Friday’s meeting by the entire board. The committees include Audit, Budget and Finance, Education Planning, Personnel and Tenure, and Governance. Greg Doucette, N.C. Central Law School student, served as N.C. State’s Student Senate president in 2007 and 2008 and is now the president of the UNC Association of Student Governments. This gives him an automatic spot on the UNC BOG to serve as a representative of the students of the UNC System. Doucette serves on the Budget and Finance Committee, which passed an authorization for work to be done on the Dan Allen parking deck. “The board is also discussing the retreat rights of faculty that serve in administrative positions and are going back to their regular jobs,” Doucette said. “The common practice is to give six months to a year of leave time in order for administrators to reacquaint themselves with their previous teaching jobs. Nothing was decided yet but the board will continue discussing the current retreat rights system in the November meeting.” The Board of Governors will meet next Nov. 13.
Kevin Cook /Technician
William Henderson, a junior in mechanical engineering, plays one of the tenor sax parts of “Sweet Child of Mine” during the halftime show of Saturday’s football game against Duke. “The thrill of being on the field in front of 60,000 fans is enough to keep me coming back each year,” Henderson said. The song was a special arrangement by Wes Parker, the assistant director of the marching band.
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Campus Police escort assists all Program reportedly benefits more than female students Caroline Barfield Staff Writer
To help eliminate potentially unsafe situations for students, faculty and staff as they move across the campus’ more than 2,000 acres, the University Police Department provides a safety escort service to protect during the hours of darkness on campus. Mike Mullins, an officer with Campus Police, said the safety escort service is a courtesy for students that does its best to locate students and safely assist them to their destinations, whether they walk or drive. He said Campus Police will assist students after hours for more than just escorting. “Most students don’t know that we will come unlock or jump start their cars if needed after hours,” Mullins said. Kristen Picot, a freshman in biological sciences, said first-year students may be unaware or unsure of the escort system. “We’re freshman and we’re still getting used to everything so we’re a hesitant to use safety escort,” Picot said. Mullins said the majority of students who use the escort service are women, but some males use the service as well. “I know girls that use it often, and the guys I know that use it are usually just drunk,” Skylar McMahon, a sophomore in criminology, said. The escort service is also used to avoid the rain. “When it was dark and raining and I had to walk from Avent Ferry to North Hall, I always called a safety escort,” Angie Rodriguez, a sophomore in criminology, said. Contracted security guards provide a driving safety escort to outer areas of campus, including the Vet School, the Avent Ferry Complex and Centennial Campus. “Sometimes the wait took up to an hour then other times it only took 10 minutes,” Rodriguez said. Once the request for an escort has been made, the response time for an escort is approximately 10 to 15 minutes according to campus police. The escort service tries to prioritize requests; individuals and those at remote locations may take priority over groups and those in buildings. Mullins said, “Every situation varies and the escorts tend to be delayed depending on the distance and occasionally rain.” “We are here for the students and we typically do not deny even the smallest request,” he said. Response time may also depend upon demand and time of night. Safety escorts are limited to groups of no more than three people at a time. Sometimes the escorts can’t find the students and vice versa. Contracted security guards can be identified by their white and black uniforms designated by “Budd Security Group,” as well as the Budd Security Group Safety Escort vehicle. According to the University’s policies, rules and regulations, the Department of Public Safety is designated the campus law enforcement agency for North Carolina State University as described in N.C. General Statute 116-40.5 and has all the powers and authority described in the statute. Campus Police is governed by the Department of Environmental Health and Public Safety, meaning the students support this program through student fees.