April 29, 2008 02:41 pm
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In four years at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, I have had the opportunity to learn so much about human nature and politics. I learn new things about life every day. For three of those years I have been humbled to serve in Student Congress here at Carolina, currently as the Speaker of Congress.
One thing I find interesting in campus politics is the parallels with real-world politics and the accompanying shenanigans. Here we have the same arguments, debates, tactical strategies and smoke filled room meetings that go on in the U.S. Congress. Sure we aren’t as important or affect as many peoples’ lives, but the basic game is played the same, regardless of the level of importance.
This past summer the student body treasurer informed me he would be asking for a fee increase levied on students for the Safety and Security Fee. Currently the fee is set at $0.85 per student per semester. They wanted a $0.25 increase. No big deal, right? Wrong.
After looking through the fee’s account documents to see how the Safety and Security Committee had been using the funds and why they needed more, red flags were raised in my mind. They had over a $100,000 surplus in the fund up until last year. Now they needed more money. What gives?
I discovered the Committee had spent around $85,000 on off-campus lighting and emergency blue light call boxes. I had to do some more digging to find the original referendum that authorized the fee’s creation 17 years ago. It clearly stated that the fee was to be used only for on campus expenditures.
To complicate matters, another University service had been using the Safety and Security Fee as a deficit fund. So whenever it ran out of money they dipped into the student fee money. Who cares, right? It wasn’t their money.
When the fee increase came through Student Congress in the fall I pressured the treasurer to give an account of these irregularities. His response was a classic strategy in politics, deflect and play the victim. He claimed that the fee needed to be increased to cover costs of the Victims’ Assistance Program, more specifically for medical expenses and kits for rape victims.
Where have I heard this before? Washington and Raleigh. Liberals do this all the time. “Support healthcare for kids! You like kids don’t you? A vote against this program is a vote against kids!”
During debate in Student Congress the treasurer actually said that a vote against this increase would be a vote against rape victims. Of course no one is against safety and security. No one is against rape victims. But there are serious problems when money is spent illegally and no action is taken, other than to simply pour more hard earned fee/tax money into it.
I dug deeper. Turns out, the Safety and Security Fee is not in a deficit. It actually, despite the $85,000 spending spree, is projected to have a surplus of over $10,000 next year. That’s even without a fee increase. In addition, historical trends showed the fund gained roughly $15,000 to $24,000 a year in added surplus by virtue of the fund taking in more fee money than it spent.
I argued in Student Congress against the increase. But it passed anyway. People who got elected as “conservatives” even voted for the increase or abstained. They were afraid of the political ramifications of “voting against rape victims” as it were. The liberals in Student Congress didn’t hesitate to use the same politics of fear that liberals in the U.S. Congress frequently accuse President Bush of using as a political tactic.
I wasn’t dead yet though. The fee requires a student body referendum. But due to a technicality (the referendum contained an illegal statement of purpose) I was able to get it removed from the ballot in the fall. But the liberals waste no time amending the law to allow a statement of purpose. By this spring the fee was back in front of Student Congress.
The story repeats here. Liberals engaged in scare tactics. “Conservatives” caved to pressure. People I consider friends were no where to be found when it came time to vote. The increase passed Student Congress again by an even wider margin. I was thoroughly disappointed.
I sent a letter to the editor of the school newspaper warning students that the increase wasn’t needed and that the fee had a surplus. But alas, the fee passed the student body vote by a wide margin. Who would vote against rape victims, right?
The night of the election I became aware of an informational e-mail (sent out to the entire university) on behalf of the Student Safety and Security Committee which urged students to vote on the increase. The e-mail, however, didn’t get sent until 30 minutes after the polls had closed. The Student Code prohibits student government entities from using their e-mail lists or other parties on their behalf to advocate for or against a referendum.
I decided to launch an investigation into whether the committee had attempted to use other student government e-mail lists. Turns out, they did. The e-mail records revealed that the committee made a concerted effort to illegally influence the election by using its student government e-mail list to propagate a pro fee increase message.
As I write this column, I am preparing a complaint to file with the Student Supreme Court to nullify the election results because the Student Code allows for such nullification if the “integrity” of an election has been violated, a very low standard in legal terms.
Regardless the outcome, I have learned a lot about people. This whole deal is about more than just dollars and cents. It’s about principles and learning to stand for them, even when you’re the only one standing. I’m glad my learning experience continues on at the People’s Republic of Chapel Hill, at least for a few more months.
Tar Heel Dispatch is written by Tyler Younts, a senior at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Younts, who grew up in Farmer, has a passion for writing and for politics and for writing about politics. E-mail comments to news@randolphguide.com or directly to Younts at younts@email.unc.edu
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