After releasing the first executive order of Student Body President Jess Errico’s term that places interim discipline guidelines for the Wolfpack Students Facebook group, the Executive Branch of Student Government has started the process of hiring the student advisory board who will regulate the group.

The executive order, which was released by Errico, a fifth-year studying mechanical and aerospace engineering, on Aug. 17, is modeled after one released by former SBP Jackie Gonzalez. The order’s goal is to establish interim guidelines that will govern the Wolfpack Students Facebook page until they are replaced with new rules from the student-led Advisory Board come mid-September.

“The interim guidelines come solely from within Student Government and the goal of the Advisory Board is to include students both in Student Government and outside Student Government,” Errico said. “I absolutely want to leave the door open for the panel of students who are making a group decision to, in my hopes, make a better decision than I could come to as a single decision maker.”

Errico said that the administrative control over the Facebook group has always been with Student Government; however, in the past there have been attempts to change that or even delete the group entirely, an act this administration wants to avoid.

“For [the Executive Branch] we don’t want to arbitrarily make the single decision of affecting [the group’s] change and structure without having the support of representatives from across campus,” Errico said “So we felt comfortable with double these interim guidelines and setting up a committee of students both within Student Government and outside Student Government to manage it.”

Isabelle Babson, a fourth-year studying psychology and sociology and Student Government executive branch executive assistant, is currently one of the main administrators of the Wolfpack Students Facebook Group.

The Advisory Board will be responsible for monitoring posts, investigating reports, accepting new members and more. According to Babson, the group comprises around 16,000 members, so the board will rely on member reports.

“It’s really hard to regulate something this big and this broad,” Babson said. “So we really do rely on the voices and opinions of the students in that group to report things that they feel violate the community guidelines and the code of conduct that’s been done.”

According to Babson, there is an interim Advisory Board until the new one is selected.

“There’s an interim board which is comprised of me, SBP Errico, SBVP Meredith Spence Beaulieu and Student Body Chief of Staff Ryan Dunn,” Babson said. “We’re the interim board until the new board is announced and we have until the 19th of September, which is when that temporary executive order stops taking place.”

The advisory board will look at posts and comments that may violate the Code of Student Conduct, but they will also be careful not to restrict members’ rights to free speech.

“I know that a large part of the debate and the confusion sometimes is the difference between violation of the Code of Student Conduct and freedom of speech,” Babson said. “We’re going to work really hard to make sure that those posts are monitored.”

Errico said that the Facebook page is a good platform for students on and off campus to connect to the NC State community.

“It is currently a platform that students appreciate having,” Errico said. “It’s somewhere students can post to for advice on things, campus events. It’s an easy place to go to for student sentiments on events happening around campus and that’s a very valuable asset to us in Student Government.”

Errico also said that the Facebook group allows Student Government members to remain in touch with their peers.

“I think what I would think the worst weakness for Student Government to have would be becoming distant from students and distant from student concerns,” Errico said. “I see Wolfpack Students as being a primary avenue for staying in touch beyond simply going to class and things like that.”

According to Babson, the committee will be announced before the interim guidelines are set to expire on Sept. 19. Information regarding the Google Form platform will go out in the HOWL Tuesday and will be posted in the Facebook group. Students can also email Babson at sgexecassist@ncsu.edu.