The Facts: The Association of Student Governments is a student interest group for the UNC-System , and is supposed to act as the voice of the North Carolina student population to the Board of Governors.

Our Opinion: N.C . State’s representatives should step up and lead the reformation of the association to answer the needs and voices of the students.  

The UNC Association of Student Governments’ mission is to “champion the concerns of students and ensures the affordability to quality education today and tomorrow,” if they are to succeed at this,  they must be held accountable for taking action. Considering their President has an ex officio, non-voting, seat on the Board of Governors, this organization has the potential to be an invaluable resource and advocacy group for North Carolina’s students, if they would only get their act together.

While N.C . State student cannot hold every member of ASG accountable for the constant increase in tuition fees or the policy decisions of the UNC Board of Governors, they can make their representatives responsible for representing their best interests.

Our University’s ASG delegates are Student Body President Chandler Thompson, Student Senate President Ethan Harrelson , and their individual delegates. While Thompson and Harrelson cannot be expected to overextend themselves to meet the needs of this organization as well as the needs of our campus, their delegates should understand the power of their voice at the ASG’s meetings.

These representatives are the students’ voice for ASG , which acts as the only UNC-System interest group for students. If they do not take the job seriously, or do not see the flaws plaguing the organization itself, they should either step down and appoint a more appropriate delegation, or listen to student voices and work to implement the much-needed change in the group.

Our representatives should be religiously going to those meetings and ensuring the association hears our concerns and takes action on them. This includes expected policy changes and the allocation of fee money taken in and spent by ASG .

ASG has had its rough patches over last few years. These include its 2007 president’s criminal assault conviction and the three years of backlash it engendered, its failed attempt in 2009 for an advocacy trip to Washington D.C ., and the constant criticism surrounding the ineffectiveness of the organization itself. However, the current projects they are undertaking should reflect lessons learned from their past mistakes. The only valid project ASG is working towards is the president’s vote on the Board of Governors, which is a battle the association has been fighting since its birth in 1972.  

Our representatives are the only way we as a student body may communicate with the ASG , and they are the only way North Carolinian students may communicate with the Board of Governors. Our voices need to be heard. If ASG cannot, or will not, listen,  then as stated in a 2009 Technician column, for the amount of money they take in, “we might as well put a lobbyist on the payroll,” than have ASG attempt to fight our battles.