The UNC Hate Crimes Panel submitted its final report Tuesday on the future of hate crimes policies in the UNC System.

The report awaits UNC President Erskine Bowles’ approval before he will present it to the Board of Governors, likely at its May 8 meeting.

Geoffrey Hunter, an N.C. State alum and member of the commission, said the panel’s final recommendations are in accordance with the panel’s previous meetings in suggesting a system-wide hate crimes policy, though student input impacted the details of the report.

“Specific recommendations were made in consideration of not only legal fact

but [also] questions brought up by students in the February meeting,” Hunter said.

Hunter said while the weekday morning forum in Chapel Hill wasn’t convenient for students to attend, concerned members of the UNC community took advantage of e-mail to have their voices heard.

“The forum time wasn’t great for students,” Hunter said. “But the email account was heavily used by different organizations and individuals and other people throughout the system.”

Hunter said he was pleased with the response from students, and felt there was plenty of time for the public to have their ideas heard.

“[There] was enough time for any comments or information people wanted to send out to be presented,” he said. “As far as I know we haven’t had any more information to come in [for us to] consider over the last two meetings.”

The details of the report haven’t been released yet, Hunter said, as it is still pending Bowles’ approval.

“We will pretty much finalize the draft and then it will be presented to the Board of Governors for their opinions,” Hunter said. “It’s pretty much all put together.”

Student Body President Jay Dawkins, a member of the University’s Campus Culture Task Force, hopes the report will have kept student concerns its main focus.

“I hope student input was top priority,” Dawkins said. “I’m certainly eager to hear what they’ve decided, as is everyone, I’m sure.”

While Hunter couldn’t release details of the report, he said student accountability makes up a large part of the recommendations.

“The policy will [seek to] maintain freedom of speech while being sure students are aware of the policies of free speech and hate speech,” Hunter said. “[It will make] students more accountable by making sure they know what the codes of conduct are for the different campuses.”

He said the report also suggests informing students better on restrictions on expression in North Carolina, from speech to harassment and acts of violence.

“[We want to] make sure students are aware of where the line is drawn,” Hunter said.

Hunter said students should also take active roles in diversity education by attending programs and functions so campuses can learn from one another.

“What’s going to be really important is that students take advantage of programs and organizations that have diversity initiatives and objectives so we can know what’s working and what’s not,” Hunter said. “[The programs have] always been there, and I’m not sure if it’s a lack of communication or advertisement but students should really take advantage of what we have now.”

Dawkins said students have many opportunities to attend the types of programs Hunter advocated.

“There are such a wide array of events on campus,” Dawkins said. “Students have great resources like multicultural student affairs and should attend [diversity education] events like the Pan-Afrikan festival to broaden their perspectives.”