UNC Student President Powell Takes Oath of Office at Trustees Meeting

He’s been on the job for nearly two months, but UNC Student Body President Andrew Powell will officially take his oath of office at a Thursday morning meeting of the UNC Board of Trustees.

Powell, who was elected in a runoff against Emilio Vicente in February, says he plans to address student affordability in his speech to the trustees.

“Affordability is a big challenge,” says Powell, “particularly for public institutions now. Over the past few years, we’ve seen the economic realities of the day require a cutback in funding for a lot of public institutions.

“Carolina has been hit pretty hard by those cutbacks. And as a result, we’ve seen tuition increases for in-state and out-of-state students. Couple with that, you have increasing numbers of student debt, as well as – many students are struggling to get jobs after graduation.”

Powell told WCHL that’s he’s recently been to Raleigh, meeting with state representatives to present some student issues with budget cuts at UNC.

“This is something where we really are seeing the impact in our life as students,” says Powell. “Students struggling to get into courses that they need; Students struggling to graduate on time on the basis of not being able to get into those courses.”

The full board meeting of the UNC Board of Trustees takes place Thursday at 8 a.m. in the Hill Ballroom of the Carolina Inn.

You can read the full agenda here.