The UNC Board of Trustees has one more meeting in this current academic year – but the group’s most recent gathering represented its last with two current student leaders.
Student Body President Taliajah Vann and President of the Graduate and Professional Student Government Theodore Nollert shared their farewells and takeaways from their respective leadership roles.
Vann’s year as the leader of undergraduate students, and the entire UNC student body, will come to an end as she graduates this May. She and her chief of staff Victoria Bryant shared some of the highlights of her administration with the Board of Trustees. The pair pointed to Vann’s cooperation with UNC officials on improving accessibility and mental health resources on campus. She also shared details on the UNC Student Voting Day her administration started during the 2022 election cycle to better inform college-aged voters in Chapel Hill, which she said increased engagement at the polls.
Vann also mentioned that one of her proudest accomplishments was seeing a memorial for James Cates Jr. dedicated in The Pit on campus. The 22-year-old Black man was killed by white supremacists in 1970 and, since then, student activist groups sought more recognition by the university.
Vann said she learned about Cates’ story during her earliest months on campus, and said she’s proud of her part in collaborating with UNC Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz to make the memorial a reality this fall.
“Really early on in communicating with you as a leader on this campus,” Vann said to the chancellor, “I think I really made clear to you just how important this is to students and communicated that there are a lot of people who are concerned that we are just staying in the past. We really emphasized in all those conversations that Black students on this campus, especially, are not able to look forward until we address what happened in the past.
“I’m just so thankful again to this board for being the board that brought the James Lewis Cates Jr. memorial to our campus after 51 long years,” the student body president added to the board.
UNC held a dedication ceremony for the James Lewis Cates, Jr. memorial on November 21, 2022 — the anniversary of the Chapel Hill resident’s murder on campus. Taliajah Vann and other UNC leaders spoke alongside Cates family members. (Jon Gardiner/UNC-Chapel Hill)
Since student body presidents often cycle out after one year, Vann said new administrations typically start at an information deficit and see limits to their ability to enact early changes. She said Thursday, however, her staff in the student government are working to put measures in place to start easier transitions from one president to the next – including the current transition to the president-elect, Christopher Everett, who is in her administration.
“I’m so, so proud of our cabinet, all of our [executive branch] officers, and every general staff member in our executive branch,” said Vann, “for doing a lot of work that I think is going to set the foundation for student government to only get better as we continue to move forward.”
Nollert, who will be replaced by Lauren Hawkinson this summer, also shared some of his takeaways and next steps with UNC trustees. He pointed to the success students have in their professional placements and how that community helps North Carolina. Nollert said the economic impact of the roughly 56,000 grad students who stay in-state is $2.7 billion in spending and more than $157 million in tax revenue.
“The investment you all made into graduate and professional students is going to circulate straight back into the economy of North Carolina economy while they’re here,” said Nollert. “And so, I think [that investment] is a very good use of state tax dollars.”
To retain such students, Nollert pushed this academic year for raising graduate student stipends and improving other benefits. On Thursday, he said he hopes the university will continue to improve community partnerships to better improve housing opportunities and transit in Chapel Hill – which are major components of recruiting top-tier graduate students in the Triangle.
“Our ability to produce student-focused housing or workforce housing – because of the way in which the Board of Governors recommends we keep costs low for students – is a huge asset and something that comes up often [in conversation],” said the student president. “Concentrating that [housing] along transit lines can help us to tell people, ‘Well, we can’t give you a parking space, but we do spend a lot of money on this bus service and it’s well-used.’ That’s an investment we’re trying to maximize, and I think it’s something that can benefit our students and help us recruit.”
After the students’ presentations, UNC Trustee Gene Davis complimented Nollert on his work this last year, saying graduate student presidents often don’t instigate as much discussion and cooperation with the university’s board. According to Davis, it made a big difference in some trustees’ consideration of student needs.
“I can unequivocally say,” Davis added, “that you’ve been the one who has achieved the most by coming to us and bringing problems in a way that lays them out logically. By doing that, you’ve been incredibly successful. I thank you for the way you’ve approached us, how you’ve brought problems and issues to us, and worked collaboratively to help resolve those. I think you’ve done a fantastic job.”
Vann was also complimented by the trustees, with Board Chair Dave Boliek reading a resolution honoring the graduating senior for her time on the board.
“Now, therefore, be it resolved,” read Boliek, “that the Board of Trustees at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill thanks and congratulates Taliajah ‘Teddy’ Vann for her dedication to the university, her hard work, and outstanding service in student government and as a trustee. [We] wish her every success in her future pursuits as a proud Carolina [alumna].”
President-elect Everett will be sworn into the student representative seat the UNC Board of Trustees during its next full meeting on May 18. The full Board of Trustees meeting from March 23 can be found here.
Featured photos via The Daily Tar Heel/Helen McGinnis and Ira Wilder.
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