410 Forum — News
All About The SRC President
By Sarah Henry
barrett rothe, 2008 student representative council candidate, said he wanted to be president because he believed that students could have a better college experience if student leaders started changing the university rather than relying on faculty and staff. Rothe ran as one of two presidential candidates in the election.
“The SRC president potentially has the ability to set a progressive agenda for each SRC position and serve as a figurehead to facilitate communication between different student groups,” Rothe said in an interview on Feb. 3.
But UNC students didn’t want the change he promised or the easier communication between groups. They wanted their voices to be heard. They wanted passion.
They wanted Charles Miles.
“I think Charles can represent the student body, and I think he can do a fairly good job at it because his passion is unparalleled,” Student Trustee Bob Vincent said.
Miles has come a long way from winning the 2008 SRC election, but why did he want to be president, and what has he done since being elected?
“I felt like there were certain things that weren’t being heard,” Miles said in regard to why he wanted to be president. “I had a passion for trying to find the best thing I can do to help the university.”
According to his Facebook group, “Charles Miles for SRC President,” students need a place to feel welcome, somewhere they can call home on campus.
This semester, Miles is working to revamp the grade appeals process to help students feel more at home by allowing them the opportunity to keep their financial aid, which could be lost under the current process time frame.
“I believe it takes 290 days to go through the current UNC grade appeals process, which just isn’t feasible,” he said. “I’m basically going to try to push forth the Colorado State University model of appeals, which takes a maximum of 90 days.”
Miles is an economics major with a minor in writing and a member of the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity. He has applied to Oregon State University and Colorado State University for graduate school, and he has already been accepted to the University of Central Florida to study public policy with an emphasis in economic growth and development. He was in the McNair Scholars Program, and through his research with it, he found his favorite project for SRC thus far, a Somali immigrant fundraiser.
“One person got a mattress, an older gentlemen who had back problems and couldn’t sleep well,” Miles said. “He kind of got tears in his eyes.”
According to the SRC constitution, the president is the official representative of SRC, acts as a chairperson at all meetings and votes only in case of a tie. Meanwhile, the president must also maintain communication channels with the office of the university president, identify concerns, and keep SRC and the student body informed on all decisions and actions affecting the student body.
Miles says he gets up at 8 a.m. and goes to bed at 10 p.m., working without breaks throughout the day, balancing representing the students, attending meetings, being a student, and having a personal life.
“The first hour of my office hours is responding to e-mails,” he said.
Miles says he gets approximately 100 e-mails a week. Regardless of how much work Miles puts in, some concerns have been raised about his professionalism lately. Trustee Vincent said he doesn’t like Miles’s lack of attention to detail in running the meetings with parliamentary procedure or bringing finalized or well written documents to council.
“It’s OK to have rough drafts and first edits, but not at the table,” Vincent said.
Vincent also said that Miles has had his own agenda in the meetings recently, referring to a motion proposed by Miles lending SRC’s support to a Board of Trustees motion granting in-state tuition to students who meet certain requirements with expired visas. Vincent said that to have such a one-sided approach is counter-productive to the council’s possible accomplishments.
“But, Charles is my quarterback, and I will support him no matter what,” he said.
In response to being called biased, Miles said that when he felt he was becoming partial, he yielded his chair until the motion ended.
Despite having lost the election to him, Rothe remains supportive of Miles.
“I feel he has done the best job he knows how,” Rothe said. “He does have a keen mind and his own vision, and I think he will definitely leave his mark.”
Miles in a Minute
• Charles Miles is the president of UNC’s Student Representative Council.
• He says he wanted to be president so student voices could be better heard by faculty.
• Miles has lived all over Colorado, most recently moving from Lafayette.
• His favorite color is blue, and his favorite type of ice cream is vanilla with caramel and chocolate syrup.
• His favorite project has been the Somali fundraiser, and he is working on revamping the grade appeals process.
