Meet David Bass, who seeks to take on the University’s Most Endemic Challenges
UNC District 4 Senator, David Bass (far left), meets with the directors of the Student Recreation Center to discuss plans for expansion and renovations.
The University has never seen a senator like David Bass. Bass is the first Jewish and Asian-American member of UNC’s Undergraduate Senate. Since his election last year, he has contributed to the passing of several campus resolutions and is currently leading efforts to bring awareness to student safety concerns and enhanced recreational programs. As one of the only senators with an active social media presence, he has amassed a significant 463 followers on his official Instagram account and regularly posts updates on issues he is trying to resolve.
Hailing from Brooklyn, New York, but growing up all over the world in countries such as Japan, Australia, and China, he brings an interesting and unique perspective due to his time spent abroad and the lessons he learned in those years. On his official Instagram page, he states “For the majority of my life, I’ve lived abroad in Japan, China, Australia, and served as the Student Body President in the American School in Japan. When I came to UNC as an International student, I was accepted with open arms by our warm community and want to give back in every way I can.” Throughout his senatorial career, he has led numerous campaigns to improve the campus experience for students and fight discrimination throughout the University. Some of these campaigns have included rallying support for Purple Bowl, an açaí shop on Franklin that is popular with students and hosts a number of benefits for student organizations such as the Business Cares club, as it faces demolition in order to build an office space. Other initiatives of his include a bill that asked the University to recognize Islamic holidays and make resources available during holidays such as Ramadan. Recently, I received the opportunity to sit down and talk with him about his career within the Senate.
Bass got his start in community government in high school, saying “I was the Student body President my senior year, and prior to that served as Class President my sophomore and junior years.” Bass sought to bring his leadership and student government experiences to UNC. Even before he became one of UNC’s most active senators, he had been working to build up the UNC community in a myriad of ways. He also worked in community government with the Residential Housing Association as a first-year at UNC, becoming a member of Granville’s student board. In his work with the Grandville student board, he and others advocated for more stress-relieving events, such as bringing puppies to the dorms, in the wake of last year’s mental health crisis.
It was around this time last year when Bass won his election and became a Senator for UNC. He expresses that he wanted to become a senator because “[He] didn’t like the current situation. In the wake of the mental health crisis the school was facing last year and the subsequent lack of response, I thought I could make a difference.” Since his election, he has passed a total of 3 resolutions including renaming the Ruffins Jr. Residence Hall to the Preston Dobbins Residence Hall, a recognition of the man who started the Black Student Movement on campus.
Throughout the past year, he has taken it upon himself to tackle some of the University’s toughest challenges and unite the growing divides particularly in social areas. Bass talked of divides between “Greek and non-Greek, north and south campus.” Apart from his resolutions, he has brought attention to other issues on campus, such as the lack of equipment in the Student Recreation Center and its small size, as well as the She’s Not Here ride service, an all-female ridesharing service that is both student-run and student-led. He believes in a student government that “unites all corners of campus. Greek and non-Greek, North and South Campus.” He says that “The university has a ton of divisions, and a lot of that separation comes from non-interaction. Many students are just in their own bubble with people much like them. I’d like to change that and really try and support every community here at UNC and really bring them together.”
Bass' work in rectifying university-wide problems continues today, even as he initiates his bid for Student Body President. He is currently trying to pass a student safety bill that would provide more security cameras and better dorm security as well as more emergency stations around campus. This came after the terrible incident in Carmichael Residence Hall back in October, where a student was sexually assaulted. The bill would try to increase safety measures and precautions to limit the chances of something like this ever happening again.
It was on Wednesday, February 1st, that Bass launched his presidential campaign. However, due to extenuating circumstances, he has subsequently dropped out of the race. In his announcement, he stated that he would no longer pursue the presidency for personal reasons, however he vows to continue to fight for the issues on which his brief campaign was built upon. Those issues are safety, wellness, inclusivity, and student services. UNC has long been plagued by many issues that Senator Bass is trying to tackle, in particular the wellness, student service, and inclusivity aspects. In the past year, the University faced an unprecedented mental health crisis. Last fall there were numerous suicides, and attention turned to the lack of counseling services and the reportedly substandard quality they provide. At the time of writing, the University’s counseling services, CAPS, still has a 2.0 out of 5-star rating on Google reviews.” While the university claims to be improving these services, there has been no positive uptick in the services’ Google Reviews or student opinion. Students have cited a lack of appointment slots and a website that makes it confusing and difficult to try and get an appointment. Some students even pointed out problems with the services themselves. One RA shared a story last fall where she stated that one of her residents who sought counseling from CAPS “did not want to talk to CAPS himself nor was comfortable having an appointment.” Bass hopes to combat these issues as a part of the UNC Senate and he states “[He] didn’t like the current situation, especially with CAPS. It seems students want and need more access to mental health services, however, the University just hasn’t been able to provide them yet.”
Another big issue Bass hopes to tackle is inclusivity. The University has been in hot water recently in terms of student diversity. Recently, the Kenan-Flagler Business school has been under fire for discriminatory practices. Angelica Rose Brown, a former graduate student at Kenan-Flagler, sued the school over “organizational discriminatory practices” that occurred during her time as a graduate student. Ms. Brown says that she was “forced out” of her PhD program by the school and initially experienced “disbelief and then from there it was just immense psychological and emotional distress.” Although Kenan-Flagler claims that any negative interaction between faculty and Ms. Brown was based on her work and not her race, the previous dean of Kenan-Flagler, Douglas A. Shackleford, stepped down in the days following the lawsuit. Bass claims that diversity and inclusion are paramount to his campaign and that he aims to build a campaign in which “Every Tar Heel is not only represented by the student government but fought for as well.”
Even though he is no longer in the presidential race, Bass hopes to tackle a lot of issues on a wide range of topics from inclusivity to student safety. While it is unclear if he has the answers, he remains optimistic. At the close of our interview, I asked him if he could give me any insight as to how he will even begin to take on such a long list of issues. His response: “By taking it one step at a time and really making sure that the bills and campaigns being raised actually are impacting students positively, I believe that there can be change.”