Adam Compton decided to run for treasurer because he wanted to make changes and when he was elected, he did just that.
As student body treasurer, Compton, a junior in construction engineering, was in charge of a $221,250 budget that came from student fees.
He said one of his campaign goals was to reform the appropriations process, which he said he started working on the day he took office.
According to Compton, after working very closely with Sen. Greg Doucette and the appropriations committee, which grants student organizations funding for their projects, the appropriations process was cut short by a month.
“That had to be one of the main successes this year,” he said.
Sen. Scott Lassiter who ran for SBT for the following year, but lost, worked closely with Compton since Lassiter was a member of the appropriations committee, and agreed that the appropriations speed-up was Compton’s biggest success.
“He got the appropriations done so quickly without any real faults,” Lassiter, a freshman in political science, said.
He said cutting the process by one month was a daunting task, and Compton stayed up late for several nights with the committee doing work to speed up the process.
“The level of dedication he put into it was pretty darn high,” Lassiter said.
Compton said he hopes Dave Foxx, the new student body treasurer, will continue to work to reform the process and said he will continue to help with it.
Another one of Compton’s campaign goals, which he said he carried out, was making the treasury more transparent.
“I wanted us to focus on how Student Government was spending its money and where it was going,” he said.
He said he put in a request for SG to be audited every two years so that it can keep its records up-to-date and on track, and see where problems lie.
“We made progress this year, but we need to continue to make more progress next year,” Compton said.
According to Compton, SG is a lot more financially sound this year than it was in previous years.
Compton said he was interested in serving the general student body.
“I wanted to provide a service to the student body more than to Student Government,” he said.
Along with other members of SG and the IRC, Compton created a virtual help desk online for student organizations.
He also set aside money to buy a laminator and printer for the SG Office so students could use them when preparing to publicize their organizations’ events. Compton said SG also bought sandwich boards that student organizations could use.
Compton said he is going to miss that aspect of SBT as he leaves his office.
“What I’ll miss most is the constant interaction with so many different groups,” he said.
As treasurer, Compton said he not only worked with SG officers, but students and administrators.
Compton said he would consider his work with the textbook campaigns another success.
He said he feels he successfully helped “spread awareness about the opportunities available to decrease the price of textbooks.”
UNC President Erskine Bowles took interest in the project, and the Board of Governors will be discussing textbook prices soon, according to Compton.
Compton said throughout the year, he did face some challenges that made him begin to write his resignation letter a few times.
“No matter what position you get into, [there are times when] you’re always like, ‘Why am I here? Why am I doing this?'” he said.
One of those instances, according to Compton, was when he was working on a financial education forum for students, and it did not work out. Eventually, he said, SG had to cancel the forum at the last minute after everything was prepared because there was no hall available to hold it in.
Compton said he also feels that a failure in his leadership is not preparing anyone to take on his role after he leaves.
Compton said despite that failure, other successes have overshadowed it.
“It is a rewarding experience knowing the impact you have on fellow students,” he said.
Compton said he made a commitment to himself early on that when he stopped having fun fulfilling his job, it was time to go.
Dave Foxx, a junior in political science and senator this year, will take on Compton’s role as treasurer next year, and Compton said he will be a different SBT that SG has ever seen.
“He has a different mindset on how things should operate and how things should be done,” he sad.
According to Compton, Foxx will focus more on getting out of the office and doing different things than being “the treasurer of Student Government,” which Compton said is not necessarily a bad thing.
Compton said the whole process is a learning curve to get adjusted to the position and that Foxx just needs to make sure he has a good staff that wants to keep SG financially fit and help Foxx get his ideas done.
He said he hopes to assist Foxx next year in working with local banks to create a sound system for students to set up accounts.
Lassiter said he felt Compton did an outstanding job as SBT and didn’t run his campaign as “I want to run it better than Adam did.”
“[Compton] always had everything that needed to be done, done,” Lassiter said. “He was everything a student body treasurer should be. Had I won, I would’ve looked to him as a great source of inspiration, and even now, as I continue in Student Government, I still see him as a proven leader.”
Lassiter said he does not see what Compton could have done to improve.
Will Quick, student body president, said Compton did a good job in carrying out his duties.
“Adam worked on things outside the treasury,” Quick said. “He was a big help to me.”
According to Quick, the only thing Compton may have done better is keep the records more up-to-date faster for the Senate, but said that is not something he expects someone that is not an accounting or finance major to really be on top of.
