The North Carolina Student Legislature
Contention, Civility, and Camaraderie since 1936
FAQs
What is the North Carolina Student Legislature?
The North Carolina Student Legislature is a nonprofit organization that has multiple chapters at North Carolina colleges and universities. Our purpose is to provide a mock state legislative environment where students debate resolutions and bills related to North Carolina.
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What is a resolution?
A resolution is a piece of legislation that reflects the will of the North Carolina Student Legislature. Resolutions begin with “whereas” clauses that explain the reasoning behind the legislation. These are followed by “therefore” clauses that outline what the student is proposing. These resolutions are the legislation that is debated at individual school chapters and interim councils.
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What is an interim council?
An interim council is where individual chapters gather at a host school and debate resolutions.
Interim councils (ICs) are held once per month, and the host school changes every time.
Like all NCSL events, we use parliamentary procedure for debate.
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What is Annual Session?
Annual Session is a yearly gathering of all the school chapters of NCSL. It’s held in April in Raleigh (usually in the state legislature) and consists of debating bills written by students. We use parliamentary procedure and operate in a similar way to the state legislature with a house, senate, and gubernatorial veto powers. Annual Session also features multiple camaraderie building events, an alumni panel, and our annual awards banquet.
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Who runs NCSL?
Students oversee all aspects of NCSL. At the state level, the Council of State (COS) oversees the organization, and COS is composed of a Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of State, Secretary of Public Relations and Treasurer. Within the chapters, delegations are led by Delegate Chairpersons that represent their chapters in discussions with COS. Each delegation also has other executive positions that assist in running the chapter programs.
What do chapters/delegations do?
Delegations/Chapters are the core of our organization. Each school runs an NCSL program that coordinates resolution and bill writing along with fun bonding activities. They also provide input for state programming, arrange travel plans to state events and take turns hosting interim councils.