256: Profile: Tim Longest

Tim Longest has great hair and a killer collection of Julian's bowties. 


He was president of UNC's Philanthropic Society. He held office as UNC's student congress clerk.


Oh, and he missed the Student Body President runoff by four votes.

When the results were released the night of Feb. 14, hundreds of students were shocked, Longest included.

Photo: Kaitlyn Knepp / The Daily Tar Heel

Backlash from many of Longest's supporters ensued. Some called for a re-vote because the Student Life voting platform wasn't working for graduate students. 

Others vilified write-in votes for joke candidates since the election proved that every vote mattered.

None of the complaints came from Longest's campaign, though. Longest said in multiple interviews that the Board of Election's decision was valid and should be respected.

Regardless of the election's results -- and his initial disappointment -- Longest won't shrink from public life on campus next year.

After the original results were released, Longest told his campaign team that the campaign was only the beginning.

Despite the growing Large Ham Sandwich movement of student apathy, Longest believes that student government is essential to the student body and that the election results don't change his attitude about Carolina.

Longest said his campaign message -- "reclaim community, refine student government and renew the Carolina Way" -- can be carried out better without his election to the office of SBP.

"I will continue to implement this platform, not as SBP or a member of Student Government, but as a Student Advocate, as someone who cares about the future of this University," Longest said. "The platform doesn't need an official position for me to fulfill it."

Longest doesn't plan to hold an official position in student government next year, but plans to be an advocate for the student body, a principle upon which his campaign was based. He currently sits on the student fee committee of Student Congress and will remain a member for the rest of the school year.

Photo: Mary-Alice Warren, student photographer.

Aside from student government, Longest will be participating in other on-campus activities, as well as improving his banjo playing skills. When asked about his extra time without the presidential campaign, Longest gave an honest response.

“I also study now, to catch up,” Longest laughed. 

“I didn’t do so well on some midterms, and I said to my professors, ‘This isn’t what I’m normally like, I swear!’”

Longest said that he’s open to running for office in the Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies next semester, and attends the Societies' joint senate meetings each Monday night. A debate and literary society and the oldest student organization at UNC, Di Phi attracts students with interests similar to Longest’s, so he enjoys speaking with other senators about politics as well as outside interests.

Last year, Longest was the president of the Philanthropic society, and he currently sits as the chair of the Societies’ finance committee. He held finance committee meetings even while he was running his Student Body President campaign.

UNC junior Steve Burges was Dialectic president when Longest was Philanthropic president and said that Longest gives his all even when he’s over-committed. 

“This semester, he and I are the only members of the finance committee,” Burges said. 

“Tim is a really hard worker – he asked me to help him with it, but it’s really his leadership that got a workable budget done and allowed us to plan for our expenses even when no one else cared enough to do so.”

As an economics major and mathematics minor, not to mention a philosophy major as well, Longest is more than equipped to handle the Societies’ finances. And as the SBP election proved, he’s no stranger to efforts being met with apathy.

Longest also plans to remain involved with the Young Democrats and the Community Empowerment Fund, a micro-finance initiative that provides loans to help the homeless get back on their feet, next year.

His main goal next year will be to fight the tuition increases at UNC. "Budget conversations are happening in the next few weeks, so it's important to be thinking about now," 

Longest is also currently fighting against N.C. Amendment One, which recognizes only the union between a man and a woman as a legal marriage in North Carolina.

A junior from Greenville, N.C., Longest has a great appreciated for the University and for North Carolina and doesn't plan on leaving anytime soon. He'll apply to in-state law schools in the fall, but Longest is also open to taking time off after graduation. 

"Staying in Chapel Hill, or at least the Triangle, would be nice long-term," Longest said.


For now, Longest has more important things to worry about. He's going to the Florida Keys for spring break.