Customer49 records

Customer49 was a student organization formed on the campus of UNC Charlotte in the fall of 2015. The organization coalesced around a student walkout to protest the selection of Margaret Spellings, former Secretary of Education in the George W. Bush administration, as president of the UNC System. Later that semester the organization sent a letter opposing a raise in UNC Charlotte Chancellor Phil Dubois' salary. In the spring of 2016, Customer49 organized a "welcome party" continuing the protest of Margaret Spellings. The organization's name came from the idea of viewing students as "customers," and thus wanting to know how their money was being spent. The organization filed public records requests for documents related to student fees and institutional investment accoounts.

The organization also held events related to national social justice issues, including the killing of Tamir Rice in Ohio, the candidacy and election of Donald Trump as President of the United States, the North Carolina Legislature's passage of House Bill 2, the construction of the Dakota Access oil pipline on the Standing Rock reservation, the killing of Keith Lamont Scott in Charlotte, and the Trump Administration's ban on travel of persons from middle east countries to the United States and efforts to create a wall along the United States' southern border.

Customer49 collaborated with other student organizations on the UNC Charlotte campus including the Black Student Union, the Muslim Student Association, and the LGBT Association, to engage in protests, demonstrations, teach-ins, and the advocacy for and construction of the Lavender Lounge and Meditation Space on the UNC Charlotte campus. The organization disbanded around the fall of 2017 as many of its members graduated.