Newspaper Page Text
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Clark Atlanta University Panther
April 16, 1991
Lifestyle
Page 6
Clark Atlanta University Panther
April 16, 1991
Student Elections Review
Panther Spotlights Candidates
Ready, Set, Go
By WILLI A M B LA CKB URN
Staff Writer
The rules were set, the
applications were in, and the
starting gun was sounded. The
only thing missing, however,
were the candidates.
As the hand hit
midnight, symbolizing the start
of election campaigning, only a
couple of teams could be seen
dashing through the moonlight
to be the first to distribute
election paraphernalia.
Tara Hines, a candidate
for Miss Sophomore, had her
team of political workers ready
to attack any available bulletin
board. "I'm getting a good start
by being one of the first people
out here," said Ms. Hines."This
is an exciting experience."
As Ms. Hines's staff
tacked down several colorful
poster boards, the one woman
team of Keysha Vaughn tried to
keep pace. "I'm trying to get the
jump on the other candidates,"
said Ms. Vaughn, a candidate for
undergraduate SGA
president. "This is so
suspenseful."
Though the sight of
12:01 a.m. ignited the
excitement level for some
candidates, the overall turnout
was significantly lower than in
past years. A fact that may be
attributed to the new regulations
imposed by the Student Election
Committee.
The SEC passed a
controversial ruling that
prohibits candidates from
placing any of their campaign
items in places other than
bulletin boards. Thus, paving the
way for potentially dirty politics
as 48 candidates will attempt to
place their posters and flyers in
positions to stand out among the
rest. In addition, the SEC banned
all forms of give aways. In the
past, candidates handed out a
variety of goodies to gain
support for their campaigns.
Ms. Hines felt that the
new restrictions played a key
role in the number of candidates
who turned out for the beginning
of four days of politicking.
"Candidates have to go through
some much before the election
process even starts that it can put
a damper on some of your
enthusiasm," said Ms. Hines.
The candidates had
written permission for all
buildings on the campus to be
open in order to hang up their
campaign slogans. However,
when the official starting time
arrived, the buildings were found
locked and no one to open them.
"If it ain't one thing it's
another," said Ms. Vaughn.
As the time began to
move deeper into the night, the
candidates anxiously awaited the
disappearance of the moonlight.
For with the new day comes the
opportunity to found out the
impact of their midnight
prowling.
Stand Up And Be Counted
By SHERYL KENNEDY
Lifestyle Editor
When the idea to do a series
of articles dealing with the
plight of the Clark Atlanta
University Student Government
Association first came to mind,
the intention was to spark some
attention. Honestly at that time
attention didn't take on the form
of being positive or negative,
just something to make everyone
think of the one organization
that holds the greatest amount of
power — student power.
Like any reporter, you lurk
behind walls, start a
conversation among friends or
initiate class room discussions
to find out how much people
know about the association or if
they know that it even exist.
Those efforts proved to be
startling and yet saddening. On
the average most people didn't
know Mary Lacey from "Mary
had a little lamb” or Jamyee
Pleasant from actress Jamie Lee
Curtis and Tyra Boyd from
Eamelle Pritchett, which was not
only a disgrace, but a down right
embarrassment on behalf of the
administration all the way to the
members of the student body.
We as students always find the
need to complain or our favorite
thing to do is point the finger,
just out right blame someone
else for our lazy excuses and
'whatever' attitudes. We are faster
than a rabbit when it comes to
spreading rumors or crying about
what needs to be done or what
should be done while an SGA
official is in office, but can't tell
a visitor how to get to the SGA
office to save our life. We are
certainly reliable when it comes
to going back to our clicks and
telling them what this click is
doing and what our click should
do in order to upset that click.
We are faithful members of the
organization called WCF which
stands for We Criticize First. As
a member of this organization we
seek out all the bad before we
give the good the time of day,
with slogans like "I don't think
the SGA president has done
anything" or "He only looks out
for his friends while we suffer." If
we as students would capitalize
on the power we have as a body
and not as an individual we could
accomplish many things. By
combining all the radical
thoughts with all the subtle
approaches to the let's do
something about it students, we
could be a deadly and effective
student body.
Maybe that way
administration would finally
realize that we are not a group of
spoiled brats that need them to
make all our decisions, just
maybe they'll realize we can
make a few decisions of our own.
With student elections
awaiting us around the comer we
can make a difference. We must
educate one another on the
importance of supporting the
SGA. We can do this through
voting and participating in the
election activities. We should
become more aware of our student
leaders and their roles in campus
life.
So please vote. Pass the word
to fellow students to vote and
destroy our reputation of being
ignorant and unconcerned.