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Count the vote-fairness in democracy rally:
AUC in attendance
Jennifer Smith
Campus & Local Editor
On Saturday, January 20, the
date of the 2001 presidential inau
guration, two buses filled with
AUC students, left for Tallahassee,
Florida to attend the “Count The
Vote-Fairness In Democracy
Rally.”
This civil rights demonstra
tion, protesting the injustices that
took place during the Election
2000 voting process, was planned
by the National Black Leadership
Forum. Among the members of
this organization are The NAACP,
Rainbow Push, The Urban League,
and The National Council of Ne
gro Women.
AUC students were in
formed about the rally primarily
through Spelman’s chapter of the
NAACP. April Williams,
Spelman’s NAACP Political
Chairperson for Action, comments
about organizing the event. “When
I first found out about the rally, I
was told that it was an inaugura
tion protest,” says April. “I slept
on it because I kind of had the atti
tude that Bush won, so lets get over
it. Later, I received a letter stating
that the rally’s focus was not on
the inauguration, but democratic
fairness.”
Initially, only 10 bus seats
were reserved for AUC students to
attend the rally, but many more stu
dents showed interest. After the
Southeastern Regional NAACP
office was informed that a larger
number of students wanted to at
tend the rally, funds were supplied
for two Flarmon Brothers buses to
transport AUC students to Talla
hassee.
Students left the AUC at 5
a.m., and joined a caravan of 8
other buses at Turner Field, also
heading towards the rally in Talla
hassee. The rally was preceded by
a march from the Leon County
Civic Center in Tallahassee at 10
a.m., towards the state capital. At
12:30p.m, the rally began at the
Florida state capital, including sev
eral keynote speakers. Among
them were Kwesi Mfume, Presi
dent and CEO of the NAACP.
Joseph Lawry, civil rights leader
and retired president of the
SCLC, and Maynard Jackson,
former mayor of Atlanta, who an
nounced his bid to run for the
Democratic National Committee
at the rally.
When asked about the ob
jective of the rally, Spelman
NAACP president, Dione
Moultrie says: “Our key objective
was to establish a voice as Afri
can Americans that this is some
thing that we can’t stand for. We
can not allow political injustices
such as these to go on.”
Joni Poitier, vice president
of the Spelman NAACP, also dis
cusses the importance of African
Americans challenging political
injustices. “The main thing that
is important, is that we were not
out there to protest the inaugura
tion,” says Joni. “We want fair
ness in democracy. We are sup
posed to be able to elect a Presi
dent as well as people that we want
to represent us, and we want offi
cials to know that we don’t want the
problems that occurred/with Elec
tion 2000 to happen again. By not
re-counting the votes in Florida, our
rights that we are granted as citizens
were abused.”
Cynthia Daniels, Secretary
for the Spelman NAACP, com
ments that “Different people were
there for different reasons. I was
protesting how I feel that things in
Florida were not right during this
election, and that nationwide, we
need to review the voting process.
This is my right to vote, and I feel
that the government tampered with
it.”
Members of the NAACP
were also impressed with the uni
fied front that students from all the
AUC schools showed. Deidra
Greene, NAACP member, says: “I
think that it is really important for
us as college students to be involved
in the political process. The rally
was a turning point for me, and I
will now become even more politi
cally active.” Greene, also dis
cussed how the “Get out and Vote
Rally,” held at Spelman prior to the
election, left a lasting impact on
students who chose to attend the
rally in Tallahassee. "The rally
stressed that we must continue to
unite after we voted, the way that
we did prior to voting. I think that
a lot of people remembered that.”
Larena Flemmings, NAACP
membership chairperson as well as
a key participant in organizing
voter registration, comments on
the NAACP’s role in political ac
tion. “The NAACP has always
been at the forefront of fighting
against injustice, she says. Yes, the
election is over, but we must ask
what can we do now?”
If you are interested in learn
ing more about the NAACP and
their events, look for NAACP
week that will take place during
the last week of February.
Cafeteria questions and answers, continued...
gredients, Freeman suggests that
students visit the nutritionist in
health services, or ask the man
agers.
In response to
complaints about not
enough variety of
foods, Freeman
shared the reasons
for the sometimes-
limited choices.
“When you’re mass-
producing food, you
have to go with what
you think the aver
age person would
like. We’re also lim
ited sometimes with what’s on
the Mega Bar because of space.”
Yet, there may be some
drastic changes in the Cafeteria
in the very near future. “We’re
looking at doing renovations on
the Cafeteria over this summer,
says Freeman. “We need to up
date.” These updates would in
clude new carpeting, tables,
chairs and more food concepts.
“We’d like to add a made to or
der Vegetarian station called
“The Grannary,” says Freeman.
This station would be very simi
lar to the set-up of The Pasta Sta
tion, in its made to order con
cept. Items would include
Tabouleh, a grain salad, more
pastas, Basmati rice, wraps,
tofu, beans etc. If the renova
tions occur, there are also plans
to add a more “upscale” pizza
deli, and a larger salad bar.
When asked about clean
liness and sanitation of the Caf
eteria, an issue that many stu
dents were concerned with,
Freeman discussed the process
that the Cafe uses to sanitize
dishes and utensils. Dishes are
scraped, pre-rinsed, and ran
through the machine twice. All
silverware soaks in a solution
called “Silver Power,” until it’s
washed, and then runs through
the dishwashing machine three
times. There are usually two
random health inspections each
year by the county, but daily in
spections are performed by the
staff to make sure that every
thing is up to standard. These
inspections include tasks such as
checking to make sure
that the temperature of
the food is correct. The
temperature that food
must fall between for
safety is either below
40 degrees Celsius or
over 145 degrees Cel
sius.
Students have
also commented that
the food
is of the
best qual
ity when there are
guests on campus,
during New Stu
dent Orientation,
or during Family
Weekend. Al
though, Freeman
admits that there
may be a wider
variety of des
serts during this
time, she says
that, “The food is
the same.” “A perception is
given that it is better, because
the cafeteria is decorated and we
pick a very basic menu that ev
eryone would like. Yet, the
quality is exactly the same. We
have excellent cooks who do the
very same thing each day of the
week.” There are three chefs with
culinary degrees, and one cook
who has been cooking for about
50 years on staff.
The majority of the Dining
Services staff commented that
they enjoy working with the stu
dents, yet some said that they are
not pleased with the attitudes that
they receive from students in the
serving line, or those who do not
clear their tables. Some staff
members also felt that less em
ployee turnover, more hours,
teamwork, and a better relation
ship between management and
employees could improve their
job. Yet, everyone does not feel
this way. Ms. Doris, the cash
ier, loves scanning cards at the
door. “I enjoy seeing the stu
dents, guests and faculty every
day,” she says. “ I don’t have to
worry about any tension between
employees, because my job is to
welcome and admit everyone
into the dining hall.”
Piper Freeman encour
ages students to bring their con
cerns and complaints to the at
tention of management. “I en
joy working and serving the
Spelman community,
because of its close
knit environment. I
want you to tell me
when something is
wrong, because I want
to fix it. The problem
is communication. Let
the managers know if
anything is unsatisfac
tory. Any questions or
issues should be
brought to our atten
tion, because we are
here for you. We have a
really good team that
works hard and is successfully
working each day to improve our
level of service,” states Freeman.
Keep this in mind the next time
you are not pleased with your meal
in the Cafe!
Time to eat!!!
At work in the
cafe!!!