SG elections chief: code not breached
In response to Ms. Bourg’s letter to the editor I just have a few comments to make. I feel fairly qualified to talk about what went on.
I was not personally there when she voted. At that time, I was personally attending to some network difficulties at the other polling locations. When I returned a short time later, there were already two representatives from The Reveille ready to see these blatant violations. However, when they and I saw none, we were forced to give up the search and go back to work.
The poll workers and the campaigners know to keep pushcards away. Every campaigner has a copy of the election code. After I found out about the complaints, I personally reprimanded all of the poll workers there and every person campaigning in the Quad. I also took the time to talk to Ms. Bourg about her concerns personally, time that kept me from the polls, where I needed to be. At that point I was led to believe the issue was at an end. Signs were posted to keep pushcards away from the polls and I did not see any of these violations for the remainder of the day. It is my belief that I have fulfilled any and all responsibility that I had to Ms. Bourg.
However, since Ms. Bourg has chosen to no longer run for the Student Senate herself and finds that elections are her true calling, I have a solution that will benefit us both. There are runoffs for University College Center for Freshman Year next week, and also general elections in the spring. Ms. Bourg is more than welcome to come and spend the day there with me and see for herself if the Election Code is being followed. Is it too simpleminded for me to think that a concerned and involved student would like to aid in implementing a fair and just election? We are often understaffed, and I can always use someone who knows the Election Code that well. I will be in the Quad at 7 a.m., Kayla, hope to see you there.
Zachary Howser
Commissioner of Elections
Member says SG not ‘pointless’
As an active member of Student Government, I was appalled at the uneducated assumptions of your columnist concerning “pointlessness of SG elections.”
In my two years experience in LSU Student Government, I have watched and worked with some of the most hardworking, selfless individuals who spend countless hours positively changing this campus every day. However, in order to begin working for the students, they must first work to get elected. Campaigning gets issues to students and assists them in making an informed vote. It shows the dedication each potential SG member has that will carry into his or her term. Until all LSU students are willing to seek out information on campus issues, candidates, and SG as a whole, concerned SG or potential SG members will bring the issues to them.
Campaining is NOT about “hard-nosed tactics and an insatiable desire to win at all costs.” Nor is getting elected into an office about “comfy leather chairs in the Union offices.”
Mr. Martin, YOUR Student Government organizes campuswide entertainment events and bus trips, hosts lighting walks to improve campus safety, answers a phone line specifically for addressing any student’s concerns and informs students of major campus issues year-round through campus outreaches and tablesits in Free Speech Alley. YOUR Student Government gives a total of $20,000 to student organizations that need funds to better their causes. YOUR Student Government is here to serve students. SG elections will only become pointless when students don’t take the time to exercise their right to vote.
Jenny Byrd
Sophomore – Marketing
Some black leaders do hinder equality
We are writing in response to Ms. Bullock’s letter about ignorance. Ignorance in its basest form is the failure to use one’s further enlightenment, in this case about these racial issues. All any rational person wants is for people of all races to see where others are being shut out. For a society to be equal, it must be all-inclusive. Because this is not a perfect world, this obviously will not happen. However, people of every race can do everything they can to make their society inclusive of all races and all people.
The main argument most white people have against things like BET and FUBU is they exclude people of all other races. While whites, Hispanics, Asians, etc. may watch BET, dress in FUBU and attend black colleges, the simple fact that they are named for blacks and directed toward blacks indicates the main intent is to exclude other races. How does this then promote the equality blacks seek? Is it not easy to see why a white person would think leaders of the black community are opposed to equality?
For example, Johnny Cochrane will meet with NFL comissioner Paul Tagliabue later this week. Cochrane’s complaint is NFL teams are racist when hiring coaches. He wants teams to interview one African-American in every four candidates for a head coaching job.
Allow me to pose this question — why? Furthermore, why African-Americans? Of the league’s 32 head coaches, two are black and a number of African-American assistant coaches are gaining status and even being interviewed for almost every available head coach job. The number of coaches from races other than white and black is slim, if not zero. Why not crusade for their opportunity? Is this ignorance or selfishness? The league is moving closer to equality for blacks, why put that in jeopardy for some Johnny Cochrane affirmative action rip-off that would force talented African-American coaches to lose their credibility?
African-American people should stop letting leaders like Cochrane exclude other races and hinder equality and take control of their own destiny before its too late.
Evan Trapani
Sophomore — Electrical Engineering