Homecoming
According to the Student Association Web site (www.sa.msstate.edu), the timeline for Homecoming elections have changed from previous years. Applications will now be available Monday and are due on Sept. 19. Homecoming activities are set for October. The date was recently set by the Student Association and will put the Panhellenic Council, the Black Student Alliance and any other interested organization in a frenzy to nominate candidates.
The Black Student Alliance, an organization that has not yet had a meeting because of Hurricane Katrina and Labor Day, will have to put out applications, accept nominations and hold a vote at or before its next Monday meeting unless an emergency meeting is called before Monday’s deadline.
The BSA was set to have a customary meet-and-greet style first meeting, complete with a discussion about Kanye West’s recent absurd comments about President Bush not caring about the black people affected by Hurricane Katrina. It now seems that the meeting will be consumed by the nominating and electing of members to represent the organization in the Homecoming election.
Another point of interest in elections have been which groups will win the slots. Some years, the candidates from Panhellenic sororities successfully won in a clean sweep. In other years, the Black Student Alliance won several maid positions and secured the “Queen’s Crown” for a number of consecutive years. Then the fault lines were drawn, and the two umbrella organizations began to consolidate their bases into one ticket.
The Black Student Alliance always lost, and the Student Association stepped in. In an unprecedented move, the Greek-run Senate approved a measure from a SA commission that severely limited the ability of sororities to run one slate of candidates, but only on a one-year sunset basis. Homecoming came and an unwritten gentlewoman’s agreement was made. In this, both organizations would be guaranteed at least one spot in each class, but the Miss MSU and Homecoming Queen race would come down to which organization had the most members to go out and vote. Although some other organizations ran candidates, they didn’t have a chance against the two blocs unless they engaged in real campaigning, which was made illegal after many administrators and SA leaders deemed it too divisive and bothersome to Joe Student on the Drill Field.
Campaign for Young Evacuees
With the devastation that came with Hurricane Katrina, Mississippians, who have been identified as the most charitable per capita in the nation, have sprung to action to help those who are displaced. These Americans, not refugees, are in dire need of support in this time of despair.
While there are many campaigns focused on helping at Ground Zero, the Early Childhood Institute has implemented Project EMBRACE Mississippi’s Children, which is a collaborative effort of Mississippi State University: Early Childhood Institute, Extension Service, School of Human Sciences, Mississippi Public Broadcasting Network, Children’s Defense Fund, Mississippi United Methodist Conference and Mississippi Early Childhood Association. The Shelter Project provides materials to displaced children in shelters, including books, art materials, soft toys and other materials to ensure the mental well-being of children. If your organization would like to help, contact Morgan McPhail at [email protected].
Haley Barbour
I constantly witness Governor Barbour being encouraged to assign blame and in many cases being blamed.
Robert Kennedy Jr. wrote satirically that God spared New Orleans a direct hit because Governor Barbour lobbied against an environmental policy, and Kennedy then opined that heightened global warming gave us Katrina. Although global warming is a topic for valid debate, this was inappropriate, especially for someone who criss-crosses the nation in a private jet adding to global warming. On CNN, a constant attempt to bait Barbour into the blame fray failed when he finally asked if his appearance was an “interrogation or an interview.”
The truth is, many Mississippians thought if they rode out Camille in 1969, then they could ride out Katrina. New Orleans, whose Emergency Preparedness employees were described jokingly as “required to pray” for New Orleans not to be hit, had many people with the same mind sight. Sometimes we have to admit that nature is more powerful than man. The problems that did occur need to be addressed from the city to the national level, in that order. The state is the first responder and the state guides the operations unless power is turned over to the federal government.