NEWS
Pg.2
FALL SEMESTER November, 2006
THE VOICE
Student Government Explains Semester Spending
Continued from Page 1
(SGA license plate frames, I
love FSU keychains, and SGA cups),
$1,343.79 on office supplies and
decorations, $600 to Jeb Designs for
homecoming t-shirts, $1,000 on copier
expenses, and an open purchase or
der for $1,000 to the print shop.
Other major expenses for the or
ganization included $3,500 for speak
er Fox Rich and $3,300 for speaker
Rasheed Ali Cromwell, who were both
part of the SGA speaker series.
Students expressed concern over
whether the funds really benefited
Fayetteville State students.
The Voice staff asked SGA repre
sentatives about the justifications for
the expenditures.
The $1,825 spent on t-shirts was
part of operation Smooth Move. "We
always give the freshmen ... welcom
ing gifts, and that was part of that,"
said SGA Senator and program
moderator Lisa Harris. "Homecoming
T-shirts are basically to initiate school
pride, so that students do have things
to wear to the games," she added.
SGA Vice President Jerrell Nelson
also feels that freshmen welcoming
gifts and homecoming t-shirts were a
valid expenditure for SGA.
"Part of the Student Government
Association's job is to preserve rel
evant traditions here at Fayetteville
State University," says Nelson. "One
of those relevant traditions is the en
couragement or promotion of Bronco
pride."
Questions were also asked about
the approval process for funds spent
by SGA. The majority of the semester's
spending was done outside of regular
senate meetings and without an official
Senate vote.
However, the SGA constitution
gives power to the Executive Board (a
board composed of key SGA leaders)
when the Senate is not in session.
The Executive Board can make
decisions regarding SGA events.
activities, and spending on behalf of
the Senate during those times, but is
required to give a full report of any
decisions or vote to the Senate at the
next regularly scheduled meeting.
The Executive Board was required
to make all decisions for the Senate un
til the fourth meeting of the semester,
when the SGA budget was approved.
The next SGA meeting will be held
on December 6th. Any questions can
be directed to the Student Government
office at 910-672-1344.
Upcoming Events
Continued from Page 1
go to the institution. After you go there for a year
you are part of the alumni association, so when I see
you all know, I have no problem with anyone as a
student. I try to let them know that they are part of the
family too." Minister Mohammed claims that he gets
his concept of the alumni family from older bronco
alumni; "The ones who taught me to care for FSU are
80 and 90 years old now. We don't just love FSU, we
built it, and a family must love and take care of one
another."
Another issue surrounding Minister Mohammed
is the claims made by some students that he is rac
ist against non blacks, which he denies. "I am not a
racist," he declares. "Some of my most dependable
friends are white millionaires. People are misled when
they hear me make statements about black pride and
black history, but Caucasians who really care under
stand pride. It motivates you to protect what belongs
to//
you.
Minister Mohammed has been heard saying to
students on a number of occasions that he is "trying to
get us a new chancellor." His apparent issues seem to
be with alleged hiring and firing practices concerning
African American staff members. But our current chan
cellor is not the only one who Minister Mohammed
has attempted to unseat. He also had a problem with
Dr. Loyd Hackley because of recruitment tactics aimed
at diversifying the student body. Minister Mohammed
claims that he has no problem with diversity; it's just
too much too soon. "\t you g'we away the advantage
you have as African Americans people will turn on
you," he says. "When you're competing, if people
think they have an advantage over you they will get
rid of you.
When asked about the dissociation notices put
out by the local Muslim Mosque, or the Masjid Omar
Ibn Say'yid, Minister Mohammed claims that the
minister who put out the notices against him was fired
for alleged misappropriation of funds. Representatives
from the mosque were unavailable to confirm or deny
this account.
When asked about reasons behind the dissocia
tion notices put out by FSU, Minister Mohammed feels
that it is more of an administrative decision. "I have
faculty that support me; half are with me and half are
not," he states. "I have neighbors and friends who
were deans, administrators and teachers when I was
a student and they don't have a problem, they just
ask 'Why?'"
So why does
Minister Moham
med feel the need
to associate him
self with the univer
sity? He says, "Dr.
Seabrook was my
neighbor and after
he was president
he used to come
by and check
on the university
because he cared
so much. I do it
because of my
loyalty to the FSU Eronomy Smith’s 1968 FSU
Yearbook Photo
Nonethe- Courtesy of FSU Archives,
less, we can not
ignore the fact that
Minister Mohammed continually insists on speaking
on behalf of the Alumni Association when he is not
officially part of the association. One argument is that
students are misled into thinking that he can solve all
their problems, when in fact he has no real power at
the university. He admits, however, that he has no real
power: "I don't have any power, but I have friends
and I go to them with the truth and they bring about
change."
Minister Mohammed attributes many of the
changes that have taken place on campus as his do
ing. Mony may have heard Wim speak of the things
that he has helped establish. He expresses involve
ment in getting rid of Shaw Foods, establishing the
fountain in front of the student center, and says that
he was in charge of the Alumni Museum in the Chick
Building. He also speaks of being instrumental in
many changes that have taken place in the commu
nity such as the redevelopment of downtown Fay
etteville and Murchison Road, to name a few. While
Minister Mohammed has an impressive knowledge
of events that have taken place on our campus and in
our community, it is difficult, if not impossible, to con
firm or deny his level of involvement in these activities.
Whatever the case may be. Minister Moham
med has been coming back to check on FSU since he
arrived back from the Vietnam War in 1971, and says
that he will continue to do so. "When the FSU family
is united and taken care of, and nobody is starving, it
is a win-win situation. It's a real Family"
Word On The Yard
By: Megan Gurganious
The Voice
The Student Government
Association holds an open
forum for all students once
a month called Word on the
Yard which allows students to
express themselves on subjects
such as pregnancy, financial
aid, and community events that
are affecting students. The SGA
typically comes to the forum
with pre-selected topics for dis
cussion; however, if other issues
stem from the topics, they are
also discussed.
Reginald Scriven, a member
of the SGA E-Board, describes
the meetings as very successful,
a chance for students to say
what is on their mind.
This month's meeting was
held on November 20, 2006,
with three topics on the agen
da: March on Washington,
Tuition and Fees Increase, and
the SGA's Budget. Each subject
was preAnted, explained, and
then optaed up for discussion.
The Karch on Washington
is a rall(|»hat will be held in
Washiri^'^n, D.C. on December
4, 2006. Two cases, Meredith
V. Jefferson County Public
Schools and Parents Involved in
Community Schools v. Seattle
School District, will be pre
sented to the Supreme Court, in
which it "will determine whether
or not measures to desegregate
K-12 public schools, as well as
affirmative action programs for
higher education, remain le
gal." More than 50,000 people
are expected to attend, includ
ing Harvard University and the
Reverend Jesse Jackson. For
more information regarding the
cases, please visit www.bamn.
com. If you are interested in
attending, there is a $10.00
fee and chartered buses will
be leaving on December 3,
2006. Bowie State University is
opening their gym for people
to camp out in. Please contact a
member of SGA to sign up.
The next item of business
was discussion about the tuition
and fees increase. Recently,
two open forums were held to
discuss the matter. It has been
proposed, but not yet passed,
for student fees to increase
$178.00 in Fall Semester 2007.
These fees will be used to
expand the budgets of stu
dent organizations and clubs,
intramural sports, fine arts, and
health services.
They will also be directed
towards educational technol
ogy fees to eventually make
the entire FSU campus wireless-
capable and for all classrooms
to be "smart classrooms," with
technological equipment avail
able in each room.
Resident Life fee increases
have been proposed to increase
by $300.00. These fees will be
utilized for increasing security,
renovating the roofs, replac
ing beds, recreational activity
places added, and extended
operation hours.
These fee increases are pro
posals and still must go to the
Board of Trustees for approval.
Before being approved or
denied, students have the ability
to state their opinions about the
matter. However, before seeing
these as just a monetary figure,
as one student pointed out, we
need to "think about how these
fees will allow us to move up as
students and as a university."
The final topic was the
SGA's budget for this aca
demic year. They are allotted
$71,500.00, $48,609.00
has been used to date, and
Next
“Word on the Yard”
Meeting
December
4th
$22,890.00 remains. The
Speaker Series that they spon
sor uses the largest sum of their
budget, with the student salaries
in second. Other activities that
the money has gone towards
have been ASG Retreats,
Operation Smooth Move, the
tuition fee increase forum, and
to help fund a library in Ghana.
Events that have been listed on
their website have not necessar
ily been paid for yet, but they
have been accounted for or
pre-paid.
Their budget does not
roll over each year, so all the
money will be used this year.
Because students have already
paid their fees with tuition, no
revenues are made by the SGA.
The student senate does
vote on how the money is spent,
but not until the budget is ap
proved, which this year was at
their fourth meeting. Meetings
are open to anyone who would
like to attend and have any
questions answered.
According to Senator
Lisa Harris, one of the event's
moderators and organizers,
this particular meeting was
"the longest, but most success
ful" they've held all year. They
encourage all students to attend
and let their voices be heard.
Distinguished Speakers Series: Dr. Manning Marable
By: Megan Gurganious
The Voice
On November 14, 2006,
Dr. Manning Marable spoke at
the J.W. Seabrook Auditorium
as part of The Chancellor's
Distinguished Speaker Series.
Dr. Marable is a professor of
Public Affairs, Political Science,
History, and African-American
Studies at Columbia University
in New York City. As the found
ing director of the Institute for
Research in African-American
Studies at Columbia, it has be
come "one of the nation's most
prestigious centers of scholar
ship on the black American ex
perience." He has written many
academic journals and edited
volumes, making him a very
influential writer and speaker.
Dr. Marable's speech was
entitled "Race Injustice, Disen
franchising Lives." His basis,
which he emphasized by giving
numerous statistics, was that
racism still exists in our country.
Rather than hanging "white
only" signs and allowing only
whites to sit at the front of the
bus, what now exists is color
blind racism, "laissez-faire"
racism. He states: "The racial
line has not been erased, it has
been reconfigured."
From here, he discussed
briefly the Civil Rights Move
ment, Dr. Martin Luther King,
and affirmative action, particu
larly under the Clinton Admin
istration. Affirmative action is
a policy or program that gives
preference to a minority or
a protected group of people
to counter past, or eliminate
present, discrimination against
them. Dr. Marable remarked
that recently states have begun
to eliminate affirmative action
as though it were a negative
aspect.
After Dr. Marable stated
his issues with affirmative ac
tion, he began to discuss the
nation's criminal justice system.
By the late 1980s, one mil
lion people were in prison, or,
broken down, and one in 250
people in the United States
were prisoners. He described
"crazed construction," in which
there was a rush to build more
prisons.
He states that from 1819-
1981, New York State built 33
new state prisons, and from
1982-present, New York has
built 38 new state prisons,
building more in over two
decades than in almost two
centuries. Half of these prison
ers were black and Dr. Marable
states that it is "worse here than
apartheid in South Africa."
Dr. Marable states, "It is
impossible to talk about jus
tice under the criminal justice
regime." By this he means that
you simply can not talk about
racial issues without talking
about how races live. He dis
cussed "structural racism" in the
21st century: mass unemploy
ment and mass poverty inevita
bly feeds to mass incarceration.
He claims that there is racial
injustice in the criminal justice
system, stressing that "black
teens are 48 times more likely
to be sentenced to a juvenile
facility than white teens-this is
not an accident."
Voting in America be
came another big topic for Dr.
Marable. After stating that six
million Americans are disenfran
chised (in prison, on probation,
on parole, or awaiting trial),
45% being black, he declared
that most states deny felons,
either serving time or on pro
bation, the right to vote. Few
states don't allow ex-felons to
ever vote, resulting in what he
calls, "civil death."
Dr. Marable asked the audi
ence what we should do about
the growing crime rate and the
criminal justice system.
He began to answer his
question by reminding his listen
ers that $150 billion is being
spent on the Iraq War each
year.
He states, "Not enough
is being spent on the criminal
justice system. The threat is not
Al-Qaeda, but the terrorists in
our own neighborhoods." He
suggests that the restoration
of justice is in need, and that
by bringing back Americans
convicted of crimes to par
ticipate in voting and in the
economy/work force, we can
begin to correct the problems of
the system.
Dr. Marable recommends
constructing a bridge of learn
ing for incarcerated people, by
allowing Pell Grant subsidiaries
back into the prison system and
training them for jobs in the
outside world.
To him, the way the system
is in place now, one-third of all
prisoners will be back in prison
within three years. He made
the statement that "it costs far
less to educate and train further
than to warehouse millions of
people in prison."
The next step, according to
Dr. Marable, is to begin a na
tional project on disenfranchise
ment, which he believes consists
of mostly black, brown, poor,
and working class people.
He stated, "If we can get
one-third of disenfranchised
people to vote, we would never
have to worry about a George
W. Bush again."
Dr. Marable made the com
ment that mothers and fathers,
and providers, are being taken
away from their families and
that because there is no mon
etary support, the vicious cycle
continues with poor or working
class members of society being
covicted of crimes.
He stated that this isn't
right, that children need both
parents, they need consistency,
and our nation would be safer
and less destructive if we could
impose this project on disenfran
chisement and restore justice.