4 The Voice, For students, By Students 1 November 2, 2011 1 www.fsuvoice.com | send news tips to the editor; tlnevoice.fsu@gmail.com
Grad senator seat denied to part-time student
by LAsia Brown
Contributing writer
Graduate student disqualified
from SGA race due to enrollment
status
When Kady-Ann Davy received
the email on Sept. 1, that her appli
cation to run for a graduate student
senator in Fayetteville State Uni
versity’s fall elections had been ac
cepted, she thought she might have
a chance to become yet another
force in her community, albeit, the
FSU one.
Ms. Davy purchased posters,
solicited FSU fiiends for help, and
began placing orders for fortune
cookies, campaign buttons and oth
er promotional items. She distrib
uted her fliers around campus and
started on the campaign trail to win
the position.
Then, on Thursday, Sept. 8, less
than a week before elections were
scheduled to take place, Ms. Davy
received an email from the office
of student activities, stating that she
had been erroneously approved to
run for the position.
“It has come to our attention that
you are not a full time graduate stu
dent. Therefore, you are ineligible
Davy
to run for the position of gradu
ate senator. We apologize for any
inconvenience that this may have
caused you,” said the email.
The cause of Ms. Davy’s disqual
ification from the race—her status
as a part-time student rather than
full-time student—^was stated as the
determining factor. Ms. Davy sits
on Fayetteville’s City Council as its
youngest member, over District 12.
She is one of two councilwomen, in
addition to councilwoman Valencia
A. Applewhite.
In FSU’s student government
association constitution, specific
rules, regulations and requirements
are outlined, that applicants must
meet in order to run for positions or
to just be involved with SGA. Rule
number one, under section three of
article V, which discusses qualifica
tions, states that a student seeking
a position within SGA must be en
rolled in the university full-time.
But with the position of graduate
senator being different than that of
president, vice-president, treasure,
etc., the requirement that a graduate
student be enrolled full-time to par
ticipate, is questionable, especially
considering the fact that Ms. Davy
was the only applicant for the posi
tion.
There are currently no gradu
ate senators, and with the amount
of full-time graduate students be
ing relatively low, the probability
of several being interested in SGA
is also low. Out the approximate
6,000 students enrolled at FSU,
only about 10 percent, or 746 stu
dents are in graduate school. The
percentage of full-time students
versus part-time students was not
immediately available for The
Voice.
“While I can't say that I've
reached out or spoken personally
with my SGA President or the Sen
ate Vice President or any members
of the executive board, about my
approval, and subsequent disap
proval, to run for SGA graduate
senator, I must
say that I kind
of hoped for
someone to
reach out to
me and at least
ask me to be an
SGA volunteer,
or empathize with my situation in
any other way,” said Ms. Davy.
With FSU being somewhat of a
growing transitional university in
the midst of a town that receives
heavy military traffic, paired with
the economy’s less than stellar per
formance, and graduate students
who have had to drop below full
time to accommodate families,
SGA’s requirements that graduate
students be full-time seem outdated.
The application process, having
not caught Ms. Davy’s status earli
er, also needs to be updated accord
ing Ms. Davy.
SGAs requirements that
graduate students be
full-time seem outdated,
“I've still yet to hear from the
top brass in SGA about this situa
tion, I'm not even sure if they know
about it. In short, no one has in
dicated to me just how, or if, they
plan to streamline the election ap
plication process in order to avoid
making this mistake in the future.
It has been very disheartening to
know that as
graduate stu
dents, there
is no support
or serious
mechanism
that allows us
to make use
of our desire to be involved in our
graduate alma mater, or if even on
a basic level, share our experiences
with our young brothers and sisters
on campus,” said Ms. Davy.
With enrollment dynamics at
FSU, SGA may need to consider
revisions to their constitution, to
allow part-time graduate or even
undergraduate students the oppor
tunity to participate in election ac
tivities.
The office of student affairs did
not respond to The Voice’s requests
for questions by press time.
WHAT’SGOINGON?
FALL 2011 GRADUATE STUDENT FORUM
WHAT: Graduate student forum
WHEN: Tonight 5:00-6:00 p.m.
WHERE: Continuing Education Building room 125
HOSTED BY: Graduate School of FSU
EAGLE EMPOWERMENT SERIES
WHAT: What You Don't Know CAN Hurt You
WHEN: 7:00-8:00 p.m.
WHERE: Upper level of the Cook Building
HOSTED BY: NCCU & FSU
SCHOOL PREP
WHAT: Graduate School Prep Workshop
WHEN: November 3 from 2:00-3:45 p.m.
WHERE: Continuing Education Building room 125
HOSTED BY: Graduate School of FSU
BASKETBALL FRENZY
WHAT: Meet Fayetteville State’s men’s and women’s
basketball teams
When: Nov. 8 at 5:30 p.m.
Where: Capel Arena
Hosted by: Alethic Department
A SENIOR RECITAL
What: Mary J. Busch Senior Recital
When: Nov 8. at 7:00 p.m.
Where: Rosenthal Recital Hall
Hosted by: Department of Performing & Fine Arts
TURKEY TROT
What: Armual Turkey Trot
When: Nov. 17 at 2:30 p.m.
Where: Luther "Nick" Jerald's Stadium
Hosted By: Office of Student Activities
FSU THEATRE STUDENTS PERFORM A
MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM
WHAT: The FSU Theatre Students at FSU perform a
classic by Shakespeare
WHEN: November 17-20, Thursday, Friday and Saturday
at 7:30 p.m. and 3 p.m. on Sunday
WHERE: FSU Butler Theatre
MORE INFO: 910-672-2574; www.uncfsu.edu/theatre
The Voice would like to let our reading audience know that our last
issue of 2011 will be published on December 2. If you're interested in
submitting campus photos and calendar events, the deadline
for publication consideration is November 22.
Contact the Voice office at 672-2210.