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CCE SGA
NEWS
Continued from page I
"My goal is to maintain the balance of
the budget and to find new ways to save
some money/' said Bowks.
Victor Vincent, a current student
representative accepted his nomination as
vice president. He would like to see the
SGA participate in fund-raising for local
charities next year.
"I believe this is where, as a government,
we have dropped the ball," said Vincent.
"However, recent large turnouts, like
"Evening on the Patio," (shows) I am
challenging students to get involved with
SGA. If you don't like something about the
school, get involved to change it."
Kathleen Winkler, whose background is
in non-profit event planning and has been
involved for 27 years with the Greensboro
Jaycees and the Wyndham Championship
golf tournament, will keep the office of
activities director
"I have waited 26 years to be able to attend
college and I want to be able to experience
everything that I can about being a college
student," said Winkler. "The SGA not only
brings experience to the table, but also the
hard work and dedication in the making
sure that all CCE students are able to
enjoy the full experience of being a college
student. It is nice to be apart of a team that
works so hard together to accomplish the
same common goal!"
There are six contenders for the five
available student representative positions.
Yolanda Mason, Grade Harris and Mischa
Miles are the current representatives who
look forward to more student partidpation
this year.
"I'd like to see the CCE SGA re
introduced to the CCE students of
Guilford," said Harris. "Then, togethei; we
can become an integral part of life in the
Guilford community.
Mason also discussed the lack of student
involvement in their government.
"Low partidpation in SGA activities is
discouraging. I'd like to see that change,"
said Mason. "My advice to the adult
students would be to get out there and
vote because the CCE SGA represents
them and without representation a lot of
the needs and challenges just might get
overlooked."
Miles raised the idea that the SGA should
provide more transparency and visibility.
"I will reach out to the population of
CCE to ensure that all voices throughout
the community are being heard and
acknowledged," said Miles. "There needs
to be a voice that brings awareness to the
adult population on campus about what
SGA is and stands for, because there are
many that do not know. I plan to be that
voice."
New to the ballot for student
representatives are Brandon Sasnet, SGA
Vice President Jennifer Agee and Steveland
McSwain.
"I want to be more involved with the
school," said McSwain. "I'd like to see
others immerse themselves as much as
possible."
Due to the high attendance for the CCE
SGA announcements, some have high
expectations for the upcoming year.
"The CCE SGA is in a state of growth
reaching more and more people and getting
the word out that the SGA gives back to the
students," said Agee.
The online elections would be held from
April 4-6. A voting booth will also be set
up in Hendricks's Hall. The board will be
introduced at the Spring Fling and Awards
event on April 25.
ELECTION
Continued from page I
legitimate. But the fact that it was backed
largely by a group of people who were
disqualified is hypocritical," said current
Senate President Joe Pelcher. "I believe
a lot of the concerns listed by the people
abstaining are being addressed by tiie by
laws committee and have been addressed
in Senate all year."
Students who chose to vote for a ticket
felt abstaining would detract from working
towards progress through the current
system.
"I didn't abstain because I had something
I wanted to do with my vote," said first-
year Evan Sterling.
"I chose to vote for Nancy's ticket, who
I heard from several credible sources had
more experience than (Hemeter's), rather
than support a mystery third party that I
knew nothing about."
All of the new executives have experience
in leadership roles and attribute their
win to their knowledge of the workings
of Senate as well as their desire to work
with Hemeter's ticket while running a fair
campaign.
"(In terms of campaigning tactics)
our current involvement and experience
spoke for us," said Klosteridis. "All of the
important proposals in Senate lately have
gotten a lot of publicity and caused people
to ask us questions about our platform." .
Klosteridis's ticket spent 12 hours
campaigning in front of Founders Hall on
election day talking to studente about their
concerns.
"There were conversations that lasted
a few seconds and others that lasted 45
minutes," said Klosteridis. "We were
continually challenged to stand up and
• justify our beliefs and that was a really cool
and worthwhile process."
In addition to gathering student input,
the new executives plan on continuing to
revise Senate's purpose and image.
"We're hoping the infrastructure
changes going through now (in the by-laws
committee) will change the way standing
committees are set up and will make Senate
more of a resource for policy updates
and voicing community concerns," said
Kennedy.
According to the current Senate
executives, Klosteridis's ticket represents
the culmination of several years of hard
work and dedication.
"I feel that Senate has been on a road
for change," said current Vice President
Dana Hamdan. "From last year when Vital
was president to this year when Joe was
president, we talked a lot more about policy
and cutting the piggy-banking element out
of Senate (than in years past) and I think
next year's Senate will finally break even."
Reflecting on his hopes for Senate's new
leadership, Pelcher said:
"I'm really excited to see this new ticket
take advantage of the door we've been
slowly unlocking for the past two years
and watch them finally step through."
SEALE
Continued from page I
successfully pretended to be a panther despite
Seale's expulsion, Warren Kimbro, and others
involved in the torture and murder of member
Alex Rackley in New Haven.
Some acloiowledged how certain cases of
violence occurred when people did not adhere
to party laws.
"Although I don't know much about specific
instance of violence, the chapters that moved
away from the party laws, moved towards
violence," said Jada Drew, Africana community
coordinator.
As a result of some negative portrayals of the
BPP, BUS members worried that the community
would not be open to hear from Bobby Seale.
"The BPP has a stigma of being the black
version of KKK" said first-year, BUS treasurer
Shephen Obeng. "We want Guilford to know
what the movement was really about."
A profile of Bobby Seale
"I was kicked out the air force for running
into racism and not knowing how to deal with
it," said Bobby Seale in his lecture.
Afterwards, Seale worked as an engineer
while attending Merritt College in Oakland.
There he joined Donald Warden's Afro-
American Association (AAA).
At first, he believed the AAA members were
Communists, because he did not know much
about his own black history.
He began his quest for knowledge by reading
Frederick Douglass and W.E.B. Du Bois, and
defending liis new research by debating with
professors in class.
"While taking anthropology, I spent most
of my time debating with my teacher about
terminology," Seale said in his lecture. "I
remember objecting to the word Negroid,
especially when there was a nice word like
Caucasian. One day I proposed that Caucasian
be renamed "Caucasoid."
At Merritt, Seale met Huey Newton. After
Malcolm X's assassination, they began to
consider their own plan to organize. In 1966,
they drafted the Platform and Program of the
Black Panther Party for Self Defense. Police
brutality upset Seale and Newton, especially in
cases of peaceful protests, a right protected by
the Constitution.
According to Seale' in his lecture, Newton
used his law school experience to benefit the
movement, researching California gun laws
and teaching them to members.
The Panthers made sure to: have no
concealed weapons, have their patrols observe
police from at least 8-10 feet away, and have
their guns either pointed up or down at all
times.
Seale also recalled the importance of
appearance on patrols and protests:
"After we trained them, we purchased black
leather jackets, and black pants. I insisted on
ironed creases and showers. We didn't want
anyone thinking we were blippies—^black
hippies who don't take baths."
In spite of Seale's demand to uphold the
laws, the party did not always adhere to his
policies. According to "Souled Out: Eldridge
Cleaver Admits He Ambushed the Cops"
(1980), Cleaver, a Panther who broke away
from the party in the mid-70's, admitted to
intentionally ambushing the police with Bobby
Hutton in 1968. This led to the police shooting
ten bullets into Hutton's body while he had his
hands in the air, killing him.
"Eldridge was in the wrong to do that,
but the police still committed an act of police
brutality," said Seale in a phone interview.
Seale cited other examples. In 1969, police
broke into Panther Fred Hampton's apartment
killing him and Marc Clark while they were
sleeping.
He pointed out how the 1968 UCLA shoot
out between the U.S. organization and the BPP
occurred because of the FBI sending letters to
each group to instigate conflict.
Seale's assertion that the FBI was out to
terrorize the organization is backed up by a
1968 document from the FBI's COINTELPRO
papers that stated their intention "to neutralize
militant Black nationalists" and stop "a coalition
of militant Black nationalist groups," as cited in
the foreword to "The Black Panther Speaks,"
(1995).
Seale also dealt with legal troubles. As a
result of his demonstration at the Democratic
National Convention, the federal court indicted
him under a new anti-riot provision. Judge
Julius Hoffman refused Seale the legal council
of his choice—a right guaranteed to citizens.
When Seale verbally protested in court, the
judge ordered him bound and gagged. He
faced 16 charges for contempt in the Chicago.
While he was jailed, the state of Connecticut
convicted Seale of murder, conspiracy to
murder and kidnapping resulting in the death
of Alex Rackley. After being in jail for two years
without bail, his case ended in a hung jury, and
the judge dropped the charges against Seale.
The judge claimed it was impossible to find an
unbiased jury, as cited in "White Justice: Black
Experience Today in America's Courtrooms,"
(1970).
In 1972, the federal government suspended
the contempt charges against Seale. In the face
of the FBI's actions, the BPP also dealt with
internal leadership conflicts.
Seale said in a phone interview with the
Guilfordian that he left the party because he
did not want to participate in the free breakfast
program. After Seale left jail, he found Newton
acting more like an absolute leader of the
party, going against their democratic centralist
ideology.
Seale claimed that this type of attitude hurt
the organization and much of the face-to-face
community-building that he did to strengthen
all the chapters across the U.S. Seale insisted on
the importance of the BPP unifying the people
to vote and creating organizations that could
actually affect politics and policies.
The BPP also included women in the
movement. Seale and Newton believed in
eradicating sexism from the party to contribute
to the liberation of all people. Women such
as Elaine Brown and Kathleen Cleaver had
active roles, speaking at rallies and working in
leadership positions, ,according to "The Black
Panther Speaks."
When asked in the interview why the
government and FBI found the BPP so
threatening, he explained:
"Because we worked with everyone, the
young white radicals. United Front Against
Fascism, Anti-Vietnam protestors, SCLC, and
Martin Luther King. We took Puerto Rican
gangs and made them political, that was what
was threatening—we believed in 'all power to
all people.'"
Seale said in the phone interview that after
dealing with Newton's drug problems and
indiscretions, and Cleaiver's break from the
party, he decided to resign in 1974.
Now, Seale still focuses on community
activism, forming the youth education
group REACH!, and publishing the REACH
Chronicles, an on-line social change magazine.