THE MEREDITH
HERALD
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meredithherald.com
February 19, 2020
Election Results Take Meredith by Surprise
By Katelyn Wiszowaty, Staff Writer
This year’s Meredith Col
lege elections stirred excitement and
mixed feelings all around campus.
While many candidates were run
ning unopposed, others had fierce
competitors, and the outcomes were
unpredictable. A few of the biggest
winners include Naomi Hill as SGA
President, Lindsey Lewis as the Class
of 202i’s President and Taryn McKen-
rick and Madison Parker as the Class
of 2022’s Cornhuskin’ Co-Chairs.
Voter turnout is an important
topic of discussion this year. Accord
ing to Emma Lampe, Elections Board
Chair, voter turnout was higher this
year than last. Lampe credits this to
the implementation of interactive re
minders about voting across campus
and the ballot’s referendum. What
Lampe hopes will be different next
year is the voter turnout for contested
races, which she says were strangely
lower than for uncontested races.
It’s important that students be sure
to vote in all races that are relevant
to them, and democracy works best
with active citizens, she says. Lampe
also addressed the rumors about con
testants’ campaign materials being .
tampered with, saying that it was “not
quite tampering, but some things
were being moved and there was no
evidence who had done it.” Lampe
wants students to know that winning
an election does not mean they will
not face consequences for breaking
rules, and there is now a system in
place to deal with these types of situ
ations in the future.
One of the biggest contested
races Meredith students saw this year
was Naomi Hill and Lexie Bennett,
running for the crucial position of
SGA President. Since Hill is currently
studying abroad, Bennett had the
advantage of on-campus campaign
ing, so Hill’s win was somewhat of
a surprise. Hill is extremely excited
about her big win and comments, “It
was so wonderful that 1 could run
from being abroad and it shows the
community at Meredith is always
with you. I’m so thankful for the op
portunity to be in this position and
serve Meredith.” Hill added, “It was
such an honor to run against Lexie,”
and she hopes they can work togeth
er honor the things that Lexie wanted
to accomplish. As SGA President, Hill
says she “wants to make sure things
are inclusive and people feel both ac
cepted and encouraged.”
Newly elected 2022 Corn
huskin’ Co-Chairs McKenrick and
Parker won against their ffeshman-
our class is trusting us with this task."
Newly elected 2021 Class President
Lindsey Lewis will succeed incum
bent Ashlynn Davis. Lewis and Davis
both declined to comment.
Even though the official elec
tions are over, there are still many
positions open that need filling. As
Elections Board Chair, Emma Lampe
wants to strongly stress this to stu
dents who may be interested in hold
ing a leadership position. A few of
the campus-wide positions that still
need to be filled are vice president,
treasurer/SAF chair, secretary and
honor council chair. There are also
several class positions that need to be
filled. The complete list of positions
can be found in Article I, Section 4.1
of the bylaws of the SGA Constitu
tion. Emma Lampe wants to remind
you that “running is not as scary as
you think and can be a very positive
experience!”
2022 Cornhuskin' Class Co-Chair candidates (left to right:
Taryn McKenrick, Olivia Slack, Jeanine Carryl, Madison
Sholar, Madison Parker). Image courtesy of Carryl.
Black HERstory Month
By Milin Santizo-Escobar, Contributing Writer
day from 8-9 p.m. in SMB 118. On
Feb. 20, a panel will be held about
protecting Black women from 7-8:30
p.m. Students will learn how to rec
ognize the struggles of Black women
and how to be an advocate for Black
The Black Student Union
(BSU) is hosting a series of events and
seminars in February for Black His
tory Month. Black History Month is
an annual celebration of the achieve
ments and contributions achieved
by African Americans in the U.S.
and the rest of the world. To better
highlight the achievements of Black
women, BSU coined February Black
HERstory Month.
Tyler Pharr, the President of
Meredith College BSU, says, “Histori
cally, Black women are seldom men
tioned or celebrated, so we wanted
to embrace
the Black
female
experience
and give
ourselves
the flowers
we deserve. We hope that the MC
community will join us this month.”
BSU meetings are held every Thurs-
women in their community.
A Colorism Pillow Talk will
be presented on Thursday, Feb. 27
from 7-8:30 pm in SMB 118: “What
is Colorism and how does it affect
you?” There will be a small presenta
tion about what it is and how society
is affected by it. For those who don’t
know, colorism is “differential treat
ment based
"We encourage people of all back- on skin
grounds to fellowship with us and color,” ac-
to understand that Black women cording to
are important to celebrate during dictionary.
Black History Month," says Pharr. “™-
“Personally, colorism is
trash, and as a darker-skinned Black
woman, my journey to self-love was
longer because of it. Colorism is insti
tutionally supported and engrained
in all aspects of society, and frankly,
it sucks,” says Pharr. She hopes that
attendees can learn about colorism
and how to call it out when they see
it. “It is important to talk about it and
be aware of how we are affected and
foster it. Though it will be a hard con
versation, we all have implicit biases
involving colorism,” said Pharr.
As a conclusion for Black History
Month, the BSU is collaborating with
the Residence Housing Association
(RHA) to host a “Social for the Soul”
event, which will be a “Breakfast and
Chill” celebration in BDH with spe
cial guests and performances. This
will take place Friday, Feb. 28 from
9 a.m. to 12 p.m. Southern cuisines
will be served, such as chicken and
waffles and shrimp and grits. There is
a $2 entrance fee for all who wish to
attend.
“We have all been touched by
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NCARH Passes New
Legislation
By Molly Perry, Staff Writer
The North Carolina Associa
tion of Residence Halls (NCARH)
recently passed two new legislations
that promote a more inclusive envi
ronment. The first legislation calls for
all former and future legislations to
use they/them pronouns instead of s/
he pronouns. According to NCARH
Chair Jancie Santiago, this legislation
allows “everyone to feel included and
accepted in the NCARH community.”
The second legislation allows schools
from South Carolina to be members
of NCARH in addition to North
Carolina schools. Jancie says that
South Carolina schools will benefit
from this legislation “because their
statewide conference culminated two
years ago,” and their membership
invites them to “create new connec
tions with NC institutions” at North
Carolina’s own conference.
Jancie explains, “NCARH
inspires student leadership to grow,
he inclusive and be accepting towards
people’s needs in the campus com
munity while communicating with
other schools to improve each institu
tion’s RHA.”
someone in RHA, and we are super
excited to work with them for this
event. We hope that the people who
know about this event don't just see it
as a ‘black event.’ That is usually the
perception when BSU has publicly
sponsored events. This is our Black
HERstory Month closeout event and
we want everyone to come and cel
ebrate what BSU and Black culture
represent,” said Pharr.
To start Black History Month,
a talk session about seasonal de
pression was occured on Feb. 6 with
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