2 CAMPUS
November 5, 2009
Lack Of Participation Present In GA Meeting BY GLYNN POGUE Staff Writer Wednesday’s General Assembly meeting held a distinct resemblance to Monday night’s Policy Board meeting. Both suffered from a lack of participation. In the case of the Policy Board, representatives from each of the 12 schools and colleges have yet to be identified. But even if there were a full roster of representatives, that doesn’t guarantee full participation, as evidenced by the Assembly bi-weekly meeting, where only about half the members attended. William Roberts, a second year law student who serves as the Assembly’s chair, says although he was “pretty pleased with the outcome of the meeting as a whole,” he is
still upset with the lack of attendance. “The fact that people don’t attend meetings is disturbing. What’s worse is that they often miss our meetings to attend other meetings, or they say they forgot. It’s unacceptable for a rep to forget a meeting. If a rep misses two meetings without an official excuse, we are going to remove them from student government.” Whitney Henry was present and accounted for. The former special elections coordinator was voted in as the new general elections coordinator. Henry presented her plans to the body, which included increasing speak-out attendance, improving event quality and increasing voting participation. Henry came up various ways to achieve these goals. For example, she said voter participation could be in-
creased by holding a raffle in which students who could prove they had voted would have a chance to win prizes like iPod Touches will be up for grabs, but only for students who present a printout confirming they voted. Roberts says Henry “did a fantastic job as the special election coordinator,” and adds he can’t wait to see what she’ll do in her new position. Roberts also discussed what the General Assembly has in store for the rest of the term. “This year the General Assembly is working hard to really be viable. We want to serve our purpose better by trying to help students with their many issues, from investigating mold in dorms to offering support to students who are going to be purged. We really plan on being student advocates.”
General Assembly Attendance Record - 11.4.09 Danielle Mull Erin Jenkins Iman Little Michelle Mabson Marquell Russel Brittany Jacob Sierra Wallace Felecia Cordy Kheaton Scott Shaun Smith Vaibhav Rai Rodney Diggs Yasmine Gabrielle Andrea Noel Sabrin Semmin Pernell Hicks Morlando Pickens
Absent Members
Proxy Proxy Proxy Proxy Late - arrived 7:28 Absent Proxy Proxy Late - arrived 7:34 Absent- has been absent to every meeting Absent Excused Excused Absent- has been absent to every meeting Absent- has been absent to every meeting Absent Absent
There are a total of 41 undergraduate and graduate members in General Assembly. There have been seven meetings. *Proxy means to have someone fill in for you from your council.
214 314 214 314 214 314 214 REPRESENT YOUR CITY: 314 214 314 214 314 214 314 St. Louis and Philly 214 314 214 314 214 314 214 Five Facts About Philly:
1. Philly was the temporary capital of the United States from 1790 until 1800. 2. The Philly Cheesesteak was invented in 1930 in South Philly at Pat’s King of Steaks. 3. Philadelphia got it’s nickname “city of brotherly love,” because that is what it means in Greek. 4. Musiq Soulchild and Jill Scott are both from here. 5. The movie Trading Places was filmed here.
Five Facts About St. Louis:
1. Dr. Pepper was introduced at 1904 World’s Fair, 7 Up was also invented in St. Louis.
Darren Jones
Coming from St. Louis, Mo. to Howard University made sophomore Darren Jones motivated. “It’s motivating because a lot of people at home aren’t in school and some of them are in jail,” Jones said. He said it made him want to break the stereotype of the average person from back at home. “There weren’t too many people who graduated; I was a part of a small group of people who actually graduated and went to college,” he said. Although Jones came to D.C. to get his education, he said he loves the family environment in St. Louis. “It’s a lot slower; D.C. is a whole lot faster. People back at home are more down to earth and more real,” Jones said. He said that the nightlife in D.C. sometimes reminds him of home.
Mariah Perryman
In high school, sophomore Mariah Perryman got off to a rough start with her freshman year. “I went to a school were we didn’t have enough books to supply the whole school, so everyone couldn’t take home a book to do homework,” Perryman said. “My whole freshman year we didn’t have homework instead we did extra work in eighth period.” From there her mother decided to switch schools and sent her to a private all-black catholic school, she said. “It got me back on the right track,” Perryman said. “It definitely prepared me for Howard because they were focused on education and there were so many opportunities.” What she does love about home is the close-knit community. “Nine times out of ten if you meet somebody then you know somebody that they know,” Perryman said. She also enjoys D.C. because it is the total opposite. “From the scenery to the diversity, D.C. is absolutely nothing like St. Louis, that’s the one thing I like.”
Sean Valentine
Sophomore finance major Sean Valentine doesn’t exactly live in the city of Philadelphia but he lives just about 40 minutes away. He said that he would go to the city about every other weekend but there is nothing he likes about where he lives in Pottstown because it’s boring. “It’s sort of far from the city so going to the city is a hassle and people are very closed-minded,” he said. Valentine said he does love the sports talk, culture and slang of Philadelphians because of it’s uniqueness. Being from Pottstown did help him meet a lot of different people with a lot of different personalities. “It helped me relate to the people at Howard University, whether they are black or white.” He said his hometown was culturally diverse, but in the end all cultures have people fall under certain personalities.
2. Josephine Baker was born here. 3. The first American city to host the Olympics in 1904. 4. Maya Angelou was born here also. 5. Nelly is from St. Louis Information from associatedcontent.
You can’t lead the people if you don’t love the people and you can’t save the people if you don’t serve the people. - Cornel West, Ph.D.
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