After years of increased propaganda and more students going to great lengths to obtain an office, the student supreme court finally charged several campaigners with parading on the Set this past Friday.
It was bound to happen sooner or later.
Six campaigns were suspended for motor parades. “The Set was an unapproved location and unfair leverage over other candidates,” said Electoral Commissioner Tiffany Finch.
In order to save their campaigns, the defendants met individually and pleaded their cases with the commission.
The commission argued that the campaigns were in direct violation with university policy.
Though the supreme court dropped the charges, the fact remains that politicking is extremely overdone on FAMU’s campus.
The Set is a restricted area and has been for years. So having unauthorized vehicles ride through not only brought congestion to the street, but confusion to students who knew that the Set was off limits to vehicles besides police and TalTran.
More confusion was added after Talitha C0verson, Miss FAMU hopeful, presented a statement from Officer Berlandah Gadson stating that she had permission to drive through the Set.
Friday, stretch Lincoln Navigators, Mercedes Benzs and Chevys rode around the Set and other parts of the campus.
Though Finch may not have been a popular person amongst the candidates, she is doing her job.
Miss FAMU candidates made claims that Finch and the Electoral Commission did not supply sufficient documented information explaining their allegations. They claim that the commission is “changing the rules in the middle of the game.”
Any way you look at it, the election process is overdone.
Candidates are going to great lengths to obtain these offices while simultaneously breaking rules by which FAMU abides.
There needs to be a major change in plans when it comes to elections.
An expensive campaign has overshadowed a campaign that seriously focuses on the issues facing FAMU. No campaign seems to have taken any initiative to change the process.
Hence, the campaigns grow worse with each coming year.
During the past two years, we have seen campaigns change from awareness of the issues to annoyance by the candidates.
As much as this resembles real politics, there has to be a limit somewhere.
-Antione Davis for the Editorial Board.