Male attendant elections at FAMU may be closer than you think.
At least that’s what senators Jaylin Hankerson-Strappy, Isaiah Clayborn, Kole Fortson, Isaiah
Lysse and Jasmine Daniels are proposing. The five senators announced this evening during the
Speaking and Lobbying forum that they were working on a “big bill” to begin elections for male
freshman, sophomore, junior and senior attendant.
Candidates will run for these positions and will replace the existing male escort positions.
When speaking of the bill, Sen. Hankerson-Strappy stated, “The bill has been proposed before
and it always gets struck down.”
The senators solicited the help of the Senate body to repost a future graphic to spread
awareness for the bill and to also get the public’s opinion on this future bill.
Hankerson Strappy also stated that other universities have adopted this system of electing male
class attendants. The senators proposing the elections see this as a way for FAMU to continue
to progress and for them to leave their mark.
Money from the budget would have to be allocated for crowns and sashes for the newly
elected attendants, but Hankerson-Strappy states that it won’t be much.
When Sen. Tamia Williams asked how the new process would work, Sen. Lysse stated,
“Whatever time the attendants run, that’s the same time the males will run. However, if no one
runs for that position, that’s where the male escorts will come in.”
That last statement drew quite a bit of confusion from the other senators. Sen Strappy labeled
the position in the event that no one ran a “contingency”, meaning that when Mr. and Ms.
FAMU appoint an escort to that position they will not be considered for example “Mr. Senior”.
It raised the question by some senators as to whether that escort would receive a sash or
crown.
Sen. Hankerson explained that in reference to there not being anyone running for Miss
Sophomore in Spring 2022, if no male decides to run for a certain attendant position, there will
be a special election in the fall.
In the event that an attendant steps down from his position or is removed, the runner up will
take his place. This mirrors the process for the female attendants as well as Mr. FAMU, Miss
FAMU, and the King and Queen of Orange and Green.
While in its newborn stage, this proposal has the potential to shake up some long-standing
traditions here at Florida A&M. It is possible that this bill might receive a substantial amount of
pushback from alumni, something that some senators are concerned about.
While there’s a lot more work to be done, expect to see some momentum in the upcoming
school year.
On a more solemn note, a beloved alumnus of FAMU, Martine Sellers, passed away over the
weekend.
Sellers was a Fall 2022 graduate of FAMU with a degree in Business Administration. Sen. Loryn
May and Marcus Thomas, former vice president for SGA, proposed legislation to honor the life
of Sellers.
Thomas stated that Sellers “was a true leader and a beacon of light on our campus and touched
the lives of anyone he encountered.”
Sen. May and Mr. Thomas proposed for SGA to keep the family of Sellers in their thoughts as
they recognize and honor him. They are working with the Dean of students as well to honor
him. They hope to create something before his memorial service later this week.
This bill was moved to second reading and eventually unanimously approved.