Elections ’09: The numbers don’t lie

After the spring general election, I have come to respect the student body of Southern University more than I ever have. Mind you, I’ve always respected and been proud of the fact that Southern students “show up and show out” when need be.
Who else remembers the music education students voicing both their issues and opinions about the future of their program? If you don’t remember, see the February issue of The Southern DIGEST.
As election tabulators and many members of the Office of Student Media calculated results for candidates, I learned a shocking thing: students don’t particularly care for Chancellor Kofi Lomotey.
And I’m not just saying that for spite: according to three survey questions, students do not approve of the chancellor’s visibility, performance and relation to our issues.
The numbers don’t lie; the only issue students overwhelmingly agreed on was that we want another live mascot, after the death of Lacumba in the winter of 2004.
All things aside, if I were Lacumba I would have given up the ghost, too: my voice box is gone, claws, teeth; I would have went on to that litter box in the sky six months after I touched down at Southern. Southern needs to first have the facilities needed to house a live mascot, and that will take funding. Student funding.
Do we really want to spend more money for something that will not come to fruition during our tenure (or our children’s, children’s tenure)? Apparently not, as we have voted to not raise the required fees years ago when Lacumba II died.
Again: if I were a potential live mascot for Southern, I’d bite the big catnip bullet and die. It’s like Southern is constantly saying and doing two different things. We’re saying, “Yes, we want a pet, but we aren’t going to fed, house, protect or care about it. That’s too much work.”
But back to the matter at hand.
On yesterday’s ballot there were three survey questions, authored by justice-turned-senator Demetrius Sumner, a recent winner for a second term in the Student Senate. All questions focused Chancellor Lomotey’s progress on the Baton Rouge campus:
1. Do you approve of the overall performance of the chancellor?
2. Do you approve of the chancellor’s visibility around campus?
3. Do you think that the chancellor understands the concerns that students deal with on a day to day basis?
The student vote never ventured to the ‘yes’ side of things, with a ‘no’ vote of 895 to 637, 812 to 719 and 1,213 to 317, respectively in all questions.
What does this mean for the future of the chancellor as it relates to student reception?
Nothing, if you’re a bureaucrat. I can see their side, after all. How many schools have a relationship between administration and student that is a positive one? Traditional collegiate students usually have a touch of rebellion, right?
Wrong.
In a perfect world, those numbers should make the chancellor take notice. Students appear to be out of touch with their administration, saying overwhelmingly in some instances, that they (in this case, the chancellor) do not care about what matters to them.
Now, since we are aware how the students feel, how does the chancellor relate to us?
Is our performance on campus up to par in his standards? Naturally, we’re visible on campus, but are we going to class? Retention and attendance numbers say otherwise.
Despite the polarity, the gap between administration and student needs to close. Perhaps the next SGA president will be the change.