Students passed all three referendums presented on the spring 2002 election ballot.
The most controversial referendum on the ballot, a proposal by the Office of Student Programs to make the Miss Southern University pageant a judged competition, passed with a vote of 1154 to 735.
“By establishing this system of judging the candidates running for Miss Southern, it only gives the pageant more merit and worthwhile to the ladies vying for the position,” said Avery Wilson, student government association president.
Wilson also added that the ultimate defining factor of the new judging system would be a more prepared well-rounded queen who will represent Southern in the National Miss HBCU Pageant.
The Miss Southern referendum has stirred up a lot of debate among student leaders as well as the student body.
“I am very much opposed to the proposed method of judging the pageant. It takes away from what the students want,” said Theryl Jones, a sophomore electrical engineering major from Kenner. ” You can’t judge beauty alone. We can end up with a Miss Southern with all beauty and no brains.”
The Office of Student Media submitted two proposals, a $5.50 fee increase for The Southern DIGEST and a $5.00 fee increase for the Jaguar Yearbook, for approval by the student body. The fee increase for the DIGEST passed by a vote of 983 to 907. The yearbook proposal also passed by a vote of 1,086 to 800.
“I am very pleased that the students voted for the fee increase,” said Brandi Thomas, senior print journalism major, from Morgan City and editor-in-chief of the DIGEST. “We will soon be able to move in the right direction to compete with other college newspapers on a national level.”
Although many students voted to increase the budget of the DIGEST so that the newspaper can began to print in color and publish bi-weekly, some students felt that the Digest did not deserve a fee increase.
“The DIGEST referendum should not have passed,” said Dustin Prestige, a sophomore architecture major from Houston said. “It comes out once and week and it is mostly editorials. It does a good enough job informing students when the do provide actual news.”
Upon approval of the SU Board of Supervisors, the Miss Southern referendum will take effect in spring 2003 and the fee increases for the yearbook and DIGEST will be implemented fall 2003.
