The Spectator The independent student newspaper of Valdosta State University
A special “Ad Hoc Committee” was approved Monday at the final Student Government Association meeting to investigate voting practices during the recent SGA Elections, which were held last week.
An ad hoc committee is a committee created on an emergency notice in order to deal with an issue.
“I came from a country that was full of corruption and I did not come to America for even more blatant corruption,” Senator Iye Kargbo said in her address to the senate regarding student concerns.
Kargbo also presented a letter expressing the need to look into the ethical practices of last week’s elections and form the committee to hold –hearings.
In the letter, many practices by some VSU groups before or during the SGA elections were questioned.
The alleged unethical practices were:
•Certain groups collected BlazeView information and casting votes of fellow organization members both willingly and unwillingly.
•Certain groups collected election packets for other individuals prior to the time of the elections against election rules. (VSU rules states each individual must come to the Dean of Student and obtain election packets for his or her self.)
•Particular organizations obtained election packets before students were allowed to receive the packets.
•Some VSU staff members were also involved in influencing the election in a conflict of interest prior to and during the elections.
Also, according to Senator DeAndre Jones, students complained of “Davis-Powers” picket signs that were displayed in front of fraternity homes on Baytree Road, which is against election rules because VSU does not own the fraternity homes on Baytree Road, therefore showing campaigning was going on off campus.
Jones then said that the allegation was dropped because of staff influences on the Election’s Commissioner.
Kargbo said individuals would not be judged by the committee.
“This committee will not render judgment on the alleged individuals, but will serve to clarify allegations and give students the closure of the matter,” said Kargbo in her letter to the senate.
“I just want it to be known that SGA and the Elections Committee are here for students and if you do participate in elections there is no corruption,” Kargbo said.
Current Vice President Adrian Gibson appointed the members of the ad hoc committee to hold the hearings. The committee will be comprised of senators.
“I think this committee is an opportunity for the senators of SGA to show the student body some transparency,” Senator Helen Burkett said. “I think Iye’s letter was a formal way of saying many are concerned with how the elections were handled this year and want closure. I think that if handled correctly, this could help SGA in the long run. It will show the students we really do hear their concerns and are willing to address them.”
A leaked letter sent to Zeta Tau Alpha Inc. and all other IFC and CPC members recommended that all members in their organization vote for a “suggested voting ballot.”
The suggested voting ballot included the following candidates:
• President Graham Davis
• Vice President Maleaha Derika Powers
• Whitney Smith
• Comptroller John “Drew” McCall
• Russell Reitz
• Kyle Hensley
• Anthony Defilice
• Kody Kalain
• Alexander Barrickman
Senator DeAndre Jones said that there are witnesses that will testify to the practices of organizations alleged to have committed unethical voting behavior at the hearing.
“These are not hearsay allegations. We have plenty of evidence and many people want to testify,” Jones said.
Jones says that SGA has someone to concur with the fact candidate forms were passed out at weekly grand chapter meetings of certain organizations and some even asked for members to print confirmation letters from the SGA election page to show they did vote or be charged with fines.
Yet Jones admits that the BlazeView password allegation does not have as strong of evidence as the others.
Dean of Students Russell Mast said he had heard of no such complaints from students and directed all other questions to the SGA election’s committee and President DeMario Jones.
Graham Davis, President Elect said he had not heard of such allegations and that the students’ votes voice their opinions.
“As far as I’m concerned, the VSU student body’s voice was heard loud and clear, and the election results speak for themselves,” Davis said. “As SGA president elect, I aim to hear each student’s voice loud and clear, as well, in the future.”
In light of the allegations, DeAndre Jones believes that Davis should not have been elected president.
“Because of the allegations, I wonder how Graham received so many votes.” Jones said.
DeAndre Jones sites newly elected President Davis’ record in politics as a reason for concern.
“In my personal opinion, I don’t think he has the credentials to be our SGA President,” DeAndre Jones said. “He has never been in SGA. He only has shown up to two meetings prior the qualifying meeting. From what I know he has only been a part of his fraternity. You need to be part of more than one organization or at least be in SGA.”
“I think from a VSU standpoint as a SGA senator, you need to have those qualities. How are you going to run for SGA and you haven’t even been a part of it? I don’t have a problem with him personally, just his record.”
Not all SGA members care about the issue at hand.
Current President DeMario Jones feels that the elections are done and over and does not want to be a part of the hearings that will be held.
“I don’t want any part of it,” DeMario Jones said. “As far as I am concerned, the elections are over.”
The SGA Ad Hoc Committee meeting will be held “dead-day,” which is next Tuesday at an undisclosed time. According to Kargbo, the meeting will be private in order to keep the individuals testifying anonymous.
CORRECTION: Katie Smith is the President of Zeta Tau Alpha and was not contacted about the email.
You guys need to get it together. Before SGA, before race, before the Spectator and before anything else we are all human and should be treated as such. To insult, threaten, belittle, cheat and degrade another is wrong no matter what side it is on. I am ashamed to be going to the same school as some of you people who have no respect for the next individual. I hope to see better.
Jasmine Coer, Ryan Baerwalde, Paul Rosemond, Rachel Holley and Jekendra Holloway were all going to be disqualified had any of them won. Here’s why…
Coer, Baerwalde and Rosemond- had stacks of their business cards at all circulation desks in Odum Library and one card at each computer on the 2nd floor of Odum on the first day of voting (April 20th)- the Davis-Powers campaign submitted pictures of this including the date and time to the Elections Commissioner, Ashley Cave, to prove it- a clear and severe violation.
Furthermore, a campaign sign for the above mentioned candidates was left on the 3rd floor of Bailey Science Center the entire time voting was taking place- a clear violation as well- also photgraphed and documented with the date and time included and submitted as a part of their comprehensive formal complaint to the Elections Commissioner.
Also, Miss “SkieHigh” on Twitter, even admitted in several posts that she walked around the Student Union with a laptop collecting votes for team Coer on election day- this was also verified by eyewitness accounts from Student Union Building Managers who witnessed this individual and others participating in these ILLEGAL acts.
Rachel Holley stood in-front of the Student Union with a campaign t-shirt on soliciting votes on the first day of voting- this was also documented with photographs including the date and time and submitted to the Elections Commissioner, despite Ms. Holley’s attempts to run from being pictured. Davis-Powers had nearly 500 t-shirts printed, and cautiously held all but 12 of them back to be worn on the Friday after all votes were cast- as they were told if a single individual wore one of those shirts during voting times- both Graham Davis and Derika Powers would be disqualified. This same rule should have and would have applied to Ms. Holley.
Jekendra Holloway also left her signs up everywhere during voting- a clear violation also properly photographed documented and submitted. She also slipped fliers underneath doors in Centennial Hall during the time votes were being cast.
Senators such as Samuel Logan and Jeremiah Wiggins should be in handcuffs rather than the Senate with their twitter threats of violence against other students and candidates should their candidate lose- also threatening to incite a race riot in that event, something so serious Dean Mast had to call in the entire Valdosta State Police Department to prevent such an uprising.
The fact of the matter is these individuals- if their acts of cheating were successful- would have been disqualified immediately as stated by Ashley Cave herself who was horrified to learn of their violations. Coer’s supporters should be happy that their candidates were treated with dignity and allowed to run their campaigns without team Davis-Powers ending things for them sooner, which they would have had every right and ability to do- but they held themselves to a higher standard and sought to avoid creating deeper divisions. If it came to it, they had an Attorney ready to ensure SGA Elections bylaws were fairly enforced.
As for Logan and Wiggins, their incendiary and threatening comments on twitter are still being investigated by the VSU PD and they can look forward to explaining them to the Judicial Board next year.
While team Davis-Powers are uninvited to Monday’s Ad Hoc Committee meetings, we would hope that in their absence and unfair inability to defend themselves from baseless allegations- that the Commission thoroughly review all ethics complaints filed against Ms. Coer and her affiliates, and clarify that unlike the case of Mr. Davis and Ms. Powers- these are clear and severe violations that would have lead to disqualification had these candidates gotten away with their foul plan.
**While Ryan Brown did file a formal complaint regarding the location of the signs, Ashley Cave and DeMario Jones reached a decision WITHOUT faculty intervention- and they concluded that Greek houses were University affiliated and therefore the signs were legitimately placed. Interestingly however is the fact that Mr. Brown did not file such a complaint regarding Chris Nish’s use of Sheet Signs at these same houses last year when both he and Nish were presidential candidates.
It is also interesting that Team Coer repetedly and continues to attack Team Davis-Powers for their lack of SGA Experience, while I can fully attest that Davis-Powers did everything in their power to run a clean and legitimate campaign by respecting all campaign laws- while these seasoned individuals felt they were above the laws they should have been and claim to be very familiar with. A blatant and flagrant disregard for fairness in elections by Team Coer. Bottom line, there should be no double standard or favoritism by this committee and ALL complaints should be thuroughly reviewed, both sides should be allowed to testify if fairness is the objection rather than an attempt to undermine the Student’s vote.
Jasmine Coer, Ryan Baerwalde, Paul Rosemond, Rachel Holley and Jekendra Holloway were all going to be disqualified had any of them won. Here’s why…
Coer, Baerwalde and Rosemond- had stacks of their business cards at all circulation desks in Odum and one card at each computer on the 2nd floor of Odum on the first day of voting (April 20th)- the Davis-Powers campaign submitted pictures of this including the date and time to the Elections Commissioner, Ashley Cave, to prove it- a clear and severe violation.
Furthermore, a campaign sign for the above mentioned candidates was left on the 3rd floor of Bailey Science Center the entire time voting was taking place- a clear violation as well.
Also, Miss SkieHigh on Twitter, even admitted she walked around the Student Union with a laptop collecting votes for team Coer- this was also verified by eyewitness accounts from Student Union Building Managers who witnessed this individual and others participating in these acts.
Rachel Holley stood in-front of the Student Union with a campaign t-shirt on soliciting votes on the first day of voting- this was also documented with photographs including the date and time and submitted to the Elections Commissioner, despite Ms. Holley’s attempts to run from being pictured. Davis-Powers had nearly 500 t-shirts printed, and cautiously held all but 12 of them back to be worn on the Friday after all votes were cast- as they were told if a single individual wore one of those shirts during voting times- both Graham Davis and Derika Powers would be disqualified. This same rule should have and would have applied to Ms. Holley.
Jekendra Holloway also left her signs up everywhere during voting- a clear violation also properly photographed documented and submitted. She also slipped fliers underneath doors in Centennial Hall during the time votes were being cast.
Senators such as Samuel Logan and Jeremiah Wiggins should be in handcuffs rather than the Senate with their twitter threats of violence against other students and candidates should their candidate lose- also threatening to incite a race riot in that event, something so serious Dean Mast had to call in the entire Valdosta State Police Department to prevent such an uprising.
The fact of the matter is these individuals- if their acts of cheating were successful- would have been disqualified immediately as stated by Ashley Cave herself who was horrified to learn of their violations. Coer’s supporters should be happy that their candidates were treated with dignity and allowed to run their campaigns without team Davis-Powers ending things for them sooner, which they would have had every right and ability to do- but they held themselves to a higher standard and sought to avoid creating deeper divisions. If it came to it, they had an Attorney ready to ensure SGA Elections bylaws were fairly enforced.
As for Logan and Wiggins, their incendiary and threatening comments on twitter are still being investigated by the VSU PD and they can look forward to explaining them to the Judicial Board next year.
While team Davis-Powers are uninvited to Monday’s Ad Hoc Committee meetings, we would hope that in their absence and unfair inability to defend themselves from baseless allegations- that the Commission thoroughly review all ethics complaints filed against Ms. Coer and her affiliates, and clarify that unlike the case of Mr. Davis and Ms. Powers- these are clear and severe violations that would have lead to disqualification had these candidates gotten away with their foul plan.
Jasmine Coer, Rachel Holley, Ryan Baerwalde, Paul Rosemond, and Jekendra Holloway should have been disqualified!!
Coer, Baerwalde and Rosemond- had stacks of their business cards at all circulation desks in Odum and at all computers on the 2nd floor on the first day of voting- the Davis-Powers campaign submitted the pictures including the date and time to the elections commission to prove it- a clear and severe violation.
Furthermore, a campaign sign for the above mentioned candidates was left on the 3rd floor of Bailey Science Center the entire time voting was taking place- a clear violation as well.
Also, Miss SkieHigh on Twitter, even admitted she walked around the Student Union with a labtop collecting votes for team Coer- this was also verified by eyewitness accounts from Student Union building Managers who witnessed this individual and others participating in these acts.
Rachel Holley stood in-front of the Student Union with a campaign t-shirt on soliciting votes on the first day of voting- this was also documented with photographs including the date and time and submitted to the Elections Commissioner.
Jekendra Holloway also left her signs up everywhere during voting- a clear violation also properly photographed documented and submitted.
Senators such as Samel Logan and Jerrimiah Wiggins should be in handcuffs rather than the Senate with their twitter threats of violence against other students and candidates should their candidate lose- also threatening to incite a race riot in that event, something so serious Dean Mast had to call in the entire Valdosta Police Department to prevent such an uprising.
The fact of the matter is these individuals- if their acts of cheating were successful- would have been disqualified as stated by Ashley Cave herself who was horrified to learn of their violations. Coer supporters should be happy that their candidates were treated with dignity and allowed to run their campaigns without us ending things for them sooner, which we had every right and ability to do- but we hold ourselves to a higher standard.
As for Logan and Wiggins, their incindiary and threatening comments are still being investigated by the VSU PD and they can look forward to explaining them to the Judicial Board next year.
I am not a Greek, for certain reasons, but I do however respect those that take their Greek organizations seriously. The comment above really struck me as very rude towards the Greek community. I’m sure Greek’s know what reporting is, therefore they know this article could have used some proof. It doesn’t take a journalist to know that anything that involves opinion, must be backed up by factual information in order to it to be proven true. This article lacked in doing so.
If student’s “believe” that the Greek community cheated, the Spectator would be biased to report on it and take a side. Reporting on the issue with an unbiased opinion would have sufficed. The keyword in your comment was how they “think” the Greeks cheated. Thinking and the factual truth are two different things. A newspaper that is reporting to all of Valdosta State should report factual information. Though they made mistakes, they were big mistakes that could have been easily fixed with a little research. If students (like myself) are paying for the newspaper, we expect to get real, unbiased, and truthful news.
Lastly, you guys give the Greek community some credit. I see all over campus their sheet signs about “Kappa Delta Shamrock” and “Phi Mu Match for Miracles” along with many, MANY more philanthropies and community service opportunities that the Greek life is very involved in. Don’t make claims about “paying for friends”, because that is once again, false. I have heard girls talk about their dues and what they go towards, and not once did I hear “This amount of money goes towards making new friends!” I mean come on! Sounds ridiculous huh? When is the last time you participated in community service? The Greek community probably has more community service hours than the whole school combined. So lets give these guys and girls some credit.
As we point fingers at each other, we need to see that the finger should be pointed at us. Why can’t we all be friends? I have many friends in the Greek community, softball/baseball team, football team, soccer team, various majors, and many with very very different interest than me. I know we can all work together to make VSU the best it has ever been. Let’s quit pointing fingers and work with the cards dealt. A positive attitude can go a long way. Just give it a try!
WE ALL ARE BLAZERS!!!!!!!!!!!!
I really don’t see any problems with the election or the spectator.
The spectator did their job by reporting on the facts that were available to them. No one should be angry at the spectator for that, after all that is their job.
The election seems to have been won fair and square. Regardless of what happened prior to the election, the votes speak for themselves. It is apparent that the people who took the time to vote favored the candidates that won over the opposing candidates.
On one side, from what I understand, there were signs in fraternity house front yards, t-shirts, and possibly a an email circulated in the Greek community that advocated certain candidates. This appears to be nothing more than good organization on their part.
On the other there were threats against opposing candidates, election day campaigning, and the circulation of the above mentioned email.
It appears as if both sides may glean some lessons from this election, however, I feel like no one side is faultless with regard to their actions. It appears to me that one side got beat and is a bit disgruntled about it, and rightfully so.
In the country I live in if you win, you win and if you loose, you loose…period. Someone who wins by a technicality is no better that one who wins by questionable means. Good winners are the same as good losers and no one likes sore losers. If you loose you get up brush yourself off and come more prepared for the next time.
Why are you all behaving like children? So what if they published this article? Its called freedom of information and they are just utilizing it. If you believe you won fairly, then why should there be a need for debasing the newspaper for expressing the concerns of its students. At the end of the day, the truth will prevail. Also comparing this matter to the presidential campaign does not justify the means. These issues are on two completely different levels.
Also to address the threats on twitter…if you believed you were threatened and you wanted it to be known then you should have contacted your school newspaper and relayed those concerns. Do not expect a newspaper staff to be concentrated on you because the world does not revolve around you.
Also the only reason I can think of the need to accuse a party of unethical methods would be because it sounds as if people were just sent emails and weren’t educated on the candidate’s position. Blind votes are unethical.
It really saddens me to see so much drama happening between the student body that I was once a part of. I truly pray that no one collected BlazeView information and voted that way. What this university really needs is for people to unite and stop being obsessed with cliques. Also stop insulting each other’s education. You only know of each other’s names or faces not each other’s past experiences. Unite people….unite!
Overall, what has been voted upon is over. Very simple. Wanting to bring up allocations (that should have been filed by 3:00 p.m. on election day) is OVER. First, it is ridiculous that something completely wrong such as “telling people to vote for a candidate” is now suddenly against the law. Haha you people are idiots. Second, facts change things not stupid rumors or hear say. Third, all of the people that voted obviously voted for their choice for the position. Who cares about how long they were in a meeting or what organizations their apart of. I mean our president of the United States of America can’t even find his birth certificate for crying out loud, yet people voted for him. Forth, I am a VSU student and I support a canidate for change, whether it be hometown, race, color, background, or whatever it may be. Change is good sometime it might scare you a bit, but its not something that can be changed. Fifth, I am proud to say I am not even greek and I am excited to see a new heated spin on our SGA election. Overall, the spectator is absolutely ridiculous about who they attack I mean “We promise free beer and straight A’s” you people are just scared, biast, untruthful, and funny to be honest. Thanks for making this fun.
I would just like to say on the behalf of Jasmine Coer, Rachel Holly, Paul Rosemond, and myself, Ryan Baerwalde, that we are in no way tied to the current allegations or the Spectator. We ran our race, and unfortunately lost, but what we certainly have not done is stir up any type of political gossip or scandal. Any complaints being made against the Davis/Powers campaign are coming from students who are concerned about the overall ethical and legal nature of the current election. The new committee that was formed this past Monday has no power to pass judgment, or enforce punishment upon the parties in question. The sole purpose of the committee is to clarify and present any discrepancies of this past election to the student body. I truly hope that no illegal actions were taken, so that the new executive board can begin trying to learn the ropes of SGA as soon as possible, because they obviously need to obtain some form of experience before leading the student body. In the mean time I plan to prepare to work very closely with the currently elected executive board to make way for changes that will truly help every last student at VSU.
First of all, I’d like to say that it’s a STUDENT GOVERNMENT ASSOCIATION election, not a presidential election. This has been blown WAY out of proportion and people are up in arms about back-biting, childish, and, ultimately, meaningless gossip. @Spectator who claims that “since the most of your are not journalist,” I have to say, quite frankly, you’re a joke. A newspaper (especially a student-run newspaper) should be accessible to EVERYONE, not just journalists. But most of the students who work on the Spectator don’t have real-life experience with a real-life newspaper. Mistakes are understandable. On the other hand, I’ve been a staff writer at an actual newspaper for half of my undergrad career and let me tell you, some of the garbage that comes from the Spectator would make my editor have a heart attack. Seriously, I don’t know much background on this particular issue, but the Spectator staff NEED to have some journalistic pride and do their research and editing. Sheesh! I’d be embarrassed for people to know that I attend VSU if they read some of these poorly-edited, grammatical nightmares that the Spectator calls news!
1st – it has already been established that there was a mix up with the presidents Greek affiliation
2nd – Whether or not there was any wrong doing will eventually come out in the end. Apparently there are witnesses who are willing to testify (that by itself tells you something is wrong with this picture) If there was not wrong doing why would there be witnesses???
3rd – Sure the spectator has made some mistakes but guess what…their not perfect. They are learning how to be better journalist just like some of you are learning what ever it is that you are majoring in.
Personally I could care less who is president. It really doesn’t bother me. What does bother me is the fact that politics bring out the worst in people, those running for election and those voting. I think everyone should just calm down until after the hearing. The truth will be out, and if you know you did nothing wrong or lied about anything you have nothing to worry about!
Overall, what has been voted upon is over. Very simple. Wanting to bring up allocations (that should have been filed by 3:00 p.m. on election day) is OVER. First, it is ridiculous that something completely wrong such as “telling people to vote for a candidate” is now suddenly against the law. Haha you people are idiots. Second, facts change things not stupid rumors or hear say. Third, all of the people that voted obviously voted for their choice for the position. Who cares about how long they were in a meeting or what organizations their apart of. I mean our president of the United States of America can’t even find his birth certificate for crying out loud, yet people voted for him. Forth, I am a VSU student and I support a candidate for change, whether it be hometown, race, color, background, or whatever it may be. Change is good sometime it might scare you a bit, but its not something that can be changed. Fifth, I am proud to say I am not even greek and I am excited to see a new heated spin on our SGA election. Overall, the spectator is absolutely ridiculous about who they attack I mean “We promise free beer and straight A’s” you people are just scared, biast, untruthful, and funny to be honest. Thanks for making this fun.
I agree with the last few comments. When the paper covers the good things about the soros and frats everyone is quiet, but since this whole email fiasco started they want to be mad. You are taking your frustration out on the wrong people. You need to go at it with with whoever leaked the email those guys got. I think there are two sides to a story – but its clear that the paper did nothing wrong. They report the news (as dumb as the news here on campus is sometimes) but thats what it is. Von was just covering a SGA meeting when this all happened; nothing was speculated, made up, or anything! The email exists and there might even be more emails that are floating around that were saying the same thing-THE ONLY DIFFERENCE IS THAT THEY GOT CAUGHT. If they didn’t this wouldn’t be a problem.
First of all if the senators of SGA feel as if the elections were fixed they have the right to view them. Me personally I’ve been to a lot of the SGA meetings and sat in to just listen and give my opinion as an active student at VSU, and I have never seen the newly elected president except twice. If you want to be president of an organization that acts on behalf of the student body, shouldnt you atleast attend a meeting. Its not a racial thing by far so everyone who thinks it is just want to make it seem that way. No one is picking on greek life because of him. I personally have heard these allegations from numerous people so this isn’t something made up. And for those of you jumping down the spectators thought need to relax. They’re not in charge of SGA they only sit in on the meetings and report what happen, thats their job, the REPORT. Some people just want to talk just to hear themselves talk. For my Im glad they’re reviewing the votes because as a student I have to the right to ask and I will.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with students getting organized and putting who they believe is best at the helm of an important organization such as SGA. If you honestly think this is wrong, you do not understand politics, democracy, or America’s basic structure (therefore, you are un-American). You want to complain? Fine, send in all the letters, form all the committees you want. People will at some point stop pretending they give a hoot and begin calling things (and your paper will probably continue misquoting and misconstrueing these quotes) by their name, and begin ignoring your shenanigans.
This article proves once again the underlying racial resentment that has lingered at VSU for decades, and will continue to linger for however long it will take the “aggravated parties” (were reparations not enough!? REALLY?) to deal with reality, stop taking themselves so seriously, and start living like normal people within a community instead of attempting to create their own sub-culture which clashes with most rules of civility, and proper decorum (yes, you! Pull your pants up!).
This election is not the reason you hate greeks, the reason you hate greeks is because they (we) embody everything you are not, and reminds you in some sort of way of the current state of your affairs; which is entirely your resposibility. Stop blaming “other people” for what you perceive as injustices and for having to work “so hard” for everything in your life, IT IS WHAT AMERICANS DO, and also, STOP PUTTING YOURSELF DOWN. The white man could care less about having to put you down, you are doing all the work there all on your own.
There! I’m off my soapbox.
Can we pay for yall to write the article correctly?
It is clearly evident that Davis-Powers played the game fairly. They did not do anything that was unethical nor did they try to start stuff. It is really pitiful that people would try to make this into a race issue. By looking at the recent twitter comments, it seems that some of the black people on there were making it into something that it is not. Comments like wishing the Black Panthers were still in place and extremist comments of that nature is unacceptable as well. If the Greeks said anything that referenced the KKK or other comments within that category, it would turn into a race riot. It is really a double standard in my opinion. It is giving those individuals a free pass just because they are black. It is just an SGA election. Whats done is done and it is time to move on with our lives. Davis-Powers won fair and square. Peace.
For those who are against The Spectator staff, do you not know what the word “alleged” means? The article itself indicated that the unethical practices were in no way confirmed, but were questionable possibilities regarding the election. If there is concern for the way the election went down, then by all means, that concern should be printed in our student newspaper!
People backing the Spectator- Not everyone who is saying the Spectator isn’t doing their full research is a Greek. I’m sure it isn’t easy running a newspaper, but more attention needs to be added when the thought of writing such a controversial article is imagined. If the spectator did the proper research and interviewing practices on the controversial articles, I am sure the credibility would increase.
I would have to say my main problem with this argument is not with the past SGA, nor the future SGA. Politics will always be biased, journalism should be unbiased. My main problem is with the Spectator’s inability . Almost every article published is guilty of favoring one side of the story. It might be your side, and it might not. The fact that an article is one sided doesn’t even mean it was written that way on purpose. It could be derived from the lack of information gathered of one side of the argument.
So either way, on purpose or not, the Spectator needs to do some serious work on their collection of information. My thought, get in contact with the head city paper and ask for advice. Get the staff now to learn to let the FULL article speak for itself. Every reader will make his or her own opinion anyway. It just so happens that every reader’s opinion now is that the spectator is only good as a fire starter.
If DeAndre Jones, and anyone else for that matter, are so vocal about the SGA elections online and in the paper…why don’t you and the rest of your losing campaign address to the people you are talking about? Ranting to the pathetic Spectator just makes you and the journalists willing to print your worthless words look like babies.
And instead of complaining about how the new SGA Executive Board is not “up to par”, why don’t you current senators and executive board officers help them out? The worst thing you could do is give them hell next year and not help them. We are all here to represent VSU…not Jasmine Coer, not Graham Davis, not Deandra Jones, or anyone else….we are here for us=BLAZERS. You accuse each other for being racist/greek/losers, but I know that Jasmine Coer and her ‘team’ won, they would want respect for their victory as well. Both sides broke rules when they knew what the rules.
You all are less than a few years from graduating from college: for some of us it’s the first in our families and others it’s a legacy. Let’s make our college experience worthwhile—you don’t have a lot of time left to enjoy it.
@Spectator backer—I’m not surprised that you back the Spectator…your grammar and spelling sucks too! “Go pay for you friends!!!”…nice.
@spectator backer, you’re obviously not a journalist nor a journalism major…so I’m guessing that you don’t understand it either. learn how to spell slick.
Its funny that everyone wants to keep hating on the Greeks like they really know any of us or what being in a fraternity/sorority is all about. I also find it funny that so many people are ticked that Greek members won the election. But the funniest part of all is that Greeks only make up 10% of VSU’s population. There are close to 11,500 enrolled VSU students & only about 2400 students participated in the vote!! Some of the things said about The Spectator lately have been harsh but at least we get OUR facts straight. The newspaper has been slandering us along with the opponent’s supporters for no reason except that we are Greeks. Davis/Powers won fair & square. By the way that whole letter deal…yea we didn’t even send that out. Someone else sent it to us. But apparently its ok with you that the Greeks have been receiving threatening messages. Obviously that shows the right candidates won. Is that how you really want Valdosta State University represented because I sure don’t & I believe quite a few more people than just Greeks would agree. The election is over. Its time for everyone to grow up, dry the tears & put on their big boy/girl panties. We’re all adults here so try acting like it. As for me I will not support The Spectator anymore until they can get their facts straight. A story is not a story until it is mostly truth, otherwise you just have a rumor which makes The Spectator what? A tabloid?? Go figure…
Btw as Greeks we’re not paying for our friends, we can make those on our own. We raise more money for our different philanthropies then you’ll probably ever see in your lifetime.
@Spectator backer- You’re just like every other person who thinks you know what cheating is. Look at every school across the country that is truly successful, greek life is what makes a school great. Look at UGA they have 59 greek organizations that are IFC, CPC, and NPHC. They have greek seating at football games and personal areas set up for their tailgating. Greek Life in case you didn’t notice at “take back the night” was 95 percent of the people there. People who aren’t greek are very inactive on this campus and SGA needs to take note that elections are over and there were things done wrong on both sides including threats against students lives. IS THAT NOT A STORY TO BE WRITTEN ABOUT????
Dear Spectator Backer,
If you would read the comments above you would figure out that Jasmine Coer and the others running on her ticket cheated!! They knew the elections rules and they purposely didn’t follow them! What the Spectator didn’t report was that Coer and her ticket had three campaign infractions filed against them that were actually legitimate infractions not just sending out an email asking student for support in the election! A major infraction being campaigning by computers (poling places) and campaigning on the day of elections and Coer did BOTH! Did you see that into today’s article???? BIASED! So you sir/ma’am, do NOT know what reporting is! A respected newspaper would have presented both sides of this story, not just the one that is against the Davis-Powers ticket and as we all know The Spectator is not respected! Also, this is not the only article they screwed up, it happens every single Thursday! This is why the current editors of this paper will not be next years staff! So, thank you for clarifying you aren’t a journalist either!
Sincerely,
Proud GREEK and future SGA Senator:)
Wow, I think there are some underlying issues that have yet to be said. In all honesty you should all blatantly say how you really feel. Everyone continues to beat around the bush, were all adults here and I’m sure everyone can handle it. This is an issue with some of you of racism and stereotyping. There’s nothing to deny about it, just because there are no racial slurs being thrown its clear to everyone how you really feel. Race has nothing to do with this election, its 2011 let’s move on past that. If you still feel superior to anyone else, they have places where you can get evaluated, and then proceed to get help. Many of the comments include “you people” and an alumni had the nerve to even mention the “South-side of Atlanta”. What does the South-Side of Atlanta have to do with this? I know many of students of all backgrounds who are not doing well at VSU. If you read the statistics of any institution, you will learn that most students don’t do well freshmen year, due to lack of maturity and “the adjustment phase”. Freshmen year weeds people out of college, and the more unsuccessful ones, you won’t see return. This school has plans of raising requirements, and unfortunately if they did raise them before some of the members of the IFC and CPC got accepted to VSU, then even some of you would have been denied. I’m sure many of you are grateful that they waited. I don’t know what gives you the right to think that you’re more qualified to attend this institution versus anyone else. VSU has its admissions requirements listed on its website. If you can remember what kind of person had the lowest GPA that was required to get into VSU, that went to your HS, then why are you so shocked that they are here now? If you expected to attend a university with more prestige than you should have applied elsewhere. VSU has never really been a strong contender when it comes to its academia on a National scale, so I don’t see for any reason for surprise now? We are all here trying to better ourselves, and many of you are judging people of different backgrounds because of it. This elitist attitude that some of you have is preposterous.
The matter here is that the new officers and senators from the suggested ballot have little to no experience. That’s the BIG problem and should be the ONLY topic of discussion. It’s not IFC and CPC versus Blacks or anything else. The major concern for any VSU student is that our future SGA executive board has no prior experience. How can anyone come and take over an organization, when they clearly don’t know its demographics or how it operates? They didn’t attentively attend meetings, lack leadership both as members of SGA, and didn’t hold any leadership positions in SGA prior to the election. We all know people specifically ran for selfish reasons. They obviously failed miserably during the debate, which should have raised concern to any voter. I won’t deny that they have plans of doing good things for VSU. However, their lack of knowledge on how SGA operates made for campaign promises that they won’t be able to keep. We will all have to honestly hope that during the next academic year that they do the best that they can. I just hope the new leadership knows that people have come and gone before you, there is only so much you can do as a student. I’m sure if there was something to fix out all of these years that VSU has been an institution, that someone has already tried. SGA works hard every year but they have limitations on what they can change.
People are going to be bitter about how the IFC and CPC strategically made their members vote which is likely the main reason that Davis/Powers won the election. Many of you commented this is the real world now people, well what happened to leaders winning by their campaign platform and integrity? As adults, you should have expected an uproar as soon as the e-mail was leaked, this is politics don’t be naive. They did what they needed to do to win, and won. It may not have been ethical, but it didn’t go against SGA rules specifically pertaining to e-mail about suggested ballots. This was a sensitive election, the votes have been cast and some people want closure. Name calling is not the answer.
And to the person that tried to bring in the whole President Obama thing. I don’t know where to start. It doesn’t even correlate to what’s going on with SGA. Half of your facts aren’t accurate. It just didn’t make any sense.
The main reason most people are irritated about this story is because there are also several alleged violations from Coer&Company and none of that was reported. If the article is about the election and allegations then both sides should have been discussed equally.
PS…The most important thing for everyone to remember is that we all need to work together for the betterment of VSU. This election should show that louder than ever.
btw more things you didn’t do research on, Helen Burkett is a FORMER senator.
like half of the senators that are backing this committee
and like the writers of this sorry newspaper are about to be, FORMER.
Greeks- learn what reporting is. This is a legit news story and the Spectator reported the story. Some students believe you cheated, and they reported how they think you did it.
So therefore, the Spectator did nothing wrong by reporting this story. The Spectator’s job is to report what the SGA is talking about, and since they established this committee at a recent meeting, the Spectator has every right to write about it.
But, since the most of your are not journalist, you wouldn’t understand it. Go pay for you friends!!!!!
as a member of a non CPC/IFC greek organization my only concern is as to what extension will this so called grrek unity be extended. all of the comments that i have read are focused on bringing greeks to the forefront of the campus however not once did i or any other member of another nphc organization receive any type of email or information concerning the Davis Powers ballot? so please dont limit the term greek to only those that make up the CPC or IFC organizations…
Why are people hating on the Spectator? Just another reason Greeks can complain? Just a heads up, that is why people hate you…
How the Spectator won so many awards this year is BEYOND me.
As a writer I can say your work is sloppy and unprofessional. The staff does not double check any information given. To get the name wrong of the ZTA president is pathetic. It takes two seconds to look it up on their website. As Greeks we stand together. We support all of the new members on SGA. If you claim that the new elected officials did not win fair, then have YET another election. We will not post sign in yards or make facebook groups BUT I promise the outcome will be the exact same.
This story is corrupt and misinforming to the student body. We demand a retraction!
You people are jokes you know nothing about ethics from what i can see. If I tell my whole membership exactly who to vote for and saying I will fine them if they dont then that is taking away their freedom to choose, UNETHICAL. If the SGA bylaws clearly say that you cannot campaign off campus and I not only have signs at houses not owned by the school but hold rallies at these houses, is that not UNETHICAL? This whole election was centered around putting CPC/IFC greeks in charge so the people who always get their way at this University can still get their way. Davis-Powers could care less about any change. And as far as those threats go,no one who was involved with the Coer campaign made any threats at all. We are all very well educated and behaved and we would not act in any such manner.I personally saw one of the most racist comments I’ve ever seen on a Davis-Powers facebook wall stating “I see people every day who dont deserve to be at this University and we need to change this!” Sounds somewhat innocent but what people are you describing because I’ve seen no one where there gpa on their shirts so what do you base this off of? Lets take a guess at race. It scares when these are the people that are backing a campaign and being applauded for such a statement. I applaud SGA for stepping up and saying we will not have these UNETHICAL practices in VSU elections. Let democracy work and stop crying because everyone doesn’t think IFC/CPC is the best thing on the earth. VSU is not just one demographic and we need to truly work together to make a positive change on this campus and this will never happen when power only represents one group.
Almost every year a Greek Organization wins Valdosta’s award of “Organization of the Year.” Therefore, when Greek Life has the numbers, the dedication, the leadership, and the VOTE why would you be surprised that Greeks won? Some people are forgetting that just because students are Greek doesn’t mean that they are any less of students than everyone else. Greeks have the right to vote and if getting involved in something the greeks want to get involved in, you can’t stop them.
I am a greek, but I am first an individual with my own mind and my own will power. Every single person that makes up the greek community, and every organization at that, are individuals with their own minds and will power. Yes, we were ASKED to support our fellow greeks, but we were NOT FORCED as you allege. The student body voted as they saw fit.
Secondly, do you not realize that by making these accusations of false infractions on certain candidates you are enabling those who made threats to those specific candidates? Do you not also realize that by not mentioning the real story at hand which is the fact that there were threats made to candidates over this election you are creating a segregated student body? We live in south Georgia; there are racist people that live here and all you are doing by making violent threats is feeding the contorted minds of those individuals into believing their ideals about specific races are right. You need to use your words constructively not contentiously; maybe if you did that your candidate would’ve won the election. Lastly, if you voted for your candidate based on the color of their skin and not by their credentials then pat yourself on the back because it is YOU that is empowering racial tension, segregation, and discrimination to live on.
All i have to say is that I am Damn Glad i am a Greek here at VSU. It has taken us a few years, but we are all going to band together now and take our rightful place at the top of this school. We have run this campus amazingly in the past and we are going to take Valdosta to new levels. ( III )
Mr. (or Mrs?) Von Kennedy decided to edit the article in the last few minutes if anyone is confused as to why there are so many comments pointing out poor reporting above. I thought I’d point that out.
It seems as if both sides are calling the Spectator biased. I myself, as a member of the NPHC would like to point out division. Most of the comments are keep referring to the “Greek community” when in reality the “Greek community” that they are referring to is IFC and CPC. NPHC was left out. I am not accusing anyone of anything but we all know that the SGA Election was basically black vs. white. And because I do work in the Greek Life office, I do know for a fact that a few staff members have discriminated in reference to the election and ergo caused more problems. This is not the fault of the students because everyone has their goals but I do not honestly believe that this race was fair. And let’s remember to be respectful of one another.
@”FutureSGAsenator”
I don’t understand how you think it is against any SGA Rule or Regulation that someone that was COMPLETELY UNRELATED to ANYONE from the Davis/Powers slate passed out a letter SUGGESTING to CPC and IFC chapters who to vote for. This is no different than someone unrelated to the Coer ticket suggesting to their friends who to vote for (i.e. exactly what Iye Kargbo did at African Night in front of a large crowd). There is NOTHING unethical or immoral about campaigning for who you believe to be the better candidates, and I guarantee there is nothing in the SGA Rules and Regulations that says it is against policy for people NOT AT ALL ASSOCIATED with a candidate to suggest votes from their friends.
What IS unethical and immoral is the FACT that certain supporters of Coer ticket were not only slandering opposing candidates, but also THREATENING them. Thank God the Dean is taking action against these students and potentially EXPELLING them from VSU 🙂
Further,the allegation that Greeks forced members to vote is absurd. Take it from a fellow Greek that everyone was able to cast their vote for WHOMEVER the heck they wanted, as long as they voted! No ones blazeview information was stolen or collected, that is ridiculous. Quit it with the ignorant conspiracy theories.
Basically what it boils down to is get over it. We won, and will forever win from now on. Mark my words. “We are here.”
IKOT, TIKN
And for the people to uneducated to read, this is an INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER. Meaning they are going to post things the normal paper wouldn’t post. Just because your favorite person DID win, doesn’t mean they deserved to.
Dear VSU geeds,
Get over it, no one cares!
“While she may not be president of ZTA, the information is STILL valid. The email was sent and ALL IFC AND CPC were given a letter of WHO to vote for! This is unethical and furthermore, anyone who does not think so, should go read the SGA Rules and Regulations of elections. SGA is ready for a change, but SGA is ready for LEGITIMATE change! Davis has ZERO SGA Experience and hasn’t even expressed interest in SGA before the election. Even after being elected, Davis has shown up to NO SGA event, including th cookout and the last SGA meeting of the year.
I cannot wait to see what you people think next year when all of Davis/Powers BS platform promises, are NOT put into play because they cannot happen. How can they lower fees, when Georgia just imposed a MANDATORY fee increase!
For your information, the committee does NOT include Senator Jones, but actually includes UNBIASED members, with the exception of Whitney Smith, who is the HEAD of the committee, who herself is called into question by the leaked ZTA letter. So take that…..is that NOT biased? So before you point your finger at SGA, start with yourselfs.
People are NOT upset that Coer/Holley lost due to the number of votes, the outrage comes from THE WAY the votes were gathered! There is proof of illegal matters and they should be dealt with by the committee and the SGA Judicial Board! People should just wait until the FORMAL reports are submitted.
Lastly, stop criticizing the Spectator. You have every right to join and “write honest articles”. Go talk to Ted Geltner and get on staff. Von Kennedy did his very best in this article and got BOTH sides to comment. He had facts and backing behind quotes, while one fact or two may have been wrong, stuff happens. I dare one of you to write a better article. If the Spectator is always wrong, PLEASE become a writer…….
#OFFTHIS
Dear Future SGA Senator,
What is unethical about campaigning?? Please tell me! Sending an email about suggested candidates to vote for is legal! If greeks want to vote for greeks they can! If that is unethical than so is Jasmine Coer and her ticket passing out their business cards that were obviously suggesting that students should vote for them? Do you even know the definition of unethical? And since I can tell you do not know I have taken the time (unlike The Spectator) to do my research and find the exact definition. According to dictionary.com the definition of unethical is anything pertaining to or dealing with morals or the principles of morality; pertaining to right and wrong in conduct. So, I can tell you what is not ethical! What is not ethical is how supporters of Jasmine Coer were posting threats on twitter towards the Davis-Powers campaign! You, just like The Spectator, are biased since you have shown that you didn’t research both sides either! And thank you for lying to everyone that reads your comment because Coer and her ticket are obviously sore losers. How else would the spectator have gotten their information? Listen to DeMario! The election is over, get over it! And I am also a future SGA Senator, So I look forward to working with you!
Wow, I’m happy our newspaper is fun and informative at Georgia Tech. Who would want to go to VSU if their newspaper writers seem as uneducated as the entire student body seems to claim they are…? Poor VSU.
There was no corruption, what was corrupt was last year the candidate who became president was walking around telling people to vote for him. He walked them through who to vote for, WHEN WAS THIS COMPLAINED ABOUT? Maybe you should get your facts straight before you really publish something at ridiculous as this.
READ YOUR OWN COMMENTS, LOOK AT YOUR SKIN, AND WOOWW… this seems to be an undercover race matter. lol
I’m astonished with the fact that all of the posts above are from college students. Granted, some parties have the right to be upset. But don’t you all understand that NOTHING will be done, and NO ONE will take you seriously when you call others names as if you’re on a elementary school yard? The lack of maturity at this campus is pitiful, and I am nearly ashamed to say that some of you are my colleagues. There is a correct way to go about getting your opinions across, noticed, and recognized. The first step is to go to an SGA meeting.
In leadership, friendship, and service
-Paul Jr
@CastellanoJR
I would love to hear Senator Iye Kargbo explain how her little “speech” advocating for the election of Jasmine Coer as SGA President at the “African Night” event hosted on campus earlier this month is so different from Valdosta’s Greek community advocating for the election of other Greeks to SGA. There is no crime in encouraging one’s Greek brothers and sisters to vote for a candidate that will best represent the interests of the overall Greek community. If she is going to call this “corruption” then she needs to reevaluate her own actions before making such accusations.
This school is becoming a joke. The spectator articles prove that every week. Your paper is a joke as is half of the student body here who shouldn’t be able to get into to a technical school. The bar should be raised and hopefully the new SGA will push to get idiots like the article writer off of our campus.
The spectator’s entire staff should be fired. The advisor to the paper should be fired as well and the whole thing needs to be re-elected and re-hired. Hey @DeAndre and current VSU Spectator staff, we’re cleaning house! It’s such a misfortune that you continuously slipped up and have, for years, falsely reported the news. The spectator staff pretty much ruined all their chances of getting a legitimate journalism job after college with this crap. Every newspaper/magazine in the country will do their research (unlike the spectator) on their employees before hiring them and will come to find all of these blasphemous articles. Good Luck in life spectator staff. You’re going to need it.
P.S. @DeAndre- you said in the article “In my personal opinion, I don’t think he has the credentials to be our SGA President,” DeAndre Jones said. “He has never been in SGA. He only has shown up to two meetings prior the qualifying meeting. From what I know he has only been a part of his fraternity. You need to be part of more than one organization or at least be in SGA.”
Do you understand that this is the same case for our president of the United States??? Obama hadn’t even run a bake sale, sure let’s make him the Chief Executive of the largest economy in the world. He also had zero legislative accomplishments during his tenure as a U.S. Senator. His most frequent vote on any issue wasn’t yea or nay but present.
So let’s recap, he has zero executive experience, zero legislative accomplishments and was judged not by the content of his character, but rather on his popularity of lies that we have come to call his promises from his campaign.
So he speaks well publicly…it’s called a teleprompter. I sound really intelligent when I read someone else’s words. There used to be this notion that people would speak candidly – Lincoln wrote the Gettysburg on the train while going to Gettysburg. You say what strikes you in the moment, not what some ridiculous speechwriter dictates to you.
Call me a sucker for rhetoric and oration but they’re two of the lost arts in American Politics.
And DeAndre, this should be all the proof you need to solve your “lack of politics experience” argument.
so people are mad because your dirty underhand deals were exposed. You are the ones that need to get over yourselves.
I am disgusted with the Spectator. You guys should look into getting some fact checkers and if you already have them…find new ones.
While she may not be president of ZTA, the information is STILL valid. The email was sent and ALL IFC AND CPC were given a letter of WHO to vote for! This is unethical and furthermore, anyone who does not think so, should go read the SGA Rules and Regulations of elections. SGA is ready for a change, but SGA is ready for LEGITIMATE change! Davis has ZERO SGA Experience and hasn’t even expressed interest in SGA before the election. Even after being elected, Davis has shown up to NO SGA event, including th cookout and the last SGA meeting of the year.
I cannot wait to see what you people think next year when all of Davis/Powers BS platform promises, are NOT put into play because they cannot happen. How can they lower fees, when Georgia just imposed a MANDATORY fee increase!
For your information, the committee does NOT include Senator Jones, but actually includes UNBIASED members, with the exception of Whitney Smith, who is the HEAD of the committee, who herself is called into question by the leaked ZTA letter. So take that…..is that NOT biased? So before you point your finger at SGA, start with yourselfs.
People are NOT upset that Coer/Holley lost due to the number of votes, the outrage comes from THE WAY the votes were gathered! There is proof of illegal matters and they should be dealt with by the committee and the SGA Judicial Board! People should just wait until the FORMAL reports are submitted.
Lastly, stop criticizing the Spectator. You have every right to join and “write honest articles”. Go talk to Ted Geltner and get on staff. Von Kennedy did his very best in this article and got BOTH sides to comment. He had facts and backing behind quotes, while one fact or two may have been wrong, stuff happens. I dare one of you to write a better article. If the Spectator is always wrong, PLEASE become a writer…….
#OFFTHIS
Why? Why? Why? Do you always put down greek organizations? Sounds like someone is a bit jealous….. If only your EMBARRASSING paper would write articles on how proactive greek organizations are unlike most other organizations on campus! Just last year all greek organizations combined raised 157,025.06 dollars for other philanthropic organizations. Is that not something that you could have printed in “your” newspaper? You all need to start worrying about what is important in life. And your opinion is NOT important, so stop printing it in the student body’s newspaper! I think it is ridiculous that I have to pay for this disgraceful newspaper with my dues! If I had a choice I wouldn’t donate a nickel this so called “newspaper.” This isn’t your diary boys and girls so stop telling us your opinions and stick with the FACTS!
THANKS!
It’s great to see the leaders of this campus take the SGA back over. Greeks controlled the SGA when I was in school here at VSU. They lead the campus in academics, community service, and they have the best social events. It makes me proud to be a VSU and a fellow Greek alumni.
Why did you remove my post? It was the only true statement in this article.
Here we go again! Yet another biased and un-researched article by the “editors” and “journalist” who write for The Spectator. You all are an embarrassment to our university and I can only hope that no one outside of VSU’s campus reads this mess that you all let go to print. How lazy are you? You can’t even find “Zeta’s” current president’s name!! And it’s so very sad that you all are so LAZY that you only research one side of every issue that approaches you! Isn’t it funny how you did not even mention the THREE campaign violations that Coer’s ticket committed and should have been disqualified from the race. One violation being leaving tons of their little business cards by the computers (a poling location) in the library and having a stack of them at the front desk during the first day of the elections! This is a big no-no if you weren’t aware. Also, the issue of the campaign signs at the fraternity houses had already been taking care of before the actual day of elections. Mind you that if the individuals wearing t-shirts with the candidates names on them stepped off of VSU’s campus they would indeed be campaigning in a location that VSU does not own (like the fraternity houses)! And how come you all can’t take hint from DeMario, SGA’s current president, when he said and you quoted, “As far as I am concerned, the elections are over.”? Sounds like you all are just a bunch of biased sore losers!! You lost! Get over it and move on with your life! Congrats to the winners, Graham Davis, Derika Powers, Marcia Taylor, and Drew McCall! Oh, and thanks for including all of the senators who won Spectator Staff….Not! Thank you all for being biased yet again, thank goodness this was your last issue!
im honestly embarrassed with the lack of professionalism in this paper. We aren’t in highschool, this is a college newspaper. It is so simple to interview someone and get basic facts such as who is in what sorrority. This is the second time this semester this has happened… really guys? maybe you should quite while you’re ahead.
How can one vote for others without their permission when you have to sign in with your PASSWORD in order to vote? there is absolutely no way that there were “unwilling” participants in this ALLEGED act.
This whole article was about supposed “unethical behavior”, yet here you are slamming all of these organizations (WHICH YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT, OBVIOUSLY) because there was hearsay about the SGA elections.
This entire article just made the writer, the editor, and anyone else who oversees “The Spectator” look really unprofessional.
I’m sure Coer had the NAACP and the Black Student League get them to vote for her. Grow up. As the wise Eric Matthews once said, “Life’s tough, get a helmet.”
Wow! You guys suck at writing and should seriously consider another career. Get your info right before you post any more lies. You’re only making the situation worse
Spectator Writers and Staff,
In the future please conduct adequate research to back what you are publishing. You have not only made yourselves look like idiots, but you have also published an article that is clearly smearing the names of those you have listed as involved without any factual evidence. If you realize that you are about to publish a controversial article you should back you information with facts, not opinions and biased interviews. Since your attempting to throw IFC and CPC organizations under the bus, you should probably consider interviewing members of those organizations. Im going to assume the author of this article has an extremely biased opinion on the subject, because it seems the only people aware of this situation before this article was published were those involved. Also, the author has completely failed to mention the threats that were made publically, via social networking, about certain candidates. To plinly state my point, get your facts right or dont publish this pathetic excuse for an article.
Stop being sore losers. Elections are done. Just because you did not win does not mean YOU can make these outlandish allegations. So as far as I am concerned, not only are you hypocrites, but are terrible at being courteous to fellow students and SGA members. Good Luck on being mature adults out of college, because I do not see that happening. Facts are facts.
This newspaper has become a biased incorrect source of news. The senators and writers/editors are trying to do what ever they can to change what was chosen by the STUDENT BODY. If their candidates did not get elected then they should have campaigned more. The entire Davis/Powers ballot won by just and fair means. Just because members of organizations might have had to turn in confirmation records to avoid fines it is just an incentive to have the students be active in the decision of the future exec board of SGA. A member could have voted for Coer and still have turned in the confirmation record. This is just a poor attempt to slander the new SGA executive board. They will go far. They will do great things. (even with minimal SGA experience). Maybe real topics will be discussed in SGA instead of things like whether senators can eat and drink in meetings. Yes, an article was posted on what was being discussed in SGA and the first thing was to allow senators to eat and drink in meetings. How is that going to benefit the entire student body? Exactly, it wont. Thats why Davis/Powers wont allow it. They will get real business covered.
I would like to clarify the fact that Zeta Tau Alpha is NOT an incorporation. It is a member FRATERNITY of the National Panhellenic Conference and is NOT affiliated in any way with the incorporations of the National Pan-Hellenic Council. PLEASE, do NOT falsely associate these separate groups in the future.
sooooooo yes, once again the vsu spectator complaigns because all greeks won. what’s wrong with supporting your organization because everyone knows the organizations on campus that the other candidates were in voted for them too and you campaigned about it. I’m sorry that your biased views have gotten you no where.
n the years that I attended VSU and since, I have seen it change from a university that valued education to one that admits all comers; many of whom only show up to get their financial aid. They act like first graders in the class room, and serve to denigrate the value of a diploma from this institution. These individuals, who should probably not be in college in the first place, had come to dominate student government. And like the Democrat party that most of them support in non-university elections, they cannot accept that they lost an election fairly. Hopefully, these elections will serve as a wake-up call to the unversity; and VSU will not take on the appearance of the southside of Atlanta.
I am highly concerned with the obviously slanderous comments that have been posted by The Spectator in the past few issues. I am quick to jump in defense of all Greek Organizations on campus as they are the only organizations that have been cut down numerous times by The Spectator. Greek Organizations are the largest organizations on campus and they are among few other student organizations that make as large of a positive impact in the VSU community and the Valdosta Community . And now they have to defend themselves against the VSU newspaper that should be reporting the actual and correct news at VSU.
I am embarrassed to pick The Spectator up week after week and seeing Greek Organizations slandered week after week. I would not mind seeing negative news reported against Greek Organizations, if The Spectator could factually report their news. I think its time The Spectator Advisors sit their editors down and have a workshop on how to properly obtain facts and how to determine fact from fiction.
Who knows, maybe pretty soon the Greeks will get tired of how The Spectator functions and take over that too. How incredibly horrible that would be!!! (sarcasm at its finest).
Is DeAndre Jones on the Ad Hoc Committee? Because it seems he is planning a witch hunt by his obviously biased comments.
PS. Zeta Tau Alpha is not an Inc., that would be Zeta Phi Beta, Inc. but I wouldn’t expect you to get that right either.
really?? ha VSU is such a joke. So glad our school newspaper is legit, unlike this crap.
As an alumnus of Valdosta State and a Fraternity member I have seen some pretty biased and ridiculous articles written about Greek Organizations and how they operate, but this article tops them all. It is a shame that such a great university and obviously involved student body is subjected to the idiocy and poor journalistic efforts put forth in the “Speculator”. If I were part of the new SGA, I would reallocate some money by getting rid of this disgrace of a newspaper and putting it towards housing for the IFC and CPC Organizations who are obviously tired of how SGA has been run in the past. Congratulations to Graham, Derika, Drew, and Dani for taking the first step towards returning VSU to the University it used to be.
You know what’s sad is that people who lost in the elections are being really immature babies right now. First of all, get permission before you go and start listing names in the School Newspaper. Second, the Greek Community has worked very hard to be more involved at VSU and the fact that accusations are being placed on us just because we actually had many people vote, (on their own) for Davis and Powers is ridiculous! just like the other candidates we had a group of supporters. I recommended that the candidates that lost stop acting like children and realize that the student body HAS voted for who they want in office. Get over it, and stop putting the Greek community down. After all you want to be great role models for the students.. well right now you are just proving that you are judgmental, and selfish people.
You people who are writing these articles are making a BIG JOKE out of yourselves because I for one, laughed when I read this!! You have ABSOLUTELY NO idea what you are talking about and you are VERY unprofessional!
Another biased article from the Spectator. Allegations of questionable behavior were brought against the Coer campaign prior to election day but the Spectator is proving once again that they are more of a gossip paper than a real source of student news. For once please try to give both sides of a story and please, RESEARCH YOUR NEWS BEFORE YOU PRINT IT.
Sooooooo….any Greeks want to take over the Spectator? We can set up a ballot and everything lol.
How is it possible that EVERY article you write has so many errors in it that the article might as well be total fiction. Im discussed with the fact that students on this campus are raising such hell about an election that may have not gone the way they wanted. Im sorry but we are in the grown up world here people. Not everyone wins in real life, I know that when you were little your mommys told you that everyone is a winner, well guess what, NOT THE CASE. Every candidate worked hard and i’m sorry but the margin between the winners and the losers was large enough to show that Davis-Powers ,McCall- Taylor were in fact the true winners. All of these stupid allegations of cheating and such are stupid and those of you causing this drama know it. Buck up and accept the fact that this time around your candidate didn’t win. Get over yourselves. Seriously. It isn’t flattering. It just makes you look stupid and like sore losers.
You’re “facts” are once again skewed. First and most importantly, I’m pretty sure who you think the Zeta Tau Alpha president is, is in ALPHA DELTA PI. That says a lot about your credibility right there. Secondly, you just used student’s names in a harmful manner IN A NEWSPAPER. You guys do realize that this maybe the second case of libel within the semester I have personally seen, which is even more absurd, because I never read the spectator.
I’m sure the spectator will be shut down soon. Great Job!
This is absolutely ridiculous. I am so sick and tired of the sore losers at VSU. There is nothing unethical about a president informing her organization of who she believes the better candidates to be and SUGGESTING her chapter vote for them. If that was a problem, miss Iye hersellf should be scrutinized considering she told the entire Africa Night event to vote for Jasmine Coer. Hmm, seems like these people are a little hypocritical, huh? What IS unethical (and completely classless) is the fact that some ignorant scum at VSU were blatantly threatening certain candidates via the internet. As a student body, I can only hope that the faculty handles this situation accordingly.
If the Spectator didn’t get their BIASED and CRAPPY information from BIASED people in the current SGA…then maybe the paper would have some credibility. But because you “journalists” go directly to the most corrupt people in our VSU Community as you have quoted a few in this article and previous ones, the space in the paper is worth what it is…CRAP. By the way…thank you for using such a small space in your paper to congratulate your fellow blazers for graduating next weekend!!! DEUCES!
I would think the bigger story regarding “foul play” in this election- is the fact that the Dean of Students had to call in the entire VSU Police Department due to threats by Ms.Coer’s supporters on twitter intending to start a race riot if their candidate lost….. absolutely shameful!
Meg Kesler is not Zeta Tau Alpha’s president… do you know anything? It seems like every article the Spectator writes about is dead wrong. Once again make sure you know what you are talking about before you post something. You all need to do your research and stop looking sloppy.
SGA is just mad that there is change!! It has been the same and had the same kind of people running since I was a freshman. They are trying to blame someone, so they blame greek life and staff members involved in greek life and that is wrong. Knowing the elected members personally, I know these members would not break rules!
Another thing, I believe you should check your facts fully before you print your paper. Meg Kesler is not the president of Zeta!! Also Dead Day is not on Monday!! Its Tuesday!!
This paper is never creditable and has information wrong on a weekly bases.
This is absolutely rediculous! Everyone had the same opportunity to vote for who ever they wanted to. This just needs to be dropped, the votes were casted and that’s that.
WOW! Yet again the Spectator can’t get the facts straight! Did you know that Margaret “Meg” Kesler isn’t the current ZTA President, let alone a ZTA?!?! Meg is an Alpha Delta Pi and she has already graduated! As for the current ZTA President I sure as hell won’t give you the privileged of knowing that without you doing legitimate research for once in your life.
Do you really want to call an organized letter reaching out for votes unethical because if I can remember correctly Dean Mast stood in front of us at the election results last Friday saying that students were threatening some of the candidates. Aside from that, Darian Harris (creative7@twitter) decided to print 78 copies of an email that sure as hell isn’t his, considering it was addressed to Zeta Tau Alpha, and distributed them all over campus on last Thursday afternoon! If that is not unethical in your eyes then you sure do have screwed up vision and you might want to go see an Ophthalmologist (that’s an eye doctor if you were wondering!)
@DeAndre: As far as printing off confirmation pages, so what!?! That is simply confirming that you actually voted in the election. Once you have voted you can’ t go back and change it so it makes no sense as to why you seem to be upset about that. If an organization wants to fine, that’s on them and stay out of their business. In fact, unless you are a part of these alleged organizations why care so much as to how they voted. Clearly they care enough about the future of VSU to vote in the elections, is that so hare to believe? In regards to you not knowing how Davis received so many votes: think about all the other candidate, how did they ALL get votes????? Oh wait! Over 2400 students participated in the elections! If DeMario sees the elections as done and over with why can’t everyone else. He is the current SGA President and I’m sure if he thought funny business was going on with the elections then something would be done with it; however there are no hearings on Dean Mast’s or Richard Lee’s calendars for the next 2 weeks which brings me to my last point. This Ad-Hoc committee that was approved doesn’t realize that even if there was a hearing they wouldn’t be allowed to sit in on it considering it would be private (like Iye K. said).
As far as this article is concerned I consider it major SLANDER given that the italicized names of suggested senators were probably not even informed that they would be included. SPECTATOR WRITERS: You suck lately! Go find another hobby!
Good luck with finals 🙂
Get over yourself he won fair and square! You have no regulation over a sign in yards that the school does not own!
Let me guess, the majority of this “Ad Hoc Committee” voted for Coer?
Before you write these you might want to get your facts straight before you go accusing people.
1. you have the so called letter wrong.
2. you might want to check who you put down as president considering the girl you put is not even in ZTA
3. just because the people you wanted to win didn’t win doesnt mean you should attack the people who did win fair and square regardless of whether you “think” otherwise
I’m tired of the spectator giving out false information and informing the campus of VSU with wrong information.
If people did a little bit more research and didn’t write complete biased information this newspaper would be great.
This does not even mention anything the other campaign did. not to mention threatning candidates.
get your facts straight or dont write anything at all