The Students’ Association registered about 336 students to vote at the beginning of October.
Abbey Moses, executive president, was deputized to register voters in Taylor County. Most students registered in the SA office, but about 25 students registered through a voter registration tailgate at the football game on Oct. 8, and about 14-18 people registered through the Black Students’ Association. Moses also did voting drives with men’s social club Gamma Sigma Phi and women’s social club Alpha Kai Omega.
According to Chris Riley, vice president of Student Life, Moses and Taylor Crumpton, senior class president, were the first students at ACU to become deputized to register voters. Moses said the high turnout could be attributed to the candidates in this election.
“I was just so thankful that students on campus are taking steps to have their voice heard,” Moses said. “My job is to represent students, and I’m really glad to see them stepping up. I cannot believe how many students we had.”
Early voting started Monday and voters must vote in the county they are registered to vote in. For more information, http://www.votetexas.gov/.
SA will begin discussions about LGBT policies starting with a focus group initiated by Riley after the next Student Congress meeting. Caitlin Walker, junior vice president, will attend an LGBT and Christianity conference at Highland Oaks Church in Dallas during fall break. The Office Student Life offered to pay for SA members’ conference fees but not travel and lodging, so Moses said some representatives were not able to attend. Moses said SA will discuss future plans for LGBT discussions at the next Congress meeting.
“Something that we are going to be doing over this next year is having some campus-wide conversations regarding attitude and just the climate around LGBTQ things on campus,” Moses said. “We’re looking on updating the policy-type things, including Voice. Our campus is changing, our world is changing so Students’ Association is going to be the one that really connects with students on that.”
SA passed a resolution Oct. 12 to request facilities management take better care of lights on the Lunsford Trail, particularly by Morris Hall. Moses said facilities management told SA the lights will be off indefinitely because of construction on the football stadium. SA also passed a bill to fund air fresheners in the Campus Center bathrooms, but after facilities management fixed an air vent in the bathrooms, SA Congress members are checking to see if the air fresheners are still needed. Moses said the bill allows SA to spend “no more than $150,” so SA can spend $0 on the project if the air fresheners are no longer needed.
Future SA projects include the Christmas Slam at a December Men’s Basketball game and an initiative with the Department of Art and Design to allow architecture majors to design on-campus spaces. SA will work with Carlos Mejia, senior interior design major from Honduras, to begin a project which will allow students to do senior projects creating “outdoor classrooms” on campus.
