The 45th Legislative Assembly of N.C. A&T Student Government Association has passed a new bill that will be in full effect the start of the Fall 2013 academic school year.
The senate has passed a bill that any individuals who wish to run for Mr. and Miss A&T in the Spring 2014 SGA elections will have to participate in a pageant that will result in deciding the top three candidates be placed on the ballot for students to vote on each position.
“This is the most important piece of legislation that has been written, passed and enacted by a senate here at NCAT within the past five years,” said Canisha Cierra Turner, Vice President of Internal Affairs.
“We have worked really hard into putting this bill together with the help of lead senator, Isiah Guinyard and his committee, senators Melanie Thompson and Alani Adkins.” Lead senator Isiah Guinyard echoed, “We have been developing this bill since Thanksgiving break and spent our entire Christmas break revamping the language and comparing data to best serve our student population.”
In the past, individuals who wanted to run for Mr. and Miss A&T simply had to fill out the application and they were automatically put on the ballot.
According to the bill, the previous Miss and Mister A&T forum will now become a pageant held before elections. Contestants need to have a cumulative grade point average of a 2.75 and maintain this average while in office. They will compete in oratorical speech, talent, evening wear and on stage Question. The top three scorersqwill then be placed on the ballot for the students to vote for.
“We are not taking away the student voice, we are streamlining and putting forth the best students possible for the students to choose from,” said Turner.
Turner expressed that the judging for this pageant will include a panel of seven qualified individuals. Two of the judges will consist of one former Miss A&T five years removed from the university and the other, an alumnae who is five years removed from the university. The other five judges will consist of qualified individuals from the pageant arena.
“We will be holding workshops for the judges so that they know the criteria to judge contestants on,” said Turner. “We are going to make sure there are no biases going on during this pageant and we will be strictly going by the book.”
This new bill will not have any effect on this year’s Student Government Association elections but will be effective immediately Fall 2013 as the start of a new school year.
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- Erik Veal, Editor-in-Chief