City council members and aggie students joined the Eta chapter of Phi Beta Sigma Inc. for their program, “Tackling issues with the community” in conjunction with the voter awareness program hosted by the Beta Epsilon chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Inc.Concerns within the community, such as student safety and voting were discussed at the program.

Mayor Yvonne Johnson, who is currently up for re-election, opened up the program. Johnson spoke about the safety of off-campus housing, in reference to a recent shooting. Johnson met with site managers where the incident took place, to discuss the absence of security; both in police and cameras.

“We want the community to be safe for our students to live,” Johnson said.

The crowd applauded with agreement. Johnson also spoke about the forthcoming election with intentions of encouraging people to vote. She broadly spoke of the importance of voting.

“If we could just get 30% of the students to vote, it would make a tremendous difference in the polls,” said Johnson. Other candidates in the room, running for office, agreed. Johnson also suggested the campus sororities and fraternities to come together and have a cumulative voter meeting/rally, in hopes that it would have a positive effect on the election and unity amongst the organizations.

The mayor spoke briefly about social capital and possibly starting a college round table before opening the floor for questions and comments. Questions were directed in regards to the possibility of her re-election. One spectator’s comment in particular gave her high praise.

“I live in Riverwalk ,a nearby student housing complex located behind the school,” said the student audience member. “And before you came and talked to the managers I didn’t feel safe. But because you did what you did, there are more police officers in the area and I now feel safe. So I wanted to thank you.”

 The mayor gave closing remarks and thanked the audience before taking her seat. Dr. Sullivan Welborne Jr., vice chancellor of student affairs would speaks next. Welborne, piggybacked on the issue of students’ safety. He addressed his obvious concern of the well being of all students and more specifically the protection of off-campus students.

Welborne said 65% of students live off campus versus the 35% that live on campus, and since majority of students live off campus that is where majority of his concern lies.

Marcus Bass, member of Alpha Phi Alpha Inc., began with the significance of A&T students voting. He reminded the audience of the voter turnout from the 2008 presidential election and what a difference it made that America voted. Bass said since city officials impact us more directly than the president, there is no reason not to vote. The room fell quiet with thought, ponder and realization.

Bass also discussed an “Aggie voter rally” to encourage students to register, if they hadn’t already, and to voice their opinions by voting. He then introduced the city council candidates that were present.

Jim Kee, who is presently running for district-two city council, said, “a vote Jim Kee is a vote for A&T.”

Marikay  Abuzuaiter, running for city council At-large, was particularly concerned with the quality of life of east Greensboro, where the school is located. Abuzuaiter commented later that she wanted to “engage A&T in a waste management plan” which would attribute to the cleanliness of the surrounding community.

A few other comments were made about voting from the audience and invited guest. David Miller of the Phi Beta Sigma Inc., stressed that the vote of A&T not be taken for granted and if any city official wanted a position, they should “come to A&T to get elected.” Miller included a personal account of how the margin of student vote could swing any election.  His anecdote along with the speeches of others sent a proactive message of the magnitude of involvedness to the students.

“This program was not only successful in a sense that it provided solutions to issues surrounding the community,” said Bass. “This program made history because of the two oldest organizations working together for a common cause.”

The meeting ended with additional questions directed to Dr. Welborne and Mayor Yvonne Johnson who both received appreciation cards.

Evan Hauser of Phi Beta Sigma Inc., thought that the program was an accomplishment. “A lot of students are oblivious to the things going on in our community and I think this helped, however I had hoped more students would have attended,” said Hauser.

Special thanks were given to the Mayor, city council members and faculty for attending this event and encouraging students’ safety and to vote.

• ULeasa Joseph