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Survey calls to alter court
By Chad Eldred
Published:
Thursday, March 17, 2005
The results from the homecoming survey sponsored by University Program Board (UPB) are in and it looks as if homecoming at SCSU is going to stay, but major changes are possible.
The survey was completed by 240 students, faculty, and staff at SCSU. Although the number of respondents may seem small, Special Events Coordinator for UPB Stephanie Frieden said that she believes the results accurately reflect the campus community as a whole.
"We feel it is a good percentage of what we need," Frieden said. "Personally, I wish it could have been higher. I wish students would have wanted to vote, but we publicized the homecoming survey was going to be out there. If students really wanted to voice their opinion, they had the chance."
The survey was created in response to the controversy surrounding the 2004 Homecoming Court and many of the questions dealt with the various issues raised. When asked if the current tradition of electing a homecoming queen, king, prince and princess should continue, an overwhelming majority-- 81 percent of the participants-- said 'yes.'
The question addressing the 2004 controversy, 'Is it important to have an equal number of sex specific representatives for SCSU's homecoming royalty?' received a mixed response, with 48 percent responding 'yes' and 42 percent answering 'no.'
Frieden said that with the results being so close, on such a controversial issue, the committee might decide to get rid of the king and queen titles altogether.
"That total was pretty equal and that is what we looked at," Frieden said. "We don't want a new controversial issue to arise again at the next upcoming homecoming. And I think what we are going to do is take that into consideration and take into consideration what other colleges do on their campus and get rid of the king and queen titles."
The committee is also looking at requiring all candidates to be members of a student organization and having each student organization nominate two homecoming candidates, Frieden said. Gender specifications for the nominations would not be mandated.
Along with these recommendations, Frieden said that other changes are also in the works for the homecoming process.
"We are looking at setting a GPA requirement for candidates," Frieden said. "We are also going to put in a process that they have to be a full time student at SCSU. They can either be undergraduate or graduate students, we are not going to specify. We are also looking at upping the percentage of candidate's totals so the student vote is a bigger percentage of their total. Everyone's votes would be more important and we would encourage more students to vote that way."
In response to another question related to the 2004 controversy, 'Should the titles of homecoming queen, king, prince and princess be sex specific?' 50 percent of the participants said 'yes' while 32 percent said 'no.'
Frieden said that the committee would probably propose that instead of having four specific positions such as king and queen, a general homecoming court would be chosen.
"We are going to do a homecoming court and just nominate the top four or six students that represent SCSU. Students are going to have to deal with possibly having four guys on stage or three girls and one guy on stage."
Frieden stated that the most important thing that the committee is considering is to make sure that a repeated controversy does not happen and she said that measures would be taken with that in mind.
"We want to avoid another controversial issue like we had this year. We don't want that to arise again and getting rid of the titles will help that out a lot. Also, students won't have an issue arise where they say 'we see that guy as a girl,' so that won't be brought up," Frieden said.
After the UPB special events committee creates a proposal, it will be sent to the UPB board. Ryan Meints, president of the UPB, will lead the discussion on the presented homecoming proposal.
While Meints does not see homecoming ending at SCSU, he said that the possibility of eliminating the homecoming titles is realistic and that the decision to do so will probably result in some controversy.
"Either way, we are probably going to have some chaos," Meints said. "If we keep it, we are still going to get the same type of backlash that we had this year. But if we take that requirement out, stating that four guys or four girls could win, it might just open up people's perceptions. It is whoever pulls together the most votes."
Meints said that ultimately it is the students who will decide the homecoming royalty and the committee wants the students to be happy with the process.
"We are trying to interpret what they are saying but kind of keeping in mind the community and the alumni," Meints said. "We are trying to keep the tradition alive but trying to be open minded and not trying to offend anyone. Hopefully they will still see homecoming as being one of the highlights of the year."
Nathan Church, vice-president of Student Life and Development, will have the final say on the issue and will decide whether or not to accept or reject the proposal.
"The main factor I will be considering is really a balance of maintaining traditions that are meaningful to SCSU students and alumni and the community, and that is also responsive to larger kinds of concerns around gender issues and historical issues," Church said. "It will be weighing those two ends of the spectrum and trying to come up with a response to the recommendation that would be a balanced response to those kinds of issues."
Church said that he ultimately wishes for homecoming to continue as a tradition at SCSU and that it would be more responsive to the society we live in today.
"What my hope is, is that at the end of it we will have a continuing tradition and one that will take into account the kinds of concerns and issues that have been raised," Church said.
The UPB special events committee will meet Wednesday to discuss the results of the survey and they will present their proposal to the UPB board. After the board votes on the proposal, it will be sent to Church, who will then decide the future of the proposal and the homecoming process at SCSU.
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