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Mary,Mary gets a bigger venue EriK VEal
Online Editor
After hearing that tickets to the homecoming gospel show featuring duo Mary,Mary were sold out on Sept. 10, many students around campus were angered. “I’m mad the gospel concert is sold out,” tweeted senior business major Jasmine Farrar when she first heard that the tickets were gone. The concert was initially scheduled for Harrison Auditorium which seats 908 people according to the campus website. After many students claimed to have been unable to buy their ticket for numerous reasons, and from that they let their displeasure be known.
According to Chris Wade, vice president of external affairs and co-chair of the homecoming committee, many upset students spoke out about not being able to get ticket. From that, many of them sent emails to him and Kawanna Foster, president of SUAB, requested a bigger venue for the concert. “With the gospel concert selling out so early, students stood up and had their voices heard to force administration and other parties involved to move to a bigger venue,” said Wade. SUAB eventually secured and has moved the concert to Corbett.” He added that this action is a testament of the power of the See gosPEl on Page 2
Obama says the GOP would ‘cripple’ U.S. EriCa WErNEr
Associated Press
aTHErToN, Calif. — President Barack Obama charged Sunday that the GOP vision of government would “fundamentally cripple America,” as he tried out his newly combative message on the liberal West Coast. Aiming to renew the ardor of Democratic loyalists who have grown increasingly disenchanted with him, the president mixed frontal attacks on Republicans with words of encouragement intended to buck up the faithful as the 2012 campaign revs up. “From the moment I took office what we’ve seen is a constant ideological pushback against any kind of sensible reforms that would make our economy work better and give people more opportunity,” the president said at an intimate brunch fundraiser at the Medina, Wash., home of former Microsoft executive Jon Shirley, where about 65 guests were paying $35,800 per couple to listen to Obama. Similar messages followed at an event in Seattle and two more in California’s Silicon Valley Sunday evening, as Obama pushed through a seven-stop fundraising swing that was taking him from Seattle to Hollywood to San Diego through Monday. The three-day West Coast swing, ending Tuesday in Denver, offered him the chance to re-engage with some of his most liberal and deep-pocketed supporters. The trip comes as Obama has shifted from focusing on
compromise with Republicans on Capitol Hill to calling out House Speaker John Boehner and others by name. The president has criticized them as obstructionists while demanding their help in passing his $447 billion jobs bill. The revamped approach is a relief to Democratic activists fed up by what they viewed as the president’s ceding of ground to the GOP on tax cuts and other issues while the economy has stalled and unemployment is stuck above 9 percent. Obama said 2012 would be an especially tough election because people are discouraged and disillusioned with government, but he also said he was determined because so much is at stake. The GOP alternative, Obama said, is “an approach to government that will fundamentally cripple America in meeting the challenges of the 21st century.” At an event in Woodside, Calif., Obama took a direct shot at one of his potential GOP opponents, Texas Gov. Rick Perry. Without mentioning him by name Obama mocked Perry as “a governor whose state is on fire, denying climate change.” Perry spokesman Ray Sullivan responded, “It’s outrageous President Obama would use the burning of 1,500 homes, the worst fires in state history, as a political attack.” Obama also criticized the audience reactions at recent GOP presidential debates, including people booing a gay service member. Said the pres See oBaMa on Page 2
SepTeMbeR 28, 2011
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THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF NORTH CAROLINA A&T
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robinson hits airwaves KElCiE C. MCCraE Editor-in-Chief
Student Government Association president Christian Robinson is taking a cue from famed U.S. president, Franklin Roosevelt, by starting his own version of Roosevelt’s fireside chats. Starting Thursday, Robinson will deliver his state of the campus address on North Carolina A&T’s radio station WNAA 90.1, which mirrors Roosevelt’s radio chats in the 1930s. “I wanted to do something different,” said Robinson. “And we wanted to help make 90.1 more student-friendly. It’s already doing a lot for the students, but you can never do too much for them.” Slotted for 10 a.m., this is the first time a president has used the radio station for student government purposes since Fall 2008, according to program and music director D. Cherie Lofton. She says that not only is it good for the students, but also it is good for the community. “Sometimes the community wants to know what the students are doing,” she said. “This is a fine opportunity for them to hear it for themselves.” According to Robinson, recent presidents have held their student addresses at campus venues such as Memorial Student Union, Williams Dining
Hall, and a variety of other locations. Robinson says that hosting the event in those places did not reach a large enough audience as he hopes his method will. “They’ve tried many other places on campus, and there has been an okay response and an okay crowd,” he said. “I figured a lot of people listen to the radio, and maybe I can share information to a wider audience and out into the community.” Members from Robinson’s executive board say they are excited about his new venture to the airwaves. “I was very excited when I heard about it,” said student government secretary Whitney Walker. “It’s a good idea and its going to bring awareness to SGA as well as give students a better feel for the Robinson administration.” The campus radio station, which is housed in Crosby Hall, reaches a listenership 50 miles outside of Greensboro. It also has an Internet station where listeners can tune in all day, as well as a HD2 station. Students, alumni, and the community make much of the listeners for WNAA. “We’ve really tapped into our resources,” said Robinson. “This is a student-run radio station, and we wanted to use them.” Lofton says she was all for Robinson’s desire to change
PHOTO BY rEggiE CHErrY• contributor
sga PrEsidENT christian robinson tapes his state of the campus address on tuesday, september 27, 2011.
venues. “Here students can hear what their president wants to do,” she said. “Not just in the paper, not just on Twitter or Facebook, but also on the ra-
sYlVia oBEll
Managing Editor
PHOTO BY KENNETH l. HaWKiNs Jr. • the a&t register
MEMBErs of suab set up for the first outdoor Mr. suab competition.
For the first time the Mr. SUAB pageant is outdoors. “Mr. SUAB is outside this year because we wanted to do something fun and different,” said the Student Union Advisory Board President Kawanna Foster. There were a few clear implications to having the pageant outside. The forecast was scheduled to rain Tuesday. Also, a lot of students expressed their concerns about seating arrangements. “Shifting the Mr. SUAB pageant outside this year is going to be interesting. It may have some people on their feet for a while,” said James Totton, a senior landscape architecture major. Foster addresses both of these concerns. “There will be chairs outside set up for people to sit and in case it rains we will bring it into Stallings Ballroom,” she said. However for some students it goes beyond just seating and possible rain. “My preference
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dio.” Robinson says he will be addressing his administration’s plans and goals for the See radio on Page 2
s.u.a.b. hosts its first outdoor pageant in quad
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is that the pageant should be inside to make it more formal. Also I think the audience would be more comfortable because they could sit back, relax and enjoy the show without having outside distractions,” said sophomore computer engineering major Jordan Coles. The pageant had a “Back to the Future” theme with the young men competing not only for the title of Mr. SUAB but a $400 scholarship as well. It became a scholarship competition last year. “This was to add an incentive for males who wanted to be what we used to call Mr. Aggie. With Mr. A&T coming into effect we just wanted our male competition to have a good incentive,” explained Foster. SUAB Treasurer Trevor Thornton echoed Foster’s sentiments, “I honestly believe the scholarship is a great reward and a great incentive for our contestants to do their best.” The duties of Mr. & Miss SUAB are to represent the orga See suaB on Page 2
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