BAC resolves election grievance

After a two and a half hour meeting, the Black Affairs Council decided the results of Tuesday's election will stand and Kevin Winstead will be next year's coordinator.

Christine Guerra, the election commissioner, sat down with the two candidates and a copy of the constitution until they came up with a resolution on which everyone could agree.

"I made the decision that the results should stay as they are," Guerra said. Winstead won Tuesday's election with 304 votes. Latisha Emery, who ran against him, received 201 votes. After the election results were counted, Emery filed a grievance saying a member of her opponent's campaign had violated the group's constitution and campaigned in the Student Center.

During the meeting, it was determined both candidates had people campaigning for them inside the Student Center. "The rules are clear that there is no campaigning in the Student Center," Guerra said. "Since they both did, I couldn't punish one without punishing the other one."

Tremaine White, who helped Guerra with the election, said he saw a member of Winstead's campaign committee inside the Student Center telling people to vote for him.

"She had no fliers in hand," Guerra said. "She was just saying vote for Kevin." Another factor in her decision was the large margin of victory because she decided it was implausible for a single member of Winstead's committee to get him more than 100 votes, Guerra said.

Emery, who said she is content with the way her grievance was resolved, said she plans to work with Winstead next year. "I think everything was decided fairly," Emery said. "I can't wait until next year to get back and work with BAC."

This year was very important for the group because they set themselves up for increased productivity in the coming semesters, Winstead said. "We have our structure, and we also have our budget," Winstead said. "Now, it moves from a rebuilding phase to an implementation phase."

The group has a more than $30,000 budget, which it distributes to 32 predominantly black Registered Student Organizations. Next year, its plan to work closely with decision-making bodies on campus, Winstead said.

"I want to let them know we are here, and we represent the black community here," Winstead said.

He plans to petition for one of the two available Undergraduate Student Government senate seats in the College of Mass Communication and Media Arts, Winstead said. Another of his priorities is making a Black American Studies a major at SIUC.

"It's still a grassroots effort," Winstead said. "We still have to apply pressure to the state government." Next year, he said there are plans to start a letter writing campaign and work closely with state Rep. William Davis, a black alumnus in Springfield. If all goes as planned, Winstead said they would sponsor speeches by Cornell West, a philosopher who speaks on what it's like to live life as a black person, and Travis Smiley, a journalist who gave a black state of the union address in Atlanta earlier this year.

Pre-established networking with faculty will give make it easier for Winstead to put together events next year, he said. "The ability to go in at the beginning of the year, and they know me, will help tremendously," Winstead said.