Student Voters at Spelman College Consider Race and Gender (Video Clip)

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Posted on 02-06-2008

klg14

Hawthorne, CA

See: Video: Student Voters at Spelman College Consider Race and Gender - Chronicle.com See also: The Chronicle of Higher Education In Georgia, Excitement Over Choice of Candidates By SARA LIPKA Atlanta Bands of students traversed the campus of Spelman College until 4 a.m. on Tuesday, posting signs for their presidential candidates on walkways, trees, even the doors of bathroom stalls. "Hillary for President." "Women for Obama." "Vote 2-5-08." As the hours spun by, Marquise Danielle Alston, who supports Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, noticed that some of her signs were disappearing. So Ms. Alston made the three-mile trip to the state's campaign headquarters in her friend's Mazda. She rode back all curled up, sharing the seat with a large placard. Later on Tuesday, many students paused to look at the largest sign on the campus, an eight-foot-wide Hillary banner. It sat outside the cafeteria in a busy hallway lined with red-and-aqua fliers for Sen. Barack Obama, another Democrat. There were no signs yesterday for any Republican candidates. At this historically black women's college, the Democratic presidential primary has generated a lot of interest — and just as much introspection. In class and over lunch, Spelman students said, they have repeatedly discussed the first viable candidacies of a woman and an African-American man. Asking where a friend's loyalties lie has become not just a political question but an intensely personal one. Regardless of whether they support Senator Clinton or Senator Obama, students here agreed that in this election, gender and race are not an either-or proposition. Vannay Kirkland hears the question often: "So are you a woman first or are you black first?" It's not a choice she is willing to make, said the freshman from Jacksonville, Fla. "I'm like, Well, I'm a black woman," she said. "I'm not either first or either second. I'm just me." Conversations about identity have always been vital to them, several students said. For some, that focus was a reason for choosing Spelman. But another advantage of the small liberal-arts college, they said, is that because nearly all students here are black women, they are free to define themselves in other ways, too. The idea that they will cast their ballots based on gender or race alone angers many of them. "It's insulting," said Chanon Bell, a sophomore from Dallas. "Why is it that because I'm a black woman, the reason why I'm voting for someone has to be because they share a likability with me?" Ms. Bell supports Senator Obama, but she would just as soon back "an Asian man who's three feet tall," she said. "The only thing I care about personally that someone shares with me are their ideals." A Slew Of Questions The inevitable questions about race and gender have driven some Spelman students to look more closely at the candidates' positions. But many students were already paying close attention to where candidates stood on specific issues. Amberly Ferguson, a junior from Aiken, S.C., wants a president with a good exit strategy from Iraq. Her father, a Marine, recently returned from an 18-month tour of duty there. "Are we going to remove our troops or continue to send more?" Ms. Ferguson said. She would like to see a gradual withdrawal, with longer-term support for the struggling Iraqi government. "That has a lot to do with how I'm going to vote for a candidate," she said. Several Spelman students said they supported an end to the war in Iraq; a few were particularly concerned about the money it costs, which they said could be going toward education and health care. Rising tuition prices were on many students' minds, as was the availability of low-interest loans for graduate school. "The cost of going to college is just tremendous," said Ms. Alston, who is also president of the Young Democrats at Spelman. "If Hillary can increase Pell Grants, if she can help change financial aid and the way it's structured, I think a lot more people would be in college and want to come to college." Meagan M. Mullens, a junior from Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., cares most about the environment. "Finally we all know that global warming is real," she said. "I just want somebody who's going to act on it." Ms. Mullens is excited about how seriously her friends are following the campaign. Many of them have watched debate after debate on television. "Six months ago, I would have said it was a popularity contest," she said. "But now I think people are actually looking at the issues, reading on their own, Googling different things, trying to figure out what's really going on." 'The Face of America' At 7:30 on Tuesday morning, several Spelman students met for a march to the polls. After a quick breakfast of Krispy Kreme doughnuts, they walked through a light rain to the local polling station, on the nearby campus of Clark Atlanta University. "We didn't want to have anyone to have any excuses," said Ariel Eckblad, a sophomore who, together with Spelman's Student Government Association, helped plan the event. "Come out in the morning," she said, "get it over with, and then go about your day." Even though race and gender may not be deciding factors, their role in the campaign has helped motivate students, Ms. Eckblad said: "This is the first time in history that one of the candidates will either be a woman or a black man. That is something that we can get excited about." Professors and administrators at Spelman marveled at students' level of political engagement. This election has sparked significantly more participation than those in years past, said Beverly Daniel Tatum, president of the college, who was leaving the polls just as Ms. Eckblad's group arrived. Students know the country is at a juncture, Ms. Tatum said. "There's a real sense among young people that this is not the future that they want. And here's an opportunity to speak up about the future that they do want." At a campuswide forum on Monday night, William Jelani Cobb, a professor of history at Spelman, urged students — many of whom were voting for the first time — to savor this unusually exciting election. It is, he said, "kind of like a person who gets a Ferrari when they're 16." Shaundra Patterson, a junior from Atlanta, has always been interested in politics, if not hopeful about the potential to effect change. "This election really changed my perception of what you can do in politics," she said. "It's not always corrupt." Ms. Patterson voted for Senator Obama but said she would also be satisfied with Senator Clinton as the Democratic nominee. The English major said she had been eager to talk about the candidates during her semester abroad in Argentina last fall. "The election, regardless, will definitely change the world's perspective on what is the face of America," she said, "and the diversity of America." Britney Payton, a senior from Yucaipa, Calif., said she planned to put off choosing between the two Democratic trailblazers until the last possible second. "You're just so torn," she said, "and it's torn in a good way." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright © 2008 by The Chronicle of Higher Education

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