The Students United in Pursuit of Educational Respect (SUPER) Network has expanded beyond the confines of the virtual world and onto Southeastern’s campus.
According to Student Government Association (SGA) President Dave Cavell, whose administration began the network, the Facebook page detailing questions and answers related to Southeastern’s budget was only the beginning.
“The first part of the network was awareness,” said Cavell. ” There are two more parts that will happen in the coming months and that is voter registration and a letter writing campaign.”
The voter registration drive will begin in February, and is intended to encourage students to vote and to send a message to legislators in Baton Rouge.
“It’s very important that students make legislators know how they feel about higher education,” said Cavell. “We want Baton Rouge to know that students will vote against officials who do not support higher education.”
The drive will take place every Tuesday and Thursday over the course of three straight weeks. The SGA will maintain a table and pass out flyers in the Student Union Mall where students who are not registered to vote may become so. Also, students who are registered will be advised how to change their voting district, if they so choose, so that they may be able to vote closer to campus.
According to Cavell, the letter writing campaign will begin in March and will give students the opportunity to directly contact state legislators.
“We will encourage students to write letters to our legislators and our government to let them know how we feel about higher education,” said Cavell. “We felt it’s in a good timing because it will be around the session when our budget is formulated by our legislators.”
Cavell and his administration feels that these campaigns will hold a great deal of importance for the university and its students in the days to come.
“I always tell people that if you don’t vote, you do not have the right to complain,” Cavell said jokingly. “There’s no point of complaining if you’re not willing to make a difference. We definitely encourage students to register to vote if they aren’t already. And especially the letter to the legislators. I feel that it’s very important that students make legislators know how they feel about higher education.”
Cavell expressed that the SUPER Network will undoubtedly expand once again in the future and will carry over to his successor’s administration after the March elections.