In preparations for the university’s Homecoming since the consolidation, Spotlight told The Signal their goal was to bring together Atlanta and Perimeter College traditions and make the fees and positions as fair as possible for the two newly-partnered institutions.
On Oct. 17, Georgia State kicked off its homecoming week with daily events and festivities around campus run by the university’s Spotlight program.
Spotlight will be hosting 20 events, three of which will take place on Perimeter campuses, to spread the homecoming spirits among the Panthers, funded by Georgia State and Perimeter college students’ fees.
Phillip Smith, the assistant director for Spotlight programs said the events, as with all of the Spotlight events, are covered by student’s fees. This year’s homecoming budget, according to Smith, was $49,000, excluding the $15,000 which Perimeter College provides for the joint Royal Ball event.
“They have contributed $15,000 for their students to be able to have the same fees and attend the event,” he said.
However, that’s not the case for the Wild N’ Out show, which was not officially part of the homecoming budget, but still a joint effort by the two institutions.
“Perimeter provided less money towards the event,” Smith said. Therefore, the cost for their students is higher than the Atlanta campus students.”
“Because we have recently merged with Georgia Perimeter College, we wanted to allow the students from all campuses to have the opportunity to be on the Georgia State homecoming royal court,” he said.
Johnny Tooson, Student Life associate director at Perimeter Campuses, said the split in fees was made in efforts to create an equal environment for both Atlanta campus and Georgia Perimeter students.
Tooson also said that the money going towards this year’s homecoming was split equally among the five campuses.
“We use the money that goes into a college-wide account which was created before the consolidation for all five campuses. The budget that was requested was voted on before the merger,” he said.
However, Tooson added this is the first year Perimeter students will have to pay a fee for their homecoming events.
“[In the past] we tried to make events as free as possible. We wanted to make sure to marry both existing traditions from the schools and build new traditions,” he said.
With the consolidation comes change
With the consolidation came the incorporated Perimeter College positions within this year’s Royal Court. The court consists of a total of six positions, two of which opened up eligibility for Perimeter students. Mr. and Ms. Georgia State represents students in the final years of study, Mr. and Ms. Blue and White come from a pool of freshmen, sophomores or juniors, and Mr. and Ms. Perimeter represent the five other campuses that came with the recent consolidation.
“We wanted to ensure that we had a selection of candidates from all campuses to have the opportunity to represent all five campuses as one, when crowned Mr. or Ms. Perimeter,” said Adriana Selci, Spirit and Traditions chair for Spotlight programs board.
With Georgia State consolidating with Georgia Perimeter, the new title Mr./Ms. Perimeter does not represent all other five GPC/ Georgia State Campuses.
Lekeisha Jackson, student life advisor for the Newton campus, said, “Georgia Perimeter had one male and female for each of the 5 campuses. Each student running for a position had to meet certain requirements to meet, and at least 51 percent of classes taken as well as a list of other requirements.The application process lasted for about 2-3 months and began in the Spring including interviews and later the voting process. The amount of people usually ranges from 2-5 depending on the campus. Homecoming funds are usually from student activity fees.”
Aprille Williams, the assistant director for student life for the Alpharetta and Dunwoody campuses, said, “we have been trying to get a King and Queen position for a while, but with the merger, we are still trying to get accustomed to a lot of things have been.
Since a majority of Perimeter College were not familiar with OrgSync and how to use it, only five students from the Perimeter campuses applied to be on the Royal Court this year because of miscommunications, according to Williams.
Last year, Georgia State had the Dutch and Duchess, and Prince and Princess positions. Those positions are available to freshmen and sophomores.
“A lot of it has to do with the credibility of the students. We don’t want students to focus solely on homecoming and forget about their academics,” Williams said.
But as with every other year, Royal Court applicants had more requirements to meet than just good grades.
According to this year’s homecoming application, “students who are stipended officers of SGA, Panther Activities Council and Spotlight Programs Board or who serve on the Spirit & Traditions Committee of Spotlight Programs Board or the Traditions committee of Panther Activities Council are not eligible to apply to serve on the Homecoming Royal Court. Students who serve on Royal Court are eligible to apply for stipended positions with SGA, Panther Activities Council and Spotlight Programs Board after the crowning of the Royal Court.”
Smith said the purpose behind the rule is to avoid conflict of interest.
“Students can be an officer prior to running for the royal court. The stipulation is that you cannot hold that position currently,” he said. “Once we are done with homecoming week, a winner can apply for a vacancy for any available position on the boards.”
Another part of the application calls for candidates to turn in the resumés, but judges are instructed to take no consideration of what that resumé holds – students are to receive the five points of the requirement just by turning it in.
“We are wanting the candidates to be able to create a resumé if they have not created one already. Judges are from all over campus and are not professional resumé critics,” Smith said.
The Signal asked Spotlight how they’re planning to keep the masked-dance safe:
“Prior to entering the event, students will not have masks on and will have to go through a security checkpoint. Masks will be given out after this takes place to prevent any safety issues. In addition, we will also have the City of Atlanta police present,” Phillip Smith, assistant director for Spotlight programs said.
