Today the Student Government Association is sponsoring two forums with the Chamber of Commerce in which students will be able to hear candidates’ speeches in order to make better-informed decisions in upcoming local elections.
Today, the Parish Council Forum will be held, and the Parish President and Sheriff Forum will be on Tuesday, Sept. 23. Both forums will be from about 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. In addition to the two forums, there is a possible third forum being scheduled for the run-off election. The forums will be a chance for each candidate to present his or her platform and to interact with the students and community members about many current issues.
“It’s a chance for the Nicholls community — the students, to ask questions of the parish candidates, and for those parish candidates to give what the students want,” Jaret Hubbell, SGA president, said. “Likewise, it’s bringing in the community to one of our biggest auditoriums, Peltier, so that the community can become a little bit more aware of campus life.”
Historically, both the parish and the city have supported Nicholls in getting roads paved. “It would be interesting to see if the parish candidates would still want to support the Nicholls campus with trying to pave roads. Especially since parish people use (Bowie Road),” Hubbell said. “Maybe we can find out how willing they are to help out Nicholls.”
According to Hubbell, in having these forums, the SGA is hoping to bridge the gap that exists between the local community and the Nicholls campus. Students at Nicholls may not know what is going on off campus in Thibodaux and Lafourche parish.
“It’s kind of like you have the Lafourche parish/Thibodaux area, and then this little bit of a nation that is Nicholls,” Hubbell said.
Everyone is invited to the forums in order to become acquainted with their community officials.
“From Thibodaux, from down the bayou, and pretty much everyone in Lafourche parish, people are expected to attend to see what the candidates are going to be proposing,” Hubbell said. “Students are definitely encouraged to attend.”
According to Hubbell, since not many of the Nicholls students usually show up for the SGA events, more of an adult crowd is expected to show up. Hubbell said this is because there are a lot of commuter students from other parishes who are not registered to vote in Lafourche parish who will not be directly affected by the politics of Lafourche parish. Some faculty, government majors and those interested in parish government are also expected to attend.
“Go to the forum. Ask the candidates how much they are willing to support the University, ” Hubbell said.