On Tuesday, Oct. 16, an event centered around voting on The Florida Amendments was held on University Campus. The event showcased a panel of faculty, students and the Regional Director from American Civil Liberties Union’s Tampa office. The faculty members on the panel were instructor of Political Science Mr. Frank Orlando, professor of Criminal Justice Dr. Moneque Walker-Pickett and professor of Criminal Justice Dr. David Persky.
The panel discussed Amendment 4 heavily, but also touched on Amendments 6 and 11 as well. The discussion from the panel was driven by questions from the host Nephtalie Jacques, an alumnus of Saint Leo University, who graduated in 2018 with a degree in criminal justice with a specialization in homeland security. The moderator’s questions were also supplemented by questions from the audience as students were able to ask questions and even join into the conversation.
Jacques mentioned that she enjoyed moderating the panel and the dynamic between the panelist and the students in the audience.
“I loved moderating the panel. Despite my personal belief, I tried to ask the difficult questions, so the students have a general idea about the subjects. I do believe the panel did an amazing job at answering the question. I loved the interactions between the students and the panel,” said Jacques.
The event was a collaborative effort from the Debate Club, Pi Sigma Alpha (The Political Science Honors Society), Alpha Phi Sigma (Criminal Justice Honor Society) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
The ACLU is a national organization, nonprofit, nonpartisan founded in 1920. According to their website, ACLU is working daily in courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties. The moderator of the panel is currently working at ACLU. Jacques is also the founder of the Debate Club on University Campus, and she spearheaded the process for ACLU to partner with the various organizations on campus to hold the Midterm Election panel. She commented on the why ACLU wanted to partner to host the event:
“We have decided to partner in hosting this event at Saint Leo University because it was a good opportunity to have an open and healthy discussion about the election, amendments on the ballot and their significance in the criminal, political and economic system,” said Jacques.
She added that it is important for the younger generations to be informed voters.
“We can no longer afford the older generation to make the decisions for us. We need to have a say, and that starts with voting. A lot of students think that their vote doesn’t count. Put all those college students together, we end up with an amount of eligible voters that could have made a difference, but chose not to,” said Jacques.
One of the students who attended the event was Romario Williams, a senior majoring in computer science and the president of the Debate Club. He shared his thoughts on the event and his initial interest in partnering in hosting the event.
“I was interested in hosting the event because as the president of the Debate Club, I saw where it would be beneficial to spark discussion about the 4th Amendment, a relevant and controversial topic surrounding the upcoming midterm elections,” said Williams.
He also explained why he thinks other students should be interested as well.
“I think students would be interested in the event because they like to debate issues such as this and would also be able to hear what their professors had to say about the amendments.”
