Members of the Student Government Association and UH Democrats attended a volunteer training session Thursday for Texas Senator Wendy Davis’ upcoming campaign for governor in the 2014 election.
The event was hosted by Battleground Texas, an organization committed to turning Texas into a “battleground” state, on Texas Southern University’s campus.
“I hoped to solidify our relationship with the grassroots organization by promoting this event to all of my members and my fellow senators in student government,” said UH Democrats President and SGA Senator for College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences Senator Catherine Tassin De Montaigu. “It is my job as a student leader to set a good example for my peers and play an active role in the community and performing my civic duty.”
Adrienne Bell, the original field director of Battleground Texas, said this is one of the lowest-ranking states in voter turnout, and the organization aims to promote voter registration as well as attendance at the polls.
“From this experience, I hope to spread [Davis’] message at our next meeting and get other students on campus more politically involved,” said UH Democrats Vice President and CLASS SGA Senator Tatiana Lutomski. “This has further solidified my political opinions and reminded me why I do the work I do for the University of Houston College Democrats serving as vice president.”
The University’s student government and political organizations are not the only ones getting involved, though. Guillermo De Los Reyes, an associate professor of Hispanic Studies and director of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of Hispanic Studies, also attended the volunteer session to hear Davis speak.
“I learned at the event that people in Texas do not vote. Thus, I hope to bring the message that it is extremely important to go to the ballots and vote,” Reyes said.
“I would like to invite all UH students, faculty and staff to register to vote. We are a state institution, so it is extremely important for us who is at the Texas capitol.”
Anyone who doubts the existence of “media bias” just needs to search the Daily Coog for the word “Davis.” Then do a similar search for the word “Abbott.” What is this, the third “Davis” fluff piece in less than a month? The editors, writers, and probably professors at UH are doing a splendid job preparing their students for the “real world” of journalism. They’re probably the first ones to also complain about “Fox news.” Hypocrites.
The same can be said for the national media who are pushing for Texas to become a “blue” state. Wendy Davis run for governor made national news. Stop and think about when the last time you heard, on national news, them reporting about any other state “candidate” for governor.
While I can understand what you are saying, senor, I don’t think Greg Abbott has done any local events recently that UH students have participated in. That’s really the main topic here – student involvement.
Hi Max! Thank you for your input, it is greatly appreciated as I am a new reporter for the Daily Cougar. This story was not assigned to me, I attended the event and noticed a large attendance of UH students. I deemed it newsworthy when I found that they were part of student organizations on campus. A story in our paper must relate to students or the university in some way to be published. If organizations want to be featured, all they have to do is send a press release to the editors. The focus of the story was meant to be on the political involvement of student organizations at a state level, so the Democratic campaign it was set in was merely context. Again, I appreciate you having read my story and given your take on it, this will help me as a journalist for my later stories. Please let me know any other opinions you may have as for how I can improve the angle of my articles so as to not seem biased, as well as ways I may notice other campus events to report on. Keep in mind, it is not my job to go fishing for a story, but to notice important things around me that relate to our school and it’s progress in society and student life.
Thank you!
-Konstantina
Hi Konstantina! My comments/opinion weren’t necessarily against your piece but just an observation of mine towards the Daily Coog and the media in general.
In all sincerity, I wish you success and look forward to reading more of your stories.