Homecoming Court toes line of violation in recent video
2015 Homecoming Court candidates. Mohammed F Emran | Asst. Creative Director
October 27, 2015
This year’s Homecoming Court may have fewer candidates than in the past. And by fewer, we mean none.
On Oct. 20, Owl TV posted a video on their YouTube page interviewing the Homecoming candidates.
Owl TV’s News Season 7 Episode 4. Source.
“I caught up with the nominees to see why they should be crowned,” reported Owl TV staff member Paige DeBaldo.
The issue: Candidates are not supposed to campaign before Oct. 27 according to the Homecoming Court Registration Packet rules. That’s just what all 10 of them did.
The agreement — that all candidates must sign — says “violations to any of the guidelines or policies outlined in this packet will disqualify me immediately.”
The packet has no concrete definition of campaigning.
Shannon Fahnestock, the assistant director of Homecoming, reached out to all of the candidates and asked for them to meet with Owl TV to put together a promotional video.
Her first question for the candidates: “Why should I vote for you?”
A couple weeks earlier on Oct. 6,Homecoming Director Trevor Lewis told the UP that for this article, it could not ask court members questions about why students should vote for them. He argued it would have disqualified the candidates.
Lewis did not show concerns about the video, which he had no knowledge of prior to the UP showing him.
The full Owl TV video can be found here.
Check back at upressonline.com for updates.
Gregory Cox is the managing editor of the University Press. If you would like to contact him regarding this or other articles, email him at [email protected], or follow him on Twitter.
Dan Friedman • Dec 3, 2015 at 4:43 am
The UP constantly uses misinformation, and skewed journalism to create a reaction. They do not even fact check! its about time that the UP got reorganized. Most of the students at FAU would agree with me to. That is the sad part.
Waldo • Dec 3, 2015 at 6:24 am
Which part was the misinformation?
not_owlsly • Oct 28, 2015 at 11:10 am
if any one should be in hot water it should be the one who asked/ came up with the questions for the interview. That is completely unfair to use your power against the candidates like that. Also, Ive heard first hand from multiple candidates that the UP only put up select information from the candidate interviews making some candidates seem less intelligent and less passionate about being selected for homecoming court than they expressed in their interview. That’s not okay, its mean. Come on, guys, grow up!
Waldo • Oct 28, 2015 at 1:36 pm
Did you even read the article? The homecoming assistant director gave those questions to Owl TV and the email proves that so she should be in hot water.
Did you read the UP homecoming article? They asked the same questions to each candidate and the candidate answered. i don’t know if the UP cut those answers short but it doesn’t seem that way.