ETSU’s first-ever Hot Topics Fair was a success according to Student Government Association Vice President and fair organizer Nathan Farnor.
“This year the Student Government Association wanted to do its part in increasing civic engagement, voter turnout, and political awareness,” Farnor said. “By bringing together several other groups and departments from across the campus, ETSU has established the ETSU Votes Team, which is working to make these goals a reality. As a part of this larger initiative, the Student Government was proud to host the Issues and Hot Topics Fair.”
He added, “The goal of this event was to encourage civic engagement and political awareness across the board. This event allowed student groups to come together and share with the community what civic engagement means to them. Today’s event was a huge success, and I hope to continue our efforts in increasing political awareness as the semester goes on.”
The Hot Topics Fair was put on by SGA in order to encourage civic engagement, especially in light of the upcoming presidential election. Sen. Keyana Miller was on hand to help students register to vote, and information about absentee ballots was offered for students, as well.
Miller, who is from Memphis, Tennessee, was a valuable resource, having had experience with absentee voting.
Two political organizations, the Conservative Coalition and College Democrats, were in attendance, advocating for conservatism and liberalism, respectively.
Emily Miles, president of the Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance, spent the duration of the fair educating passersby on women’s rights.
“We are really trying to educate our campus community about issues affecting women in America today such as reproductive justice, violence against women, equal pay and paid family leave,” Miles said. “We hope to spread awareness of these issues and ask students to keep them in mind for this upcoming election.”
HEROES Vice President Briar Worley was situated at the next booth, which contained various pamphlets of information regarding LGBT+ issues. HEROES also had pads and tampons to hand out to those in need.
Everyone who attended the fair seemed in agreement that the event was an excellent idea and expressed hope for making it a continuing tradition next year.
Correction: An earlier version of this article said that a few organizations, including the psychology honors society, were only at the event to promote their organizations. The psychology honors society was at the Hot Topics Fair to hand out literature about the psychological importance of civic engagement.
