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OBU—Oklahoma Baptist University

Student Government Candidates Campaign During Annual Hyde Park Chapel

April 6, 2016

OBU’s Student Government Association hosted its annual Hyde Park Chapel Wednesday, April 6. During the chapel, candidates for student government positions addressed the student body and detailed their platforms and positions.

Hyde Park Day was instituted at the university in 1958 after Dr. John W. Raley, then OBU president, visited Hyde Park in London, England. At "Speakers' Corner" in Hyde Park, anyone may set up a soap box and lecture all those in earshot on any topic. Spectators then are allowed to question the speaker. When the event began at OBU, based on the idea of free oratory, SGA candidates would gather in the quadrangle on campus, set up "political booths" and vie for students' votes.

Candidates running for SGA President include rising junior Hunter Doucette, a political science major from San Antonio, Texas, and rising senior Lindsi Skinner, a communication studies major from Muskogee, Oklahoma. 

Candidates for the position of SGA Vice President of External Affairs include rising juniors A.J. Lopez of Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Matthew Martin of Irving, Texas.

Heather Sanders of Jacksonville, Alabama, ran unopposed for the position of SGA Vice President of Internal Affairs. Sanders currently serves in this position.

Following the service, students were emailed a link that allows them to vote for their desired candidates for SGA executive positions. Additionally, students of each class are allowed to vote for executives and senators representing their respective classes. 

Truett Ross, a rising senior and current SGA president, addressed the student body during the chapel. Referencing Philippians 2, he encouraged students in the midst of a heated political season to take a look back at the example Christ set for his followers. He challenged students to reflect upon their experience at OBU.

“In these brief four years, where are we investing our lives? Is it in service?” he said. “We each have different backgrounds. We each have different likes and passions, but we are all brought together by God.”