By Andrew Benjamin

The University’s Honors College hosted its fourth State of the Union address this election day. Though unlike the past three, this session was mandatory for all students enrolled in the college.

Some students were displeased that the event was made mandatory. Even though students were offered a letter from the dean of Honors College exempting them from conflicting classes, this address did get in the way of other activities.

One junior, who wished to remain anonymous, said that it “interfered with the Get Out the Vote campaign” that she was working on with the Dave Mejias campaign for Congress. Also, the student believed that having the event on Election Day was not an entirely good decision.

“I wouldn’t have minded if it were on a different day, but just not on an important day such as Election Day,” the student said.

Junior Bethany Forrest, a member of Honors College, said that Nov. 7 was not the best choice in scheduling.

“It raised awareness for Election Day, but it may have been better to have [it] a short proximity before Election Day,” said Forrest.

No matter when the event was scheduled, it would pose a problem for someone, said Neil Donahue, an Honors College professor. “There is never a good time,” said Donahue. “One has to as well accommodate the speaker’s schedule.”

Stephen Russell, the dean of Honors College, said of the issue of scheduling, “Last year’s attendance was weak so the decision to make it on this particular day and time seemed to work much better.”

In response to dissatisfaction among some students with the event being mandatory, Russell said he felt the decision was to stress Honors College as a community. Past events had not been mandatory; instead, students were encouraged to attend. The lack of student turnout, while a factor to make it mandatory, was not the only reason.

“I made the decision to make this event mandatory to underscore the fundamental nature of Honors College as a community,” said Russell. “We enjoy things together. We work and play together. And we pull together.”

The turnout for this address was much higher than past ones, in that all the seats in the auditorium filled up, causing some students to stand up in the back of the lecture hall and even a few students had to leave.

As for those students who did not attend, according to Professor Donahue, “those students will be exempt from special ticketed events that are involved with Honors College.”

Feldman listens intently to a question from an Honors student.