Sunday afternoon's "Meet the Candidates Forum" for Metro Council's District 18 election could have easily passed for a campus event based on the topics discussed. On the tips of each candidate's tongue was a position on campus traffic, parking and the ins and outs of residential life.
In what is shaping up to a highly contested election for the district that encompasses most of Vanderbilt's campus, save for Peabody College and The Commons, four Nashville residents have filed to run for a seat on the council: John Ray Clemmons, an attorney; Stephanie Dodson, the after-school programs coordinator and summer camp director at Percy Priest Elementary School; David Glasgow, communications director for the Tennessee State Office of the United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development and Kristine LaLonde, a Belmont University professor.
"Vanderbilt is a major player in the district, so it means a lot when students and faculty come out to vote," said Associate Professor of English and Chair of the English Department Mark Schoenfield. The professor attended the event held at the Belmont United Methodist Church.
Only a handful of students were present at the event, but Clemmons made it a point to explain how powerful their vote could be. "The students of Vanderbilt do not realize that they could have a huge impact if they voted in this election," he said.
Clemmons, who lives down the street from the university on Belmont Avenue, said the biggest issue facing students is a relationship with the surrounding neighborhoods. He was not alone in this sentiment either. Each candidate addressed the fact that a good relationship was important to keep students and residents happy.
"It is very important that you know that you are welcome here," Dodson, who has had two children in college, said.
LaLonde, who works as a professor at Belmont University, stressed, though, that it is important that students be treated as citizens and members of the community no matter what. "Students have many of the same concerns that other citizens have," she said, and for that reason they she be considered another piece of the community.
The last day to register for the primary vote March 6 and then the general vote March 26 is Tuesday.
Click here to hear what these candidates think about the Vanderbilt community.
The Vanderbilt News Service contributed reporting to this article.
