Campaigns for student government leaders, campus kings and queens come at a cost

In 2019, Jakhia Gray spent $25,000 on her campaign and subsequent reign in 2020 as Miss Alcorn State University, hosting a carnival with circus performers, holding daily raffles – including Apple products as some prizes – and feeding students soul food, seafood and tacos with local food trucks.

“The carnival cost roughly $9,500,” Gray said. “I’ve known since I’ve been in high school that I wanted to have a huge event during my campaign. I had stilt walkers and everything. I wanted it to feel like a real carnival.”

Students at historically Black colleges and universities have a history of spending thousands of dollars on campaigns to obtain royal court and student government positions. In recent years, several HBCUs have even set new limits on how much students can spend.

“We’ve had students raffle off televisions, and this has been going on all the way since VCRs and DVDs were a thing and pretty popular,” Grambling State University Student Government Association adviser Barbara Payne said.

Campus queens and kings are deemed official representatives of their class or university, as well as SGA community service liaisons. The positions include speaking engagements, pitching and executing student programming, serving the local community and representing the royal court at home football games and other athletic events. 

“By students getting to run their own service events, they get to do more service opportunities that their peers want to see,” Payne said.

To run for the positions, candidates plan campaigns that often include booking a photoshoot for campaign flyers and enlisting a graphic designer and videographer to create and produce promotional visuals.

For class queen candidates, hair, makeup and three to four outfit changes during a photoshoot costs $500-$700, according to Gray and former Miss Grambling State Faith Daniels. The former campus queens spent $200-$800 on graphics and videos for their campaigns. Prospective candidates also outsource graphics to their friends to avoid adding to their tab.

Some students have produced songs featuring their platform touchpoints and recorded complementary music videos with backup dancers and props. Candidates also have created campaign playlists on Apple Music or Spotify. The production of songs and music videos can run up to $200, according to former Miss North Carolina A&T Diamond Mangrum and former Mr. North Carolina A&T Victor Solomon.

Inspired by the Oscar-nominated film Hidden Figures, Arianna Slack campaigned last week on a platform titled “Hidden Royalty” to become the 71st Miss Grambling University. She participated in Grambling’s queen showcase, presidential debate and parade, and she hosted her own candidate table, with a 360 photo booth and treats, at a campaign booster event held by the SGA election committee.

Slack hosted a party on the Yard on campus with SGA vice presidential candidate Amaya Moore and distributed snacks and cake. Both candidates also sponsored scavenger hunts.

Slack initially gave herself a $700 budget for her campaign, which she funded by saving her own money in small increments. However, to execute her vision, Slack ultimately decided to double her budget and ended up spending $1,607. Campaign t-shirts and buttons for her team cost $210. The tab for her graphics – including the cost of her hair, manicure and makeup, and the graphics’ production – was $622.50. Slack also paid $775 for printed posters, yard signs, flyers, candy and snacks.

Although Slack lost the race, the expenses she incurred are simply part of campaigning, she said.

“Honestly the price of the campaign did not really surprise me, but I can see why other people are taken aback by it,” Slack said.

Students also network through social media and other methods to ask previous HBCU queens and kings – and even celebrities – to make endorsement videos for their candidacy. This year, while running a campaign to become the 88th Miss Miles College, JaKaila Peterson was able to get a video endorsement from Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts.

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At most of the royal court’s mandatory events, class queens and kings wear matching dresses and suits that they must pay for themselves. However, Florida A&M University funds its royal court’s attire.

During campaign week, prospective candidates dress up every day, with some buying new outfits and others mixing the old with new.

“Luckily for me, I was a royal escort the year before I ran for Mr. FAMU,” said Jordan Sealey, a former Mr. FAMU who funded his campaign by creating sponsorship packets to mail and take to small businesses. “I was able to wear my suits from different events during the campaign week and didn’t have to spend too much.”

Campaign events vary at different universities. At Grambling State, a parade through campus features all of the student government candidates riding in different cars, followed by the queen candidates. To find vehicles to ride in during the parade, some candidates rent cars or have relatives drive their desired car to campus.

When it was Daniels’ turn to ride in the parade in 2021, she went into resource mode.

“There was a girl I was close with since freshman year,” Daniels said. “She drove a black Mercedes-Benz. At the last minute, she told me her car wouldn’t be available.” 

Daniels, who used savings as well as money from her family to fund her campaign for Miss Grambling State, was forced to improvise.

“When I was walking to class, I turned to just look around the different parking lots. I saw a white Mercedes in a parking lot near the freshman dorms,” she said. “I went and asked the hall’s resident assistant whose car it was. I spoke with the owner, and I was all good to go to use her car. I also resourced a red Jeep through another friend.”

When Gray ran for Miss Alcorn State in 2019, besides hosting the carnival, raffles and food trucks, she performed a flash mob-style dance in the university’s main cafeteria with Alcorn’s Golden Girls dance line and organized her campaign team to give students rides to the polls.

To fund her campaign, Gray created a dollar sheet with different values. Supporters sign off on their preferred donation amount and left messages about why they were backing her campaign.

Some universities have select days dedicated to online campaigns on Instagram and X, formerly known as Twitter. Others use social media for the entire campaign week to post flyers, play interactive games or host events.

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Due to concerns that not all students would be able to afford expensive campaigns, some universities, including North Carolina A&T State University and Alcorn State, have limited how much students can spend on their campaigns.

Candidates running for Miss North Carolina A&T, Mr. North Carolina A&T and student body president are allowed to spend $850. To track spending, it is mandatory for candidates to submit financial disclosure forms throughout campaign week and if a candidate fails to submit a form, they are disqualified.

In 2021, the year after Gray’s reign as Miss Alcorn State, the university set a $2,000 limit on how much a candidate can spend. Candidates must submit receipts for all campaign services they receive or purchase to an election portal managed by the university and the election committee. 

This year, Grambling did not allow candidates to serve hot food, believing the move would level the playing field for students who could not afford to bring food trucks to campus. Instead, candidates were encouraged to stick to desserts and candy.

“We are having to put limits on what they can do,” Payne said. “We have been relaxed about the limits over the past few years, but this year we’re not going to allow certain things to keep it from being as elaborate as it has been in the past.”

Sealey, the former Mr. FAMU, said it all is part of the HBCU experience.

“A lot of people from the outside looking in feel like we’re doing too much when it comes to campaigning,” Sealey said. “But at HBCUs the standard of excellence is just high. We just do everything at a high level.”