Southeast puts on second to last Athenaeum series

The second to last Athenaeum Series titled "Preparing the American Idol Generation for the Political Future" was held at noon April 18 in Kent Library at Southeast Missouri State University with more than 50 Southeast students and community members in attendance.

"Basically what the series looked at was the attitudes of the millennial students, focusing on SEMO students, in terms of political awareness and political knowledge," guest speaker and Southeast political science and philosophy professor Dr. William Miller said.

Miller defined the millennial generation to be anyone born between 1982 and now. The presentation was given on a PowerPoint with pictures of celebrities and public officials that the audience was asked to identify. After each series of pictures, Miller would give the statistical percentages that Southeast students and faculty identified during his research period. According to the percentages, the survey population could identify more celebrities than public officials.

"I thought it was kind of shocking at the statistics that he did show," sophomore political science major Paige Bailey said.

Miller also presented two members of his data team, Southeast students Aaron Griffin and Zach Chinea, to help explain what types of research and focus groups were used for the studies.

During their presentation, Griffin and Chinea explained the process of the focus group's conversations during the study. Both Griffin and Chinea said students had informed opinions on what was happening in the news, but seemed to know more about the celebrity life of Justin Bieber.

Following the presentation, Miller left the floor open for questions. An audience member asked if the millennial generation will move political parties to become multiple parties. Miller explained that the millennial generation's straddled politics would probably not cause a multi-party effect because of the current parties' ability to draw in the younger generation to a traditional stand point.

"I thought it was very informational or very relatable to our generation," sophomore political science major Lauren Reiche said. "I think it's changing just because of how media access is so easy to get to since people can get news in five seconds they are more likely to know about stuff."

The next Athenaeum Series will be The Brothers Grim and Their Mark on World Culture from noon to 1p.m. April 25 at Kent Library.