Homecoming queen candidate Sandra Howery has filed a lawsuit in small claims court against Sac State for what she believes was an inequitable enforcement of the criteria for the homecoming awards.

Student life and services director Davin Brown said that individuals in the running for king and queen are scored on a point system. Candidates have the opportunity to receive a total of 80 points for their essay, 70 for a qualifying GPA, 60 for their resumes, 30 for a campus quiz, 40 for their interview and 70 for participation. “The individual–in both the king and queen competition–who wins at the end of the week with the most points is identified as the king and queen, so there is no selection process, it’s based simply on points,” Brown said. Howery said that the rules were unclear about the point system.

“They didn’t even give me a copy of the scoring at all, just showed it to me really briefly at the interview. I only got seven out of 30 on the quiz so that’s why I thought I had to donate a lot of stuff to make up for my quiz. I knew point-wise by donation, that I had beat everybody by far,” Howery said. Brown said that “participation and events this year was worth 70 points which includes attending five events at 10 points each and participating in the service opportunity, which was the school supply drive, at 20 points maximum.” Howery said she was never told that there was only a certain amount of points she could get for donations.

“They never told me that the participation points were divided between the 20 points for donations and 50 for the events. That’s not the way it was explained it to me, that’s not the way it was explained on paper,” Howery said. Howery also said that Dezarae Johnson, student life and service center manager told her more than once that it would be difficult to “decide” the winner.

In an e-mail sent to all candidates, Johnson said “I will start off by saying you are doing a great job and it’s going to be a hard decision!”

Howery responded by asking what that meant since the winners would be chosen based on points. Johnson’s answer was that the tough decision came into play when giving points for categories. Contestants didn’t simply get full credit.

“For instance, in your interview, you don’t get all the points just for showing up, you may get an amount for your attire and preparation, your answers to the questions, etc.,” Johnson said. In reply to Howery’s question, Lori Varlotta, vice president for Student Affairs, said that “Dezarae Johnson’s statement that selecting a winner was a ‘hard decision’ seems to have been misinterpreted as meaning that winners were ultimately chosen by some subjective criteria rather than the points system. This is not the case, each candidate’s final score was based on accumulated points delineated in the scoring rubric.”

In the same e-mail sent to the candidates, Johnson outlined that if they wished, hairstyling, a haircut and makeup would be taken care of by Mellow Me Out for the homecoming festival event.

Candidates were also clearly told in the rules that they had to be dressed in semi-formal attire for the festival. Howery’s lawsuit against Sac State is based on these issues. She said she ended up having to pay for her own hair, which was $40.

At the homecoming festival, some of the candidates did not dress in semi-formal attire. Howery said that she spent $100 on her dress. She said that because it was in the rules, those who did not comply should have been disqualified.

“It’s just the principal of the matter,” Howery said. “If they had responded to me that it was misconceived and it does make it sound like the points are added to your grand total, I probably would have dropped everything.”

Howery said she received letters that called her a liar and accused her of being in the wrong.

“That made me decide that if they’re not going to judge me fairly and take responsibility for what they said to me, then I want the money back for my dress and also for the haircut which was supposed to be included,” Howery said.

Brown maintained that homecoming was, in fact, fairly judged.

“As you know, Sacramento State prides itself on a certain level of diversity that we provide on campus and in the community so in no way would a winner be selected or identified based on a certain bill. We identify the areas and points that can be accumulated because we want a well-rounded individual,” Brown said.

Patricia Worley, executive director of ASI said that ASI is aware of Howery’s concerns.

“We have taken Ms. Howery’s concerns seriously and have participated in a thorough review of our contest procedures in partnership with Sacramento State Student Affairs to ensure that the contest was conducted in a fair and consistent manner for all contestants,” Worley said. Howery’s case against Sac State goes to court on Jan. 12, 2009.

“I’ve heard so many different versions now. They should just admit that they may not have told me what they should have and that things could have been misinterpreted. They just need to be responsible for what they tell people,” Howery said.

Tammy Nazanda can be reached at [email protected]