Lance Kennedy

Lance Lawrence Kennedy (born September 3, 1987 Texarkana, Texas, USA) is a political activist.
Philanthropy
Kennedy has pursued humanitarian efforts in the United States and abroad. In the aftermath of the 2010 Haiti earthquake Kennedy founded Angels in Cowboy Boots (AICB), an Austin, Texas based charity, with two of his cousins.
The Texas Revolution and the Eyes of Texas
In March 2008 Kennedy and two other students founded The Texas Revolution (TTR), a student movement aimed at exposing corruption in UT-Austin's student government (SG). The movement garnered support from within and outside the SG establishment. TTR ran a slate of candidates and funded their campaigns. This was the first contested SG election in 7 years. The ticket was censured and fined when Kennedy changed a 60,000 member Facebook account entitled "Texas did beat OU 45-35, lest we forget" into a campaign page. After appeal the campaign resumed. TTR's ticket eventually lost the election, garnering 25% of the vote. At the same time the Election Supervisory Board chairman resigned for an unnamed indiscretion.
Two weeks after the election The Daily Texan released an article which showed that a secret society called The Eyes of Texas had been activated due to the threat posed by TTR. The election board chairman had solicited votes on behalf of the establishment ticket and his resignation was due to this conflict of interest. However the email solicitation was leaked and The Daily Texan published it in its totality. It was revealed that the Eyes of Texas had been in power since the late 1970's and had members in virtually every society, club, or academic department. The SG president was also implicated when another email was leaked quoting him saying that "outsiders have a chance of winning" . Other implicated were Dean of Students Soncia Reagins-Lilly and two other students termed "eye-prentices." Dean Lilly refused to allow a re-vote even though she knew about the scandal and did not tell the student body before its release. After student demonstrations and calls for a re-vote, Kennedy was appointed to an election task force which overhauled the election code. The code was approved by the student body with 94% of the vote.
In 2010 the SG election was won by an opposition candidacy for the first time in 30 years. In 2011 the Eyes of Texas reclaimed the presidency and is in power today.
Politics and Political Activism
On September 11, 2006 Kennedy, and other students, burned North Korean and Iranian flags and effigies of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and president of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at the University of Texas at Arlington, sparking support and controversy in its aftermath.

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