Lance Kennedy
Encyclopedia
Lance Lawrence Kennedy is a philanthropist
, politician
, political activist, and former voice actor for ABC
Radio Disney
.
and minister in Dallas, Texas
. As a child Kennedy was a voice actor for Radio Disney. Kennedy graduated cum laude from the University of Texas at Austin
in 2009 with a Bachelor of Arts
degree in anthropology
. He attends Southern Methodist University
's Dedman School of Law
and is expected to graduate in 2013 with his juris doctor
. Kennedy is also pursuing a Master of Liberal Arts degree in international relations
at Harvard University
. His mentor was Dr. Joseph Ginat
.
Kennedy is the descendant of John J. Kennedy
, a Republic of Texas
politician.
Kennedy founded Angels in Cowboy Boots (AICB), an Austin, Texas
based charity, with two of his cousins. AICB delivered more than 175,000 meals to Haiti
in the wake of its earthquake. After the 2011 Pakistan earthquake
AICB mobilized 72,000 meals to feed 6,600 people near Karachi, Pakistan with the help of the Hashoo Group
. 42,000 meals and 5,000 diapers were sent to the American Gulf Coast after the April 25–28, 2011 tornado outbreak
and more to Japan
after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami
. To date AICB has delivered hundreds of thousands of meals to Haiti, Pakistan, Chile
, Mexico, Japan, and the American Gulf Coast.
Kennedy is also the president of Clothe Kids Now!, a Dallas, Texas
based charity founded by his father. To date Clothe Kids Now!, and related organizations, have clothed thousands of children in the Dallas, Texas metroplex.
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.
which was engaged in weekly counter-protest
s at the local Halliburton
facility.
On September 11, 2006 Kennedy, and other students, burned North Korean and Iran
ian 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. He stated that the purpose the event was to bring attention to Iran and North Korea's "numerous human rights violations."
In 2007 Kennedy was an intern for U.S. Senator Sam Brownback
in his Washington, D.C.
office.
In 2008 Kennedy was elected Texas College Republicans
first state chairman. He was awarded the "2009 Volunteer of the Year Award" by the Republican Party of Texas
. Kennedy spoke at the "Don't Mess with Texas" Tea Party protest, one of the first in the nation with Governor of Texas
Rick Perry
and other Texas politicians. From 2009-2010 Kennedy was the Texas state director of Students for Concealed Carry on Campus
. Kennedy was reelected as state chairman of Texas College Republicans in 2009, but resigned shortly after to pursue his legal education.
Philanthropist
A philanthropist is someone who engages in philanthropy; that is, someone who donates his or her time, money, and/or reputation to charitable causes...
, politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
, political activist, and former voice actor for ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
Radio Disney
Radio Disney
Radio Disney is a radio network based in Burbank, California and headquartered out of the Disney Channel headquarters on West Alameda Ave., from where it has been based since November 2008. Prior to that, the network was based in Dallas, Texas...
.
Biography
Lance Kennedy is the son of Lawrence Kennedy, a former associate pastor of Larry LeaLarry Lea
-Early years:He attended and graduated from Dallas Baptist University where he met his first wife, Melva. He completed his graduate work at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth. Larry and Melva married in 1972, and together they have 3 children. He became the youth pastor of...
and minister in Dallas, Texas
Dallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
. As a child Kennedy was a voice actor for Radio Disney. Kennedy graduated cum laude from the University of Texas at Austin
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin...
in 2009 with a Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
degree in anthropology
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
. He attends Southern Methodist University
Southern Methodist University
Southern Methodist University is a private university in Dallas, Texas, United States. Founded in 1911 by the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, SMU operates campuses in Dallas, Plano, and Taos, New Mexico. SMU is owned by the South Central Jurisdiction of the United Methodist Church...
's Dedman School of Law
Dedman School of Law
The Southern Methodist University School of Law, commonly referred to as SMU Law School or Dedman School of Law is a prominent professional graduate law school located in Dallas, Texas. Founded in February 1925, the school remains the only law school in Dallas...
and is expected to graduate in 2013 with his juris doctor
Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...
. Kennedy is also pursuing a Master of Liberal Arts degree in international relations
International relations
International relations is the study of relationships between countries, including the roles of states, inter-governmental organizations , international nongovernmental organizations , non-governmental organizations and multinational corporations...
at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
. His mentor was Dr. Joseph Ginat
Joseph Ginat
-Biography:Joseph Ginat was a Sabra, or a Jew born in Palestine before the Jewish State of Israel was created on May 14, 1948. Ginat's grandfather, a Levite, came Palestine to live in the Promised Land and to be buried in what he considered to be sacred soil....
.
Kennedy is the descendant of John J. Kennedy
John J. Kennedy (Republic of Texas politician)
John Joseph Kennedy was a Scotch-Irish American sheriff of Harrison County, Texas that helped end the Regulator-Moderator War in East Texas. He was an artillery officer in the United States Army and a cavalry captain for the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War...
, a Republic of Texas
Republic of Texas
The Republic of Texas was an independent nation in North America, bordering the United States and Mexico, that existed from 1836 to 1846.Formed as a break-away republic from Mexico by the Texas Revolution, the state claimed borders that encompassed an area that included all of the present U.S...
politician.
Philanthropy
Kennedy has pursued humanitarian efforts in the United States and abroad. In the aftermath of the 2010 Haiti earthquake2010 Haiti earthquake
The 2010 Haiti earthquake was a catastrophic magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake, with an epicentre near the town of Léogâne, approximately west of Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital. The earthquake occurred at 16:53 local time on Tuesday, 12 January 2010.By 24 January, at least 52 aftershocks...
Kennedy founded Angels in Cowboy Boots (AICB), an Austin, Texas
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
based charity, with two of his cousins. AICB delivered more than 175,000 meals to Haiti
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
in the wake of its earthquake. After the 2011 Pakistan earthquake
2011 Pakistan earthquake
The 2011 Pakistan earthquake was a magnitude Mw 7.2 earthquake that had its epicenter 45 kilometers west of Dalbandin in Balochistan. The epicenter is located in a sparsely populated area. The United States Geological Survey reported the earthquake took place on January 18, 2011 at 20:23:17 UTC at...
AICB mobilized 72,000 meals to feed 6,600 people near Karachi, Pakistan with the help of the Hashoo Group
Hashoo Group
The Hashoo Group was established in 1960 by Saddaruddin Hashwani and is one of the larger conglomorates in Pakistan. The Hashoo Group initially operated as a trading enterprise...
. 42,000 meals and 5,000 diapers were sent to the American Gulf Coast after the April 25–28, 2011 tornado outbreak
April 25–28, 2011 tornado outbreak
An extremely large and violent tornado outbreak, the largest tornado outbreak ever recorded, and popularly known as the 2011 Super Outbreak, occurred from April 25 to 28, 2011. The outbreak affected the Southern, Midwestern, and Northeastern United States, leaving catastrophic destruction in...
and more to Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami
2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami
The 2011 earthquake off the Pacific coast of Tohoku, also known as the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, or the Great East Japan Earthquake, was a magnitude 9.0 undersea megathrust earthquake off the coast of Japan that occurred at 14:46 JST on Friday, 11 March 2011, with the epicenter approximately east...
. To date AICB has delivered hundreds of thousands of meals to Haiti, Pakistan, Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
, Mexico, Japan, and the American Gulf Coast.
Kennedy is also the president of Clothe Kids Now!, a Dallas, Texas
Dallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
based charity founded by his father. To date Clothe Kids Now!, and related organizations, have clothed thousands of children in the Dallas, Texas metroplex.
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 FacebookFacebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
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
The Daily Texan
The Daily Texan is the student newspaper of the University of Texas at Austin. It is entirely student-run and independent from the university. It is one of the largest college newspapers in the United States with a daily circulation of roughly 30,000 during the fall and spring semesters and bills...
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
In 2003 Kennedy became a leader of the Dallas, Texas chapter of Protest WarriorProtest Warrior
Protest Warrior was a conservative political activist group. It was formed in 2003 by Alan Lipton and Kfir Alfia in Austin, Texas. The group is primarily known for organizing counter-protests in favor of the Iraq war...
which was engaged in weekly counter-protest
Counter-protest
A counter-protest is a protest action which takes place within the proximity of another protest to which the counter-protest is in ideological opposition...
s at the local Halliburton
Halliburton
Halliburton is the world's second largest oilfield services corporation with operations in more than 70 countries. It has hundreds of subsidiaries, affiliates, branches, brands and divisions worldwide and employs over 50,000 people....
facility.
On September 11, 2006 Kennedy, and other students, burned North Korean and Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
ian flags and effigies of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and president of Iran
President of Iran
The President of Iran is the highest popularly elected official in, and the head of government of the Islamic Republic of Iran; although subordinate to the Supreme Leader of Iran, who functions as the country's head of state...
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at the University of Texas at Arlington
University of Texas at Arlington
The University of Texas at Arlington is a public research university located in Arlington, Texas, United States. The campus is situated southwest of downtown Arlington, and is located in the Dallas–Fort Worth metropolitan area. The university was founded in 1895 and served primarily a military...
, sparking support and controversy in its aftermath. He stated that the purpose the event was to bring attention to Iran and North Korea's "numerous human rights violations."
In 2007 Kennedy was an intern for U.S. Senator Sam Brownback
Sam Brownback
Samuel Dale "Sam" Brownback is the 46th and current Governor of Kansas. A member of the Republican Party, he served as a U.S. Senator from Kansas from 1996 to 2011, and as a U.S. Representative for Kansas's 2nd congressional district from 1995 to 1996...
in his Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
office.
In 2008 Kennedy was elected Texas College Republicans
Texas College Republicans
Texas College Republicans is an organization composed of over 35 chapters of College Republicans in the state of Texas. It is an official auxiliary organization of the Republican Party of Texas and the College Republican National Committee...
first state chairman. He was awarded the "2009 Volunteer of the Year Award" by the Republican Party of Texas
Republican Party of Texas
The Republican Party of Texas is one of the two major political parties in the U.S. State of Texas. It is affiliated with the United States Republican Party. The State Chairman is Steve Munisteri, a retired attorney and businessman from Houston, and the Vice-Chair is Melinda Fredricks of Conroe....
. Kennedy spoke at the "Don't Mess with Texas" Tea Party protest, one of the first in the nation with Governor of Texas
Governor of Texas
The governor of Texas is the head of the executive branch of Texas's government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor has the power to either approve or veto bills passed by the Texas Legislature, and to convene the legislature...
Rick Perry
Rick Perry
James Richard "Rick" Perry is the 47th and current Governor of Texas. A Republican, Perry was elected Lieutenant Governor of Texas in 1998 and assumed the governorship in December 2000 when then-governor George W. Bush resigned to become President of the United States. Perry was elected to full...
and other Texas politicians. From 2009-2010 Kennedy was the Texas state director of Students for Concealed Carry on Campus
Students for Concealed Carry on Campus
Students for Concealed Carry on Campus is a national grassroots, non-partisan organization of U.S. college students, faculty, staff, and others who support allowing law-abiding citizens with concealed carry permits to bring their legal guns to campus for the purpose of self-defense...
. Kennedy was reelected as state chairman of Texas College Republicans in 2009, but resigned shortly after to pursue his legal education.
See also
- Texas College RepublicansTexas College RepublicansTexas College Republicans is an organization composed of over 35 chapters of College Republicans in the state of Texas. It is an official auxiliary organization of the Republican Party of Texas and the College Republican National Committee...
- Republican Party of TexasRepublican Party of TexasThe Republican Party of Texas is one of the two major political parties in the U.S. State of Texas. It is affiliated with the United States Republican Party. The State Chairman is Steve Munisteri, a retired attorney and businessman from Houston, and the Vice-Chair is Melinda Fredricks of Conroe....
- College Republican National Committee
- List of Chairpersons of Texas College Republicans