Campus groups to promote political activism
Christina Santucci
Issue date: 1/20/04 Section: News
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With the presidential primary season underway, the college's political groups are attempting to reverse a long tradition and the even recent stigma of political apathy -- just three years ago Loyola received seventh in the Princeton Review category of least amount of political activism.
Since the Vietnam War, activism among college students has waned, with only 42 percent turnout of eligible 18 to 25-year-old voters compared to 70 percent of voters over age 25. In 2000, 32 percent of voters age 18 to 24 voted in the national election, according to the Youth Vote Coalition.
"Younger people tend to be less involved in the political process than older people, and this has generally been the case since 18 year olds have got the vote," said Dr. Doug Harris, professor of American politics at Loyola.
In recent years, the college's level of political activism has remained fairly stagnant, according to political science professors and several students involved in political based organizations.
"You can't really decline from nothing," said Loyola College Democrats of America (CDA) Co-President Adam Shook.
But Shook and the rest of the college's CDA chapter as well as leaders of the College Republicans and J.U.S.T.I.C.E. hope all that is about to change.
Slated to begin the first week in February, the Loyola CDA with the possible help of the College Republicans and J.U.S.T.I.C.E. will host five-day voter registration table to sign up voters from every state and political party.
Rather than recruiting votes for specific parties, both the College Democrats and Republicans hope to bolster the total number of student votes with this bipartisan registration drive.
J.U.S.T.I.C.E. members also favor the idea of a bipartisan voter registration drive as their organization claims no political ties.
"My [political] opinions do not reflect the mission of justice, which is to be in solidarity with the people around us," said J.U.S.T.I.C.E. President Joel Bumol.
The registration table will be set up at a variety of campus events including basketball games and the coffee house, according to Shook and CDA Co-President Victoria Woods. The group chose these events and dates for the drive in order to achieve maximum exposure for its efforts.
Several states require voters to register six or seven months prior to elections. CDA leaders said they hope to register voters in time for state primaries and the November general election.
"I definitely think that it is important for both the College Democrats and the College Republicans to get the message out for people to vote and to get people interested in politics," said College Republican President Jason Ficke.
Of the number of students who do, in fact, participate in the political process by voting, both Democrats and Republican clubs believe the numbers to be low.
"I'm not sure how many people vote on Loyola's campus, but it's probably not as high as it should be," said Ficke.
As a result of low voter turnout in the college age group, politicians focus on recruiting the senior vote whose turnout surpasses the national average.
"In some ways college students and just people in general aren't convinced that their vote matters and that they can make a difference in politics," said Harris.
But the potential of college voters remains an issue for pollsters and political analysts.
Despite the national trend toward political apathy among college students, a statistics from a recent poll support the belief that college students could emerge as the "swing vote" in the 2004 presidential election, according to an article released by the Youth Vote Coalition.
The article listed a Harvard poll for which 59 percent of undergraduates surveyed across the nation stated that they would "definitely be voting" in this year's election. In addition, 27 percent of those surveyed said they "probably will vote."
"I think college kids underestimate their political viability. ... We could have a tremendous impact on that which governs us," said Woods.
In terms of visible results in the political arena, J.U.S.T.I.C.E. club members said two congressmen, Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger and Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin, have spon-sored the National Trust Fund Housing Bill in Congress since the club began lobbying for them to do so.
In support of the argument that college students are interested in politics, the College Republican National Convention web site posted a separate Harvard poll in which 50 percent of college students stated that they were willing to volunteer for political campaigns if asked.
Both political science professors and students involved in political organizations would encourage students to become involved in political and social justice issues and take classes in the political science department.
"If you are an American citizen, you should know something about the way our government functions," said Dr. Diana Schaub, chair of the political science department.
College campuses have traditionally been a hotbed of political activity, particularly at times of war, according to Harris.
"I think [political activism] went up a lot last year because of the war," said former College Republican President Erin Carrington.
In response to last year's war with Iraq, both pro- and anti-war rallies were held on Loyola's campus by the College Republi-cans and J.U.S.T.I.C.E., respectively. Al-though J.U.S.T.I.C.E. is a bipartisan organi-zation, club leaders held the event for a large number of members who were against the war.
"Level of education is also a primary indicator of political activism," said Harris.
The college vote was tapped previously in 1992 when then-Governor Bill Clinton swayed voters with an appearance on MTV's "Rock the Vote," revealing his choice of underwear. Although that election saw a mini-surge in voter turnout among young people, numbers from the following presidential election reached an all-time low, according to a 2000 Washington Post article.
Similarly, one month after cursing in traditionally youth-aimed Rolling Stone, Senator John Kerry reeled in 35 percent of votes from the 17 to 29-year-old age range in yesterday's Iowa caucus, according to figures published by Rockthevote.com. In the Dec. 2 article, Kerry is touted as the "bare-knuckled longshot" who loves to snowboard and addresses supporters as "man" and dude."
And former Vermont Governor Howard Dean has also made waves in the media recently with his unorthodox form of Internet voter recruitment and grassroots campaign.
The CDA said that campaigning for a national election will begin once the party has chosen one of the current eight candidates.
While both Democratic and Republican youth groups have stated ambitious plans for this upcoming year, whether or not they will follow through will occur remains to be seen. The stigma of political apathy remains stuck to Loyola students.
"I think the number one reason that people don't care [about politics] on this campus is because they don't have to," said Woods.
Currently the College Republicans, a group of about 30 active members, is rewriting its internal constitution and developing an executive board. This year the group's plans include field trips, funding a political college publication and bringing speakers to campus.
Past events included participation in a 72-hour task force type program, which sent students from across the nation door-to-door as a reminder to Louisiana residents to vote in the run-off election for the Senate and House of Representatives. Carrington served as a representative of Loyola's College Republicans on the trip.
Loyola's CDA is currently focusing on registering voters for the 2004 national election, but hopes members to become involved in local politics soon.
Formed last semester, the group held a screening of a documentary on the Iraqi War and said the number of interested members is about 70.
"It's nice to see that the spark is starting at least," said Shook optimistically.
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