With November local, state and national elections fast-approaching, students have assembled on MSU’s campus to support their political parties.
The College Republicans, MSU Democrats, and Students for Liberty (Libertarians) have each formed within the past year, making it possible for students to get more involved in the political process.
“We try to give the students the opportunity to decipher and figure out where they stand, and put themselves in positions they wouldn’t normally be in,” said Zach Davis, vice-president of the College Republicans.
In previous years, campus groups representing each party were either not active or nonexistent, leading students to form their own organizations beginning in January.
Students for Liberty, which meets at 6:30 pm in PY 209 every Monday, was formed at the end of the spring 2012 semester. This is the first time in MSU’s history that a Libertarian organization has existed on campus.
“I was here for three semesters and realized that nobody here has the same political leanings as I do,” said Brandi Rhoads, president of the Students for Liberty.
Brad Stein, vice-president of Students for Liberty, said that, he, Brandi and a group of other like-minded students then wanted to make students aware of another political ideology.
“A lot of people don’t understand what the Libertarian party is.” Rhoads said. “It’s financially conservative, part of that being the anti-war issue, but also socially liberal.”
Unlike the Students for Liberty, the College Republicans, which meets every Wednesday at 6:30 pm in Wichita I and II, is not the first Republican organization on campus.
The group has only been an official organization for two semesters; previously, the MSU Republicans had represented this party. When the MSU Republicans became inactive, the College Republicans took the torch.
“We used to have the MSU Republicans, but they’re different from us,” said Davis. “We encourage students to become involved in the political process.”
The MSU Democrats, which meets on the second and fourth Wednesdays at 7:00 pm in PY 100 and Thursdays at 4:30 pm in PY 102 of each month, had only to pick up where the previous Democratic organization left off. MSU Democrats became an official organization this month.
“For the last year, I had thought, ‘Why have there been no MSU campus Democrats?’” said Leeann Andrews, president of the MSU Democrats. “Once I found out that there was a previous organization, I just updated the constitution and got it approved by MSU.”
These organizations have seen quick growth in membership in a very short time. The MSU Democrats, alone, have gained 38 members in the last month. The organizations intend to use the current election year enthusiasm for politics as a way to carry out common goals of each group, which include advertising each party’s platforms and raising voter awareness on campus.
“We want to get students more involved in political campaigns and the political process,” said Davis. “This gives [students] a way to connect with the party, the candidates, so they can have an active role in the political process.”
“Our biggest challenge is educating people,” Adams said.
Election Day is Tuesday, November 6, with early voting October 23-30. Citizens must be registered to vote by October 6 to go to the polls in November, which is why there has been a big push on campus to register.
The campus groups participated in the voter registration drives to combat political apathy and to ensure as many MSU students as eligible can, and will, vote in the elections.
“If we don’t get out there and vote, then the politicians won’t try to court us,” Rhoads said.
To vote on campus in November, residential students from outside of Wichita Falls should change their living address to their campus address so they can vote at the poll that will be set up in the Hardin Administration Building.
Out-of-town students who live in apartments off campus should also change their living address to their Wichita Falls address. Otherwise, those students will have to vote in the county in which they are registered, which is not feasible for students who live more than a few hours away.
In addition to registration drives, the campus political organizations have planned other means to raise awareness for their organizations and keep students politically knowledgeable and active.
Both the MSU Democrats and the College Republicans plan to host debates and viewing parties for all interested students to attend. Andrews said that the MSU Democrats will host a debate showing on October 3 in Shawnee Theater at 8:00 pm. Tickets will be sold for donated prizes to be raffled off at the end of the night.
Additionally, the organizations are inviting local and state politicians to come to the MSU campus. The MSU Democrats will host U.S. Senate Democratic nominee Paul Sadler at MSU on October 15.
In regard to the November elections, the College Republicans and MSU Democrats are making a push for candidates, but are taking different approaches. The College Republicans plan to advertise directly for Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and his running mate, Paul Ryan.
“We do support Mitt. We’ve talked about making t-shirts to sell,” Davis said.
The MSU Democrats, on the other hand, plan to post fact sheets and write pertinent information about both candidates in chalk around campus.
“We’re trying to lay out the facts for both parties,” Adams stated.
She said that she hopes it will be easier for students to decide who to vote for once they see factual details about each candidate.
Members of all three organizations encourage students to dig for information about each candidate.
Stein, of the Students for Liberty, recommended Reddit.com and the British news channel BBC, while Adams and Andrews of the MSU Democrats recommended Obama Truth Team on Twitter or Facebook and the League of Women’s Voters website.
Davis, of the College Republicans, advised looking at a broad spectrum of political news sources to form an accurate opinion of each candidate.
In the past, the campus political groups have lost steam after the presidential elections and eventually became inactive. For that reason, each of the current organizations is making plans to stay involved and active once the November elections are over.
“One reason the MSU Democrats never survived on campus before is because it’s been focused on the big presidential elections,” Andrews explained.
The organizations plan to make phone calls and advertise for local and state politicians. They will also invite these politicians to speak to MSU students at events hosted by one of the groups.
When looking toward the immediate future, all of the campus political organizations expressed enthusiasm for the upcoming elections.
“We’re thrilled!” Davis said. “It’s a great chance to get people to talk about politics, to get people excited about politics. We’re really grateful for this opportunity.”
Ryan Tyler • Sep 26, 2012 at 1:59 PM
As a member of Students for Liberty, I would like to recommend a couple small corrections.
First, we are not affiliated with ANY party. We welcome all students of various political parties. Our goal is to have as many like minded individuals come together as possible without discriminating based on party preference. We all have some brand of libertarianism (ie: anti-drug war, anti-war on terror, gay marriage rights, free market, austrian economics, ect) within our group but we want to be more welcoming to what we have in common rather than polarizing by our differences(particularly party differences).
Second(and slightly less important), the spelling of the website Brad recommended is actually “reddit.com”. I just went to “readit.com” for fun and some Korean journal thing showed up ha.
Thank you for the article.
Ryan Tyler