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Campaigns engage students on local college campuses
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Chuck Kirman / Star staff College Democrats President Missy Bain, second from right, stands next to cardboard figures of Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., at California Lutheran University during an involvement fair earlier this month.
Jason Redmond / Star staff Moorpark College students Jared Markowitz, left, and friend Jonathan Yi, both from Agoura, answer questions posed by the school's Year of Democracy event's organizers. John Dean, former counsel to President Nixon, also spoke on campus.
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Recognizing this year's presidential race will make history however it turns out, local colleges are incorporating the November election into everything from political science classes to student activities.
Professors are requiring students to follow the presidential campaign, making nomination speeches, coming debates and media coverage of the election part of their weekly assignments.
Student government leaders are organizing voter drives and providing information on candidates and their positions. Republican and Democratic clubs are sponsoring debates.
Colleges are bringing in speakers from John Dean, counsel to President Nixon, to Les Francis, deputy chief of staff for President Carter.
"It's a great time to teach American government," said Scott Frisch, professor of political science at CSU Channel Islands in Camarillo. "Every four years, you get a shot where everyone's so engaged. The students come in and they want to hear about it."
It's not unusual for colleges to use presidential elections as teachable moments, but students and professors alike say they're seeing more excitement over this race than they have in years.
"This year's definitely very different from past years," said Alexandra Mitchell, student body president at CSUCI. "We're having an easier time getting students to register to vote than in the past. This is such a big election, such a huge point in American history."
Moorpark College has organized a Year of Democracy, which opened with Dean — now an author, lecturer and columnist — speaking on Sept. 17, Constitution Day. The same day, the college had a voter registration drive and free speech fair.
The school also has free speech cubes so students can answer questions posed by the event's organizers. Throughout the semester, there will be speakers, films and discussions, all related to the election.
The Year of Democracy follows past years that focused on the environment, science and religion. The election made democracy an obvious theme for this year, said Lee Ballestero, a political science professor helping to organize the activities.
"It's nice it's an election year, because there's that built-in excitement," Ballestero said. "We want to continue expanding people's minds about what democracy means, and we hope that enthusiasm will carry over to the spring."
Want students to be engaged
On college campuses, political clubs are even more active than usual. At California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, college Republicans and Democrats are organizing voter registration drives. Republicans also plan to host debate-watching parties and participate in precinct walks for local candidates.
Democrats, meanwhile, will work with the Gay/Straight Alliance Club to help the No on Proposition 8 campaign. Proposition 8 would amend the state constitution to ban same-sex marriage.
Both of those clubs, along with a new Libertarian club, participated in an involvement fair earlier this month on campus, handing out literature.
While college students tend to be liberal and generally favor Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., for president, the excitement about this election is crossing party lines, said Ben Martinez, president of CLU's College Republicans, which has doubled its membership this fall.
"Any year would be difficult among college-age students," said Martinez, 19, "but we've had more sign-ups for the club this year, maybe because of the election."
Professors also are encouraging students to get involved in the election, not just read about it. At Ventura College, for example, adjunct professor Daniel Gonzalez is giving students in his political science class extra credit if they register to vote, vote themselves or register others to vote.
"We want our students to be engaged, to be involved," Gonzalez said. "I tell them it's a shame that in our culture, a lot of decisions are made without their involvement because a higher percentage of older people vote."
At Pepperdine University in Malibu and Oxnard College, professors will present or debate the candidates' positions over the coming weeks.
Real-world examples'
Many who teach political science or history have reworked their classes so that lectures and discussions align with the election.
"It changes a lot of the curriculum, because there are so many real-world examples you can bring into the class," Frisch said.
In his political communication class, for example, Frisch is having students analyze campaign advertising, looking for logical fallacies.
At Pepperdine, Dan Caldwell, a distinguished professor of political science, asked his students to read articles by both presidential candidates in Foreign Affairs magazine, then be prepared to discuss their positions.
His requirements for the discussion: Be respectful toward the candidates and each other. Keep it academic and analytical. Be as honest as possible.
"That seemed to work," he said. "They split 50-50, which reflects the national orientation."
Posted by eclipsewatcher on September 26, 2008 at 8:09 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Great article. Young or old, there's no excuse for voter apathy. Voters don't even have to go to a polling place anymore, they can mail in an absentee ballot. I've been doing that for years, and while I sometimes miss the excitement of going to the polls, at least I know that I've stood up and been counted.
Posted by bruceski44 on September 26, 2008 at 8:20 a.m. (Suggest removal)
"While college students tend to be liberal and generally favor Sen. Barack Obama..."
That's an opinion.
"That seemed to work," he said. "They split 50-50, which reflects the national orientation."
That's a fact.
Beware of subtle biases masquerading as fact in news items.
Posted by fkdupnoodle on September 26, 2008 at 9:14 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Wow! This is good news, college never really got involved with elections like they're doing now. The way students are getting into this is amazing, good job!
Posted by bruceski44 on September 26, 2008 at 10:55 a.m. (Suggest removal)
And you're an idiot. You can't even tell a statement from a question, how can I expect you to know an opinion from a fact?
Posted by NowHearThis on September 26, 2008 at 11:26 a.m. (Suggest removal)
McCantDB8 thinks DEMS are smarter than Republicans.
Well, I think Leftist-liberal Democrats have a mental disorder. That's just my opinion.
Every leftist-liberal ideological Pandora's box that has been opened has helped to ruin this Country. Support of:
• Illegal aliens
• Killing innocent unborn babies
• Support of providing sub-prime loans to people who never deserved them
• Thinking that who someone is sleeping with somehow deserves civil rights
• Ruining our education system with leftist-liberal ideology and brainwashing
• Support of a presidential candidate who's main job as community organizer was to help people sponge of government entitlements; and whose mind has been corrupted with Black Liberation Theology and terrorists/Marxist William Ayers the past 20-years.
And the list is too numerous to continues in this forum.
Posted by rebel123 on September 26, 2008 at 2:37 p.m. (Suggest removal)
fkdupnoodle: Colleges have historically been hot beds of political activity! Berkley went to battle with the administration over the right to have a free speech area on campus back in the 60's. Campus quads all over the country have campaign information, voter registration tables and all manner of political information out there right now.
Posted by drmgrl99 on September 26, 2008 at 3:34 p.m. (Suggest removal)
This is directed to NowHearThis and Whatever:
First and foremost, The Republican Party has always pushed for deregulation which means that they do not want federal regulations to be in place to monitor companies' business practices. The repercussions of deregulation became evident with the debacle of Enron and we are witnessing it today with the failure of Washington Mutual, AIG, Lehman Brothers, etc! Granted, the unethical business practices of loan officers and real estate agents contributed to this mess. Mind you, it's easy for sleazy lenders and real estate agents to be corrupt when there are no federal regulations in place! Duh! In a nutshell, the Democrats are not responsible for the economic turmoil that is currently taking place; if anything the Republican Party’s philosophy of less government and free markets is to blame. In regard to the Democrats being in favor of killing babies is the most ludicrous allegation I've ever heard. Republicans need to get off their high horse in regard to being pro-life. If the Republican Party was truly pro-life, they wouldn't support the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq which have resulted in the deaths of many innocent people...so much for being pro-life. If the last eight years are indicative of what the Republican party stands for, then I'd say we are in big trouble if McCain wins! Senator McCain's endorses the same crappy policies of the Bush Administration and we know how well that worked out for us. And let us not forget about Palin, who is whacky! The woman has no clue what she is talking about half of the time and McCain's decision to have her as his running mate is a disgrace and insult to all intelligent women who were stoked about Hillary Clinton's run for the White House! That said, I hope that people read into the issues and hope they cast their vote for the candidate who will bring about the change that our country so desperately needs. Obama 08' all the way!
Posted by eclipsewatcher on September 26, 2008 at 5:52 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I come from a long line of Democrats, so it would be over my dead body before I would EVER vote Republican. A poster said yesterday in another article that Califoria would vote Democrat if Britney Spears was on the ballot, just because we've been told to. I'm no "Stepford Dem" unable to think for myself, but if voting for Ms. Spears would keep OUT the Repubs, then I'd be all for it. There's no amount of gum-flapping from anyone that would change my mind. And that's that.
As for McCain, he's a hothead. I can well imagine him opening his mouth and pissing off one of those knucklehead rulers in the Middle East and getting us all blown to kingdom come. Also, he's simply too old for the rigors of that job. And the fact that he picked an attractive female running mate tells me that McCain wasn't all that confident that he'd win the election without doing some shallow grand-standing to get himself elected.
To be honest, Ms. Palin does not pique my interest. She's probably a fine wife and an admirable mother, but that doesn't make her qualified to be the next veep.
This country is in worse shape now than it was eight years ago. The Repubs have made a mess, and it's going to take the next administration AT LEAST four years to clean it up.
It's clear to me that we need a major change. We would have been better off with a band of pirates at the helm for the last eight years!
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