Reborn club gets the party started

After reviving the College Democrats club, its president and members work for student political involvement

By Courtney Roque

A group of Fresno State students has breathed new life into the formerly inactive College Democrats club on campus—and just in time for the upcoming presidential election.

“What happens with a lot of clubs is that seniors and juniors graduate and there’s stagnancy, so I’m basically reactivating the club,” said Richard Sanikian, the president of the College Democrats.

“I wanted to start up really quickly because we only have less than [42] days until the election, so things are going to start to gear up soon for the campaigns, especially the national elections for president,” Sanikian said.

He believes it is important to get a president with progressive philosophies into the democratic process.

Sanikian, a political science major in his last semester at Fresno State, said one of the club’s main goals is to mobilize students interested in getting involved with the local campaigns, such as those of Assemblywoman Nicole Para and U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, in addition to the Kerry/Edwards presidential campaign.

The club is a resource for students who want to support democratic causes because it can help them get in contact with other groups that need support.

“The kind of thing we like to see students do is network within the community and meet people, such as prominent politicians,” Sanikian said.

Sanikian said no active club of student Republicans is on campus now, but he would like to see Republicans start an organization at Fresno State.

“I’d like to have some dialog between the two clubs—that would be a benefit to everybody,” Sanikian said.

Ruth Obel-Jorgensen, a social work graduate student, is one student who is using the club as an outlet to get involved with the presidential election. Her affiliation with the National Association of Social Workers led her to get involved with politics and campaign work.

“It provides an opportunity for students to get engaged,” Obel-Jorgensen said of the College Democrats. She said the club is a great tool because it can help students get involved on whatever level of politics they want.

“It is a resource for them if they are interested in something but don’t know how to get connected to doing it, like voter registration, precinct walking, campaigns or even how the whole system works,” she said.

Since the semester began, the club has set up informational tables in the Free Speech area, organized voter-registration drives, and participated in precinct walking for the Kerry campaign. Precinct walking involves going door-to-door, talking to voters and distributing literature. Although time-consuming, precinct walking is considered a good campaigning method because it is cheap and each voter is reached through personal contact.

The club plans to spearhead debates and political events in the upcoming months and co-sponsor events with other clubs, such as aiding the Political Science Association with its voter-registration efforts.

Sanikian said the club now has about 50 members. He would like more students to join and get involved with the specific campaigns that are in progress.

“Maybe if we had enough students voting, our tuition wouldn’t rise,” Sanikian said. “Maybe we wouldn’t have tuition, period. If enough students were active in politics, they would have more of a voice, and that’s what we really need.”

Michelle Colvin, a women’s studies major, said November’s election will be the most critical election in her lifetime.

“I want to do whatever I can to help and get the word out that people need to participate,” Colvin said. “I think women especially need to get involved with this campaign.”

The College Democrats hope the fact that this is a major election year will spark people’s interest in becoming politically active, so the club will get off to a strong start.

Kristen Krauel, a social work major, was told about the club by a student in one of her classes. She attended the club’s first meeting, on Sept. 14, because she wanted to help others register to vote. She said it is important to have organizations like the College Democrats on campus to encourage student involvement in politics.

The university is a kind of reflection of the Fresno community as a whole, Sanikian said.

“We may have more Republicans because of farming and agriculture, but we do have a large urban population that’s growing, and they are generally more prone toward progressive than conservative views,” he said.

One of Sanikian’s goals is to simply let students know that their votes do count and their activity in politics does have an impact on the world around them, regardless of what party they affiliate themselves with.
“When people are told they don’t make a difference, that’s just not true,” Sanikian said.