The 2008 presidential vote is still over a year away, but election fervor has already begun on the Hilltop.
Several student political organizations and academic departments announced plans that they hope will bring presidential contenders to campus and increase student voter participation.
The yearlong event, called GUVotes08, will be primarily organized by the university’s College Democrats and College Republicans.
“We want to get the Georgetown campus pumped for this election,” said Joe Hack (COL ’09), the GUCR board chairman. “Both sides agree that it is huge – huge enough for us both to come together and work on this yearlong project.”
Plans call for a campus-wide project to increase awareness about student voter registration, monthly issue forums offering discussions on various election-relevant topics and an effort to bring the presidential candidates to speak on campus.
The voter registration campaign is scheduled to start this weekend during New Student Orientation and will continue throughout the year.
Liz Fossett (SFS ’08), GUDC former president and one of the event organizers, said that voter registration can often be confusing and time-consuming for students.
“Registration rules and the need for most Georgetown students to vote by absentee ballot can make it a confusing process,” she said. “We’re not only giving students help to do those things, but also giving them the information to help them vote for their ideal candidate.”
GUSA also agreed to support the voter registration campaign later in the semester by providing resources and manpower to the campaign.
“I feel that the role of Student Association is to facilitate things.that make the campus a better place,” att Appenfeller (COL ’08), Student Association vice president, said. “If we are specifically engaged in school, everyone should be able to vote right there on campus. [The] voter registration drive is important in that regard.”
Preparation for the issue forums is also underway. These monthly forums would feature panelists facilitating discussion on topics, such as education and health care. The first issue forum, which is scheduled for October, would invite presidential campaign representatives to campus to discuss the war in Iraq.
“The idea of issue forums is to get students involved and get excited about the election. We really want to make the issues exciting to people and relevant,” said Or Skolnik (COL ’08), GUCD president. “We are asking, `What are the most exciting issues to our generation? What is most relevant to us?'”
Several university offices have also been helping the Lecture Fund, GUCD and GUCR to organize the effort to invite candidates to campus, including the Office of Federal Relations, Office of Protocol and Events and the Office of University Counsel.
Scott Fleming (SFS ’72), assistant to the university president for federal relations, said many groups on campus, including the Georgetown Public Policy Institute and School of Nursing and Health Studies, want to invite candidates to speak on campus and that these letters, which have been sent out earlier this month, would help express these interests in an effective way.
“The goal was to make sure that it was done in a coordinated way . with consistent, bipartisan manner,” Fleming said. He said that letters have been sent to everyone who declared candidacy.
Hack said the project would serve to educate students about current events and get them more involved in the election.
“We tend to be a campus full of student activists . but I think more often than not students our age don’t know enough about the most pressing issues of the day facing the country at large,” Hack said. “By inviting the candidates to campus, the future president of America will have the opportunity to engage with the future leaders of America at one of the nation’s leading universities.”
