College students throughout the Boston area did not just learn about politics in government and political science classes this semester – they also learned it on the campaign trail.
The months leading up to the Democratic presidential primaries saw a rise in student political activism, and candidate organizations have become some of the most popular groups on campus.
Boston University has student groups supporting Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, former House minority leader Rep. Richard Gephardt of Missouri and Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio.
But the groups for Massachusetts Sen. and Beacon Hill resident John Kerry and former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean are the largest and most organized, according to BU College Democrats President Shawn White, a College of Arts and Sciences senior. Retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark, who entered the race later than the other eight candidates, does not have an organized group of followers at BU, White said.
COLLEGE DEMS OPEN TO ALL
White said the College Democrats have hosted some colorful campaign representatives this semester to speak at the club’s meetings.
“A hysterical guy from the Kucinich campaign came and got people interested,” White said. “I’d also love to have someone on [Rev.] Al Sharpton’s campaign.” Sharpton, a New York activist, is known for his vibrant personality and engaging speaking style.
BU College Democrats act as liasons between the groups most interested in the presidential campaigns, according to White.
“It’s been different this year,” he said. “Before we had to organize events to go to. Now we just hook up with different campaigns.”
Last year, attendance at College Democrats meetings fluctuated between seven and 50 people, White said, but this year there have regularly been at least 40 people at the group’s meetings.
About 120 showed up for the group’s first meeting of the semester, when 1988 Democratic presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis spoke.
BU for Kerry, the largest campaign group on campus with a more than 400-person email list, has also organized a number of events throughout the semester, including one featuring Kerry’s daughter Vanessa.
CAS junior and BU for Kerry President Samantha Shusterman invited several Kerry groups from area colleges to a waffle breakfast at the Cottonwood Cafe earlier in September. Two hours before Dean spoke at Copley Square, pro-Kerry students ate a buffet breakfast and discussed different ways in which they said Dean “waffles” on issues.
CANDIDATES COME TO TOWN
Kerry made his last appearance on a college campus before the primaries start in January at BU’s George Sherman Union last week and said he came because of the enormous support from BU for Kerry.
“The event was important because it pressed borderline characters to support Kerry,” BU for Kerry Vice President Dan Hoffer said. “Nobody on campus can touch us – we’re the biggest campaign in the state.”
“Six hundred people for 2:00 on a Tuesday – that’s huge,” White said of the event.
MSNBC’s “Hardball with Chris Matthews” also brought most of the candidates to the area with a series of live forums at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. Each of the seven candidates who participated took questions from Matthews and a mixed audience of mostly undergraduate and graduate students.
The series has brought all the candidates except Kucinich and Lieberman to Cambridge this fall, and the forums have been well attended. The room the forums were held in holds approximately 850 people, Institute of Politics Forum Director Bill White said. Dean, Clark and Kerry were the most popular candidates featured – 1,800, 1,700 and 1,600, respectively, signed up for tickets online for each, he said.
Lieberman confirmed Wednesday that he is planning to appear on the series in the near future, according to Bill White.
GETTING INVOLVED
BU for Kerry is the largest group affiliated with Kerry’s Boston office, according to Jeremy Hastings, the Massachusetts Field Director for the Kerry campaign. There are eight interns from BU currently working in the Boston office, Hoffer said.
BU students have collectively volunteered 2,478 hours of work to the campaign over the past semester, a figure Hastings called “an amazing, amazing number.”
More than 100 students participated at the Boston office or in New Hampshire, sometimes going from door to door, he said.
Harvard is the second largest college presence in the office with nearly 400 members. Hastings said the office organizes many events, and 70 students trekked to New Hampshire Tuesday night to support Kerry at a presidential debate.
BU for Dean is the second largest candidate group on campus, with approximately 150 members, according to group member Damien Ma, also a staff writer for The Daily Free Press. The group plans to have tables in the GSU link each week, and recently began holding recruitment meetings twice a month.
Dean is widely considered the Democratic race’s front-runner, and polls show he is leading the pack in several states. There are 22,500 members of “Generation Dean,” a sub-group of “Dean for America” comprised of 13-30-year-olds, according to national Generation Dean spokesman Michael Whitney.
Many BU students have campaigned for Dean in New Hampshire since last summer, he said.
“Our group treats young people as voters and not just campaign foot soldiers,” he said. “Young people do need to be more involved. We haven’t been given a reason to be involved before. No one tells us why we should vote or who we should vote for.”
But Dean does not dominate Boston-area colleges as much as he does in polls. Even Dean supporters admit Kerry has a stronger presence on Boston campuses.
“I think Kerry is probably the front-runner on campus,” said Boston College for Dean group moderator Thomas Rossmeissl, adding that Kerry is a graduate of BC Law School. “Many of the leaders of the BC Dems are, or have been, Kerry interns. He has an active group of supporters here.”
RISING INTEREST
Students seem to be more enthusiastic about politics this year because of the nine candidates vying for the Democratic presidential nomination, Bill White said.
“It’s wide open,” he said. “There’s a heck of a lot more enthusiasm on campus. Emotions are high.”
Bill White said student activism was not as prominent in the 2000 Democratic race because there were only two front-running candidates – Al Gore and Bill Bradley.
“The 2000 election was A or B,” Hastings said. “Not A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I as it is this year.”
Campus activists agree college Democratic students are divided but motivated, and are likely to continue mobilizing until the election.
“The presidential election has been galvanizing people,” Hoffer said. “I expect activism to grow even more next semester.”
Charles Euchner, the executive director of the Harvard’s Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston, said the notion of student apathy is a misconception. Most students want to “forge a place in the political system that fits for them.”
Euchner, who has taught for the past two decades, admitted that he wishes his students would read The New York Times more, but said he is still impressed by the “spunk” of his government students.
“Of course there are times when people get disaffected with formal politics,” Euchner said. “But then I see people going on buses to New Hampshire, and I see people packing JFK forum to hear candidates speak, and my office has 10 times the amount of applicants we can accept for our summer fellowships.”
Shawn White of the BU College Democrats said college is the ideal environment for students to invest their time and energy in politics.
“Who has more time than a college student?” White said. “We don’t go to class – I had five classes today and went to two. If you’re passionate about something, go for it.”