Boston University is currently “College of the Week” on a website that encourages college students to post their opinions about politics and the state of the world.
Yourthreecents.com was created by graduates from Binghamton University, Pennsylvania State University, Syracuse University and Temple University to give young adults a voice in politics, said Laura Neroulias, one of the creators of the site.
“We wanted to start something where anyone from Generation Y could find out about politics,” Neroulias said. “There was no real place for college students.”
Yourthreecents.com was launched in November 2007 as a forum for students to discuss issues like the upcoming election, health care, the economy and local issues on college campuses, she said. The site has attracted 500,000 people, with 57,000 total hits a week.
When picking a school to feature, the creators ask themselves, “What’s a good school [that is] intellectual, influential?” Neroulias said.
The site is set up like a blog and anyone who signs up can post entries about anything, she said. The site also includes newsfeeds and links relating to politics. To prevent censorship, posts on the site are not edited for grammar or accuracy and controversial posts are kept.
“As long as it has to do with politics, it’s going to be on that site,” Neroulias said.
She said she hopes the site increases the influence of college students in the political sphere.
“We are a much more technological era and we can spread the word faster to make a dramatic change in our nation’s politics,” she said.
Priyanka Boghini, a first-year College of Communication graduate student, said she likes how the website encourages students to express their opinions, but remains skeptical.
“With blogs, my only problem is with claims made without sources,” she said. “It’s important to know what’s being said from all perspectives.”
Matt Watkins, a College of Arts and Sciences junior, said he does not think BU students will visit the site.
“It’s nice that they thought of BU, but who knows about [the site] who’s going to go to it?,” he said.
Watkins said he is also unsure about the level of interest in politics on campus.
“I’m under the belief that most people here are too absorbed in their own life to write on a website like that,” he said.
Journalism professor Fred Bayles said he also has not seen much of an interest in politics around campus.
“I don’t see a lot of conversation about the presidential campaign,” he said. “[When] we talk about it in class, I don’t sense enthusiasm.”
Robert Manoff, a journalism professor, said he encourages current events discussion in his classroom.
“[My students] seem to know what’s taking place during their lifetime, but they do not have a great sense of history or recent history, which creates a problem of context and perspective,” he said.
However, political science professor Douglas Kriner said he notices political activity on campus.
“I think there are certainly strong pockets of political engagement within BU’s campus,” he said.
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