College students are notorious for being apathetic come election time, but this year at the University of Wisconsin, student groups and volunteers are uniting to change both the indifference of students toward legislators’ actions and that of legislators toward student needs.
By forming the Associated Students of Madison Vote 2002 Coalition, students hope to have their voices heard in the upcoming gubernatorial elections.
ASM Vote 2002 coordinator Anita Bertram identified the long-term benefit of a short-term act.
“The only way to lower tuition or get legislators to address other student issues is to vote for the ones who care about our needs as students,” Bertram said.
Megan Fitzgerald, state board chair for WisPIRG, said she is discouraged by student apathy and hopes to help change it.
“Voting is the best way to send a message to the world that students do care,” Fitzgerald said.
“The media is always giving students, and the rest of the world, messages that [students] don’t care.”
“Voting is more than a simple acknowledgment of a student’s interest in the politics of the state; it is an act of student empowerment,” said Pabitra Benjamin of the United States Student Association, a national organization encouraging student involvement in politics.
Benjamin said she believes strongly in the power of student voices and the ability of students to change conditions in the world around them.
“Some of the most privileged people are also some of the most apathetic,” Benjamin said. “College students have a responsibility to the community to represent the people who don’t have the advantage of education.”
Bertram agreed that voting is both a way for students to take responsibility for the conditions of the campus and a way to make heard a unified voice.
“Voting has a huge impact on student activism,” Bertram said. “That’s where it all begins.”
The members of the Vote 2002 Coalition have identified the main roadblocks standing in the way of student voting and a variety of strategies to combat them.
The coalition plans to increase students’ knowledge about candidates and the issues they represent by passing out informative pamphlets. To promote voting Sept. 10, volunteers stationed throughout campus will aid students in finding the polls, getting registered and offering general motivation to get involved.
In October, the coalition will also sponsor a congressional debate.
Benjamin said help from the administration would aid the coalition’s mission. The administration should encourage students to vote, said Benjamin.
“Professors get worried about supporting anything concerning politics,” Benjamin said. “We’re a non-partisan group, though. We just want people to vote; we don’t want to push a certain candidate on them.”
According to Fitzgerald, the problem lies within the culture itself, making the job of the coalition more difficult but not insurmountable.
“There’s something wrong with a society that doesn’t educate students on voting issues,” Fitzgerald said. “That’s why we’re trying to do it.”
