The one club Olin needs…
is a Progressive Politics and Ideas Club.
I’m not joking. While we may be a left-leaning school in the most liberal of states, we’re certainly not doing our part to ensure progessive ideas are heard and acted upon on our campus. So, in all seriousness, why hasn’t Democrats of Olin College started?
Yes, part of it is preaching to the choir. And I’m not really afraid that Olin will ever lose its left-leaning position. But, in reality, just how left-leaning are we? I’m sure anyone who is interested in politics at Olin can pick out most of the Republicans. That certainly doesn’t mean everyone left is a Democrat. And just because someone chose not to vote for Bush doesn’t mean they *liked* voting for Kerry.
As the Center for American Progress notes, “While the media perceives U.S. campuses as bastions of liberalism, the right wing has spent 30 years organizing to gain the upper hand. Conservative groups spend over $35 million every year pushing their agenda on campuses through speaking programs, funding for student publications, and leadership training, plus tens of millions more for academic programs.”
The fight back begins now.
August 18th, 2005 at 9:37 pm
As Republican as I am, I think it would be good to have a Democrats of Olin College club. The political landscape of Olin needs a bit of a jab in the arm. Most people seem to generally idly ignore the views of their peers rather than engaging in any sort of discourse.
I guess I should do more about this as the president of the Olin Political Caucus, or at least give it up to someone who has more time and effort. But as a non-partisan group we’re not always going to be able to push the right buttons to get people passionate about particular issues.
Anyway, I’d love to hear the arguments of a Democrats of Olin College. Whether or not I will agree with many of them of course remains to be seen.