One of the more vocal groups on campus, the Johns Hopkins University College Democrats work towards increasing political awareness, especially in the political party manner, among the student body. Through several carefully planned activities, especially last semester during the 2004 Presidential Campaign, the College Democrats made their intentions and belief systems clear.
"We hope to continue to get our message out there," said Aaron Glaser, sophomore member of college democrats.
The club, one of the more well-established organizations on campus, has about 350 members on its list-serve.
"Our membership has not declined," said College Democrats President Christine Krueger, a junior. "We want people to see what the democratic party is all about, which is to help all people, help people in need, help the middle class."
"We want to focus on community involvement and community service. Civic initiatives are important," said Krueger.
This week's upcoming meeting will be featuring one of the Baltimore coordinator's for the Young Democrats of America. Another promising future speaker is Ward Morrow, a former Hopkins Dems President who went on to become the President of the Young Democrats of America. He will be offering insight into being a leader for those in attendance.
This past semester, during the Presidential election, the College Dems were extremely active. The hosted and attended a plethora of campaign functions in the hopes of bolstering support for John Kerry.
"We worked on several national campaigns and sent members to South Dakota, Ohio and Penn," said Glaser. "We helped register voters in Maryland and escort people to their voting places."
One major event was the College Dems Barbeque, where Baltimore mayor O'Malley came to the Beach to discuss local and national politics. Additionally, Camden Yards has a Democrats day, where Hopkins Dems showed their support at an Orioles game.
"Our picnic was the largest political rally on the Hopkins campus since 1969," said Glaser.
Some members participated in the campus-wide Presidential debates, where the Dems squared off against the College Republicans. This event demonstrated the main campaign issues, and the opinions of both camps. This therefore allowed for an increased amount of awareness within in student body.
Their main goal was to increase political awareness on and around Johns Hopkins. To this end, the College Democrats recognize the fact that there is not enough voter turnout, and they worked to ameliorate the situation.
This semester, the College Dems are working on continuing their local outreach programs and continuing to discuss political and political party issues. One of their outreach programs is teaching civics classes to public school students in east Baltimore.
Members go in once a week and discuss current events, such as the recent elections in Iraq or the future of Social Security. When speaking to older students, members also touch upon college and the Johns Hopkins Urban Scholar's Program, which allots money for inner city students to afford a private university.
This particular program is not about spreading the beliefs of the Democratic Party; rather, it is about extending the crucial knowledge of politics and events to those who might not otherwise get the change to learn about them.
This April, the Dems are also hosting a "kiddie Conference," where two fourth-grade classes from Baltimore will spend the day learning at the Mattin Center. There will be major speakers in attendance, including Mayor O'Malley, assisting in teaching more current events.
The College Democrats also sponsor several fundraisers to increase their funds for their cause. Next week, the group is putting together a club night which they hope will have a large turnout. If you missed out on purchasing one of the Dems shirts this fall, the group will be selling more of them at Spring Fair later this semester.
"The club night should be a great event for the democrats," said Glaser
Tangential to the College Dems themselves is the Hopkins Donkey, the Democratically-slanted newspaper on campus. The Donkey focuses on providing a written forum for students to express and read their political sentiments.
"Writing for the Donkey has greatly improved my journalistic skill, as well as increased my awareness of Democratic policy," said Freshman Donkey writer Brian Kalish.
During the Presidential campaign, the paper focused on relaying the issues and the Democratic stance on them to students. This semester, the Donkey is looking to inform the student body on current Democratic measures and report the goings-on with the Democratic Party locally and nationally.
Despite the fact that the Hopkins Democrats clearly have a bias in their views, many of their programs are geared towards the campus, and city of Baltimore, in general.
The Dems feel that efficiently and accurately diffusing knowledge of current events is the first step towards creating a more aware nation.
"We want to keep out message out there, keep our members active," said Krueger.
The Democrats have weekly meetings every Tuesday at 8:30 p.m.
