Armed with popsicles and barbecue, one student organization is taking this week to promote itself and to increase student awareness about the importance of being active in politics.
Today, the College Democrats are in Free Speech Alley to get students to register to vote using popsicles as an incentive. The organization is also hosting a free barbecue at Baton Rouge Beach today at 4 p.m.
“We are giving out popsicles because it will be a hot day,” said Ryan Berni, College Democrats’ president-elect. “The barbecue is to promote democratic unity — to get everyone to come out and unite.”
College Democrats Week officially kicked off Monday with members setting up a table in Free Speech Alley.
One primary purpose of the week is to get students who are not already registered to vote to do so, Berni said.
The organization will set up a table in Free Speech Alley every day this week to encourage students to register and also to make itself more visible.
“It is important to get Democrats across campus and across the state to unite and have something in common,” Berni said.
Tuesday was “visibility day” for the organization where members wore their club T-shirts and made it a point to make themselves visible across campus. The group also sponsored a bowling event at the Union’s Tiger Pause Tuesday night.
“This is the first active year in a long time for College Democrats,” Berni said. “We kind of started from scratch and rebuilt.”
Jessica Perez, a mass communication freshman, and College Democrats’ second vice president-elect, agreed one of the main goals of the organization is to get more students interested and participating in politics.
“We work on democratic campaigns, get college students more involved and work with the state party office on fund-raisers and other things,” Perez said. “We are the grass roots branch of the Democratic party.”
The organization is not officially affiliated with the party office though.
By having this week full of events, members said they hope students will become more aware of the College Democrats and participate more in its events.
“This week is a string of events aimed at making our presence known on campus,” Perez said. “A lot of students have seen us around, but they don’t know what we do.”
Thursday the organization will host a race and politics forum where University professors and some speakers from the Democratic party office will make up the panel.
After the forum, College Democrats are attending the NAACP Image Awards to recognize their nomination for best political organization of the year.
The NAACP also is helping out with College Democrats’ promotions in Free Speech Alley today.
Friday, the College Democrats are holding their End of the Year Banquet, where they will celebrate the past year and also introduce new officers, Berni said.
The organization has about 60 members who regularly attend meetings and about 500 on its mailing list, Berni said. They are looking to continue increasing membership next semester.
Mark Taylor, a biological sciences junior, is a political chairman for the College Democrats. He said getting students more involved is the most important focus of the week.
“It is important at the end of the semester, leading up to the presidential election next fall, that we have an increase in membership and get the student body more involved — Democrats and Republicans,” Taylor said.