“During the debate [in reference to the First Presidential Debate held on Monday, September 26], I was walking by Thali Too and saw a crowd inside tuned into the debate. Walking passed the Morse game room headed to my suite, I saw people watching the debate. My Facebook newsfeed was filled with comments and responses to the debate! It feels nice to be in a space where everyone is engaged even if we all have different perspectives,” says Pamela Weidman ’17.
With the election just merely a month away, the excitement on campus is evident with campaign posters every corner you turn, Facebook invites for election campaign events, and voter registration booths on Old Campus.
In order to understand the root of the current political activism on campus, we can look to the evolution of student activism and student political party initiatives over the years. Henry Chauncey Jr. ‘57, former secretary of Yale University, said, “Before the 1960s, students were involved directly in political campaigns, for example, the Truman vs. Dewey election and the Eisenhower vs. Stevenson elections.” The students campaigned on campus to support a candidate for the national election, similar to what the Yale Students for Hillary are currently doing.
However, during the 1960s, the gravitation towards political campaigns withered and was replaced by anti-establishment fervor. There was greater emphasis on speaking out for ideas that students were passionate about. The Yale chapter for the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), precursor to the Yale College Democrats, seemed more focused on causes rather than candidates, protests rather than party politics. In a piece for the Yale Daily News, the SDS voiced outrage against the military efforts in Vietnam:, “Yale University has the moral responsibility to sever all its connections with the U.S. military establishment [because] the policies [ROTC’s] men defend and the interests they serve are fundamentally wrong.” These efforts ultimately led to Yale temporarily abandoning the ROTC (Reserve Officers’ Training Corps) program.
As Yale moved into the 21st century, the advent of technology and the rise of social media led to a decline in protests and a renewed interest in political parties. “Protesting against a certain cause could result in an arrest, and because of the Internet, it would be impossible for the student to get a job, damaging their future,” says Chauncey.
The College Democrats sought instead to realign themselves with the national Democratic Party and make students a more influential force within the system. Based on a 2002 Politic article, the party seems to have been receptive to these efforts, with the DNC providing “a seat at the table for college students.”
This student-party bond is still going strong this election season. “College students and young people are a key component of the Democratic coalition,” notes Leigh Appleby, communications director of the CT Democratic Party. “These are still ideals that the Democrats emphasize today. “The Democratic State Central Committee has two non-voting members— the presidents of the Connecticut College Democrats and the Connecticut Young Democrats.”
While students were beginning to have a voice in the state branches of the DNC, it was really the college Republicans who made substantial gains from 2001 to 2004, in which they expanded from 409 to 1,148 chapters nationwide. On the other hand, the Democrat college chapters actually dropped by 800 from 1993 to 2003, according to a 2004 National Journal article. The DNC had tried to jumpstart the college Democrat chapters, but it had not been well organized.
The Yale College Democrats today are a more unified coalition, using a combination of traditional and novel outreach methods with the help of social media. The Yale College Democrats do phone banks every week, which is a concerted effort with Yale Students for Hillary. In addition to phone banking, they also do chalking, which is putting up posters around campus, and traditional canvassing.
“Social media has changed the game,” says Appleby. And this is quite evident in the unique outreach strategies employed by the Yale College Democrats. One example is the “Change Is” campaign, which was originally developed by the Yale College Democrats in 2012 and later adopted by other college campuses. In this campaign, a whiteboard is taken to an open space, like Cross Campus, and an incomplete sentence is written such as “Change is____.” Students walking by can then fill in the blank.
This campaign has been successful because of the “simple, open-ended nature of the statement ‘Change Is’,” according to Maxwell Ulin ‘17, president of the Yale College Democrats. “So much could be ascribed to what change was, and the plethora of different options made Obama’s argument all the more compelling.” These whiteboarding events are later posted on social media, such as Facebook, which further generates traction.
The college Democrats of today are a force to be reckoned with, much like the college Republicans fourteen years ago. In a 2002 Politic article, Scott Steward reasoned that the resurgence in conservatism on campus at the time occurred because “our generation has witnessed first-hand the failings of socialism with the collapse of the Soviet Union, and tragic attacks on our country have moved us to come together as Americans…”
The coalition of college Republicans became especially important in the 2004 election between Bush and Kerry, in which student initiatives played a huge role in influencing the presidential election. The Republican students’ aggressive methods included running recruitment tables, holding training seminars, and employing full time representatives to establish Republican chapters on campuses. Through the initiatives of campus canvasses and absentee ballot programs, they were able to get 11,000 college student volunteers in voting operations that allowed for the “historic Republican victory” in 2004.
Unfortunately, this conservative momentum has been hindered on the Yale campus in the 2016 election campaign due to fragmentation over disagreements regarding the presidential nominee Donald Trump.
In an interview with Ben Rasmussen ‘18, co-chairman of the Yale New Republicans, he informed The Politic that, “We split off after [the Yale College Republicans] endorsed Trump. We are not an official arm of the GOP, so we don’t have to feel constrained to support any particular candidate. We want to be a conservative group that supports ideals, not people.”
Furthermore, the division within the Yale College Republicans has affected their relationship with the CT Republican Party. JR Romano, chairman of the CT Republican Party, informed The Politic that, “I tried reaching out to the Yale College Republicans but never heard back.” The Yale College Republicans did not return multiple requests for a comment. Nonetheless, it appears that the mindset of some conservatives on campus is to “sit out this election,” according to Rasmussen, and wait until the next election cycle. “We are more interested in the future of the Republican party. We want to be able to reinvigorate conservatism,” he added, like in the 2004 election.
While the Yale New Republicans have not made specific outreach efforts on campus due to their recent formation, the CT Republican Party has made distinct efforts at university outreach, although these efforts have not always been fruitful. While social media has been a boon for the Yale College Democrats, the Republican coalition has struggled with how best to take advantage of it.
Romano said, “we are considering having our own Snapchat, but we are not sure who to put in charge of it,” or of what use it might serve. Romano also detailed a recent speech he gave at UConn where social media prevented an honest and open discussion on the campus. “The students just tweeted nonsense about me rather than bringing up the issues and having an actual debate. One student even came up to me and said that my presence was offensive.”
The tension within the conservatives on campus and the possible negative effects of social media have motivated the Yale New Republicans to shift their focus away from the presidential election. “There are still pockets of the Republican Party that embrace the best of conservative values, so we want to focus on supporting down-ballot candidates,” said Rasmussen. The Yale College Democrats have spread their influence in other aspects of the election as well.
“We are focusing on battleground states, where absentee ballots could prove critical,” said Ulin. We are also campaigning for candidates across Connecticut and the country as a whole through phone banks and canvassing trips. We are working specifically on the races of Patrick Murphy (D-FL) for Senate in Florida, Maggie Hassan (D-NH) for Senate in New Hampshire, and Congresswoman Elizabeth Esty (D-CT) for reelection in Connecticut, among others.”
In order to ally with other college Democrats, they have also planned a trip during October Break to go to New Hampshire and Pennsylvania, where they will be part of a Norteastern conference of college Democrats.
The Yale students of the 1960s were politically active in the causes that mattered most to them—anti-war protests, civil rights, and women’s rights—whereas in the 2004 elections, college students rallied around the parties and presidential nominees. In this election, both the left and right student political groups see the importance of the down-ballot races, absentee ballots for battleground states, and U.S. Senate and Congress races as key factors in deciding national interests. Thus, the way in which students are politically involved has changed over the years and perhaps will keep changing with new ideologies and forms of communication and technology.
With the margin between Clinton and Trump becoming smaller every day, this election will be as much exhilarating as it will be unpredictable. But one thing is for sure: the Yale students are active as ever and ready to have their voices heard in the 2016 elections.