Since college campus' heyday of political activism in the 1960s, groups of Brandeis University students have considered themselves to be among the most politically involved in the country. Brandeis, however, is not immune to the recent national decrease in voter turnout among college students. At Brandeis, clubs have shown a varied response to the upcoming presidential election, as not all political organizations are working to register students to vote. "(Students') votes are up for grabs," stated a recently released Harvard survey on the political involvement of college students. According to this report, the nation's nine million college students are a good source of votes for candidates in the 2004 elections. Released on October 23, results show unconventional trends concerning political orientations and activism of undergraduate students. The survey of 1202 college students nationwide shows that President George W. Bush has a much higher support rating among the college students than among the general public and that two-thirds of college students are registered to vote. Of these students, 82 percent reported that they will definitely or probably vote in the 2004 presidential elections.

"The conventional wisdom that the majority of America's college students is Democratic and that they care little about politics is clearly disproved by this new poll," said Dan Glickman, director of Harvard University's Institute of Politics - which oversaw the poll - as quoted on the Institute of Politics' Web site.

Within the past two weeks, two new political club supporting Democratic candidates have joined the ranks of campus political organizations: Brandeis for Dean and Brandeis for Clark.

According to Carlos Lugo '04, president of Brandeis for Dean, and Justin Peck '07, president of Brandeis for Clark, the purpose of these new clubs is to raise campus awareness and support for their respective presidential candidates.

"Generally the campus has a pretty high political awareness and this generally makes our job easier," Lugo said.

"Basically, this is a forum for discussion on national and international affairs and we try to further Dean's candidacy," Lugo added. "We talk about community outreach and how to get people more involved. It is called Brandeis for Dean because it is not exclusively for students, rather for the entire community, including faculty."

He added that students are receptive to Brandeis for Dean, and the club's e-mail list already has 76 members. The organization is currently encouraging students to register to vote in their home states through the Democratic National Committee's Web site (democrats.org).

The club is not working to increase Massachusetts voter registration. According to Lugo, "the chances of winning in Massachusetts are pretty slim, and we really want to get people registered where their vote can make a difference."

The Brandeis for Clark group has not started any form of voter registration because according to Peck, they were only recognized by the Student Union two weeks ago. Peck said that the group has a strong interest in coordinating voter registration as "a joint effort between any and all political clubs on campus.

"You need people to vote to get people elected," he said.

"We don't want people thinking that voter registration sponsored by students for Clark would be voting for just General Clark," Peck added.
A similar sentiment was echoed by President of Zionists for Historical Veracity (ZaHaV), Mitch Balsam '05. "We don't want to sway anybody's opinions towards Democratic or Republican. We're not endorsing any candidate, but rather seeing who comes out the most pro-democratic, pro-peace, pro-Israel."

Many Brandeis clubs are political in nature. Four groups directly represent the political parties - Brandeis Republicans, Brandeis Democrats (including Brandeis for Dean and Brandeis for Clark), Brandeis Green Party Club, the Brandeis Socialist Club; additionally, a myriad of political and activist organizations focus on more specific issues. Of all these, only three are currently sponsoring voter registration on campus.

This year, the Federal Elections Committee released a new voter registration form that simplifies the process for college students trying to register to vote in their home states. The form is accepted by all but four states nationwide and consists of several questions on a postcard that students can mail in to their state of permanent residence.

Many clubs believe that voter registration extends beyond the political parties or activist groups involved. Brandeis Democrats and Brandeis Republicans recently co-sponsored a three day voter registration drive for students to register in Massachusetts or in their home state using the new voter registration form.

"Students are such a large block that candidates should be concerned about what they can do for them," Students for Environmental Action (SEA) coordinator Rebecca Horowitz '05 said. SEA recently worked to register students to vote through tabling in Usdan.

Brandeis Israel Public Affairs Committee (BIPAC), a bipartisan, pro-Israel lobbying organization, has also taken an active role in registering students to vote trying by to make the process as convenient as possible. Tali Farahi '07, BIPAC liaison, said that students are responding well. "We don't take sides, but we encourage student to become involved on a more grassroots level and become more educated and aware of the issues involving the United States and Israel and to strengthen that relationship."

BIPAC's methods of soliciting student registration include tabling in upper Usdan, going dorm to dorm, and stationing themselves in busy spots on campus. For now, BIPAC is the only club registering students to vote in the residence halls.

BIPAC members are also distributing "I vote" pins with Jaffa oranges on them "to remind people of the feel, smell, touch, and sentiment of Israel as a symbol of how important electoral politics are in helping to strengthen the US-Israel alliance,"Farahi said.

Additionally, BIPAC has distributed a survey with yes/no questions about the situation in the Middle East. According to Farahi, these surveys aim to foster discussion and measure the sentiment of Brandeis students towards the Middle East conflict, but do not serve as a "determinant of whether (BIPAC) will register (a student) to vote or not."

According to BIPAC member Martine Katz-Rajmil '07, people are glad to participate in the registration because of its simplicity. "We send the forms in for them and that's definitely an added incentive."

According to Farahi, BIPAC's year long initiative on voter registration on campus is geared towards getting "all pro-Israeli students to be registered to vote."

Other clubs have plans in the works.

"The more clubs that are involved, the more people we can reach, and the more people we can get involved in voter registration,"said the Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance (FMLA) President, Maggie Frye, '05 and added that the FMLA plans to sponsor voter registration with Triskelion.

Though the Harvard study indicates that among college students, Bush beats a generic Democratic candidate by a five percent margin, 18 percent of college students still say they are undecided, a number much higher than in the general population. Thus according to this poll, college students are still open to make up their mind about the different presidential candidates.

To help all students make informed voting decisions, political organizations at Brandeis place a priority on discussions. The clubs that currently register students to vote also answer students' questions about the candidates and issues at hand.

ZaHaV plans to host a forum next semester to discuss different aspects of American foreign policy. According to Andrew Wiechert '06, outreach coordinator of Triskelion, the club hopes to bring representatives from civil rights organizations to speak on campus "to inspire members of the community to unite against politicians who see our lives as things to play with and our rights as things they can revoke."

Triskelion's main push for voter registration will next semester to register students for the primary elections and the caucus state elections because "the only way to elect queer-friendly representatives is to vote for them,"Wiechart wrote in an email correspondence.

Other politically active organizations are taking an active role in the elections by going to "Bird Dog"the candidates. This is a tactic whereby activists attend the public speeches of presidential candidates and ask questions in order to raise awareness of certain issues. According to Horowitz, members of SEA have gone to candidate speeches in New Hampshire in order to promote the Energy Campaign.

"There are so many countries in the world where people don't have the opportunity to vote. We live in a democracy. Kids should have a voice because we are the future,"Katz-Rajmil said.