University administrators sat down with members of the newly formed Student Civic Initiative last week to discuss the group’s mission statement, provisions and plans for the future.

“It was a very positive meeting,” freshman David Fox, co-founder of the Student Civic Initiative (SCI), said.

Present at the meeting were several members of SCI and Pam Lokken, vice chancellor for government and community relations, Jim McLeod, dean of the College of Arts & Sciences, and Rob Wild, assistant to the chancellor.

During the meeting, the administration charged SCI with the task of exploring new ways for the University to create forums for political discussion that would remain open, independent and educational while still implementing some of SCI’s goals.

“I think all our students and faculty like the idea of an open campus where opinions can be expressed without regard to the institution being involved in a partisan way,” McLeod said. “This group has shown the will and the ability to offer leadership effectively, so I think we should line up behind them and try to come to some understanding.”

The administration also discussed its principal concerns with SCI, especially regarding the University’s ability to maintain a position of political neutrality when bringing in speakers who are also running for political office.

Much of this concern relates to the University’s concern about how those outside of campus view its political leanings.

According to Fox, a non-partisan, student-led initiative such as SCI-which would invite political speakers to campus independently-could help the University administration remain nonpartisan while still fostering a politically-engaged atmosphere on campus.

For this reason, Fox envisions SCI acting as a liaison for the University, bringing political speakers to campus in a manner similar to that of the student group Team 31, which brings in musical artists for W.I.L.D.

“The administration basically wants us to be like the student group that puts on W.I.L.D. or the group that puts on Thurtene, in the sense that they want this to be a student-run initiative,” Fox said. “So it’s not the University bringing in speakers, it’s us bringing in speakers.”

Sophomore Eric Reif, another member of SCI, said he supports SCI taking charge of promoting civic engagement on campus.

Reif said that SCI is ultimately seeking University support in its proposal to increase student voter registration.

“It is the Student Civic Initiative, not the Administration Civic Initiative. So we’re seeking [the administration's] support and want them to support what we’re doing, but we’re not asking Dean McLeod to go door-to-door handing out registration forms,” Reif said.

Fox said he feels that SCI’s non-partisan nature will also help the group to succeed in the future.

“We encourage politically-engaged students from across the political spectrum: green, red, blue, orange, whatever,” Fox said. “And we want Ralph Nader as much as we want Barack Obama as much as we want Mitt Romney as much as we want Ron Paul as much as we want Hillary Clinton. We just want Washington University students to be educated and to be a bigger part of the democratic process.”

SCI, which was formed earlier this semester in response to the administration’s decision not to invite Democratic candidate Barack Obama to campus, has since expanded its focus and now emphasizes the general promotion of an active political climate in the University.

“We just think that the school needs to do more to support civic engagement on campus,” freshman Katherine Filaseta, another member of SCI, said.

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