Margaret BauerPolls have found that as many as 25 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds are not yet registered to vote, raising the concern that young voters are apathetic towards the imminent election.
Although the joke was that attendance would be rather low at an apathy meeting, the Project Awareness symposium on student apathy held at the end of September reached its cap of 30 participants. The program continued with speeches by three additional Washington University faculty members, followed by a reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
The first speaker was Virginia Braxs, who talked about her experiences in Argentina as compared to the United States. In Argentina it took a great deal of effort to convince people that activists were disappearing to be tortured beneath the streets. She was therefore bewildered by what a large proportion of the population in the U.S. prefers not to vote. She asked her audience never to take democracy for granted, told them that “apathy is not the answer,” and closed by reminding her audience of the power of a few people who take action-a lady who refused to sit in the back of the bus, or perhaps a few students who stood up to a tank for their beliefs.
Professors Jami Ake and Maxine Lipeles continued with two case studies, the first regarding gender awareness and the second regarding lead poisoning in the St. Louis area.
They were followed by Repps Hudson, a reporter from the Post-Dispatch, who reminded his listeners that “votes do matter-ask Al Gore.” He continued to harp on the privilege of voting, pointing out that people lined up for miles to vote in the first elections in South Africa. A similar occurrence was seen when the free elections were held in Cambodia.
However, young people often do not treasure their right to vote as much as the aforementioned speakers suggested that they should. One poll conducted by CBS News on behalf of MTV and the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning & Engagement (CIRCLE), suggested that one out of every four respondents was not registered to vote. The poll tracked eligible voters aged 18 to 29.
According to Project Democracy’s Teresa Sullivan, students at the University tend to buck that trend. Student response has been “incredible” this year, she said, and Project Democracy alone has registered close to 1,000 students to vote in Missouri this year.
However, even those who are registered to vote sometimes seem to take a rather jaded view of the political process.
Freshman Matt Adler complained that the first presidential debate was too staged, particularly with respect to the compliments the candidates paid to each others’ families late in the debate.
Senior Cristina Fernandez believed that the questions were good, but felt the candidates often dodged them.
“‘That’s a good question, but before I answer that I’d like to repeat the point I made 50 seconds ago,'” Fernandez said, mocking how she feels the candidates often responded.
However, Fernandez went to the Democratic National Convention over the summer and believes that working for political campaigns or otherwise getting involved is common among students at the University.
To combat apathy, Hudson suggested that students “be well informed, learn something… and volunteer for something.”
Dan Lilienthal, a graduate of the class of 2003, was a participant in the symposium and contends that high school and college are designed to create apathy, in particular through courses that do not offer experiences. He has written a book on the subject entitled “College Daze: The Need for Innovative Education Reform in America’s Colleges and Universities.”
For more information on Project Awareness, email [email protected].