With November’s presidential election drawing near, political activity on campus is reaching frenzied levels. Academic departments, political student groups and Student Union are working hard to create dynamic and educational programs that will ensure that the student body is comprised of educated voters willing to cast a ballot in their first presidential election.

The commitment to this effort is significant: Student Union has established a $60,000 fund for students and student groups creating programs around the elections, the Gephardt Institute has launched a comprehensive voter registration drive and each of the campus political groups will be committing significant resources to campaign for their respective candidates and issues. It is noteworthy and commendable that these programs focus not on mechanically mobilizing students, but on instilling a commitment to citizenship and the electoral process that stresses an underlying understanding of the process and not just pulling a lever in the voting booth. Furthermore, the confluence of the vice presidential debate on our campus with the election means that students will be able to see the political process first hand as they prepare to participate in it.

Even as the debate and the election are central events in the programming calendar, however, they should not be the ultimate focus of these groups’ efforts. Although the debate is a unique opportunity for Washington University, campus will not be fundamentally altered the morning after the candidates leave. While this election will mark a significant turning point in recent American history, it will eventually fade from memory.

Instead, the current political atmosphere is ripe to begin a sustained change toward greater activism among America’s student population. This transformation will not occur through one debate or in the course of one election cycle; it will be a gradual change that sets in over the course of many months and years. The current burst of programming is a step toward solidifying that change, but it is not enough to make it set in. It is important that groups around campus continue to offer political programming with an eye towards building on and sustaining students’ current interest. Especially now, while political initiatives have considerable inertia, it is important that planning begins for future civic programming.

As important as pledging time and money to civics is during an election year, it is all the more meaningful during political off years. Students should not just want to be involved with the election cycle, they should want to interact with their government on the decisions that impact their day-to-day life. This means understanding and advocating issues on a national level, as well as taking part in and being aware of local politics. Local politics—city councils, school boards public forums and more—are equally important to the political process and to participating in American society.

Partisan speakers, issue education and political debate should be a fixture of a Washington University education, not a passing fad. The tenets of the Student Civic Initiative, laid out last year by a group of students concerned with fostering a sense of civic awareness within the University community, was a good start on this road, but those students must monitor to see that their roadmap is followed and must deal with both national and local issues. The University must create policies that are conducive to a future where political awareness and involvement is a normal part of college life. This does not mean compromising the non-partisan nature of an educational setting, simply ensuring that there are ample forums to express partisan ideas in a forum that nurtures education and allows ideas to be healthily challenged.

Above all else, the campus must not forget that the presidential election by itself does not represent the essence of democracy. We serve democracy only through an informed, active and committed electorate. That is the eventual goal of all current election programming, the motivation for continuing to devote resources to this cause and the ideal that we should keep in mind as we move beyond this year’s election.