A Look into NYU Political Clubs: NYU College Democrats
NYU Local will be looking at different political clubs each week, detailing the work they do on campus, how to get involved, and what their goals are.
It is no secret that NYU students have a history of political activism, so it’s no surprise that there are many clubs across campus for political parties. Local sat down with the President of the NYU College Democrats to get a better idea of what they do, as well as what they hope to accomplish this semester.
“We kind of have a fortunate position being democrats at NYU,” President Michael DeLuca says, “because we have such a sort of liberal infrastructure in the city that allows us to take advantage of resources, organizations which might be headquartered here, or professors with political allegiances.”
At the first meeting of the year, the leaders of the NYU Dems stressed how involved they want their club members to be in structuring club time. Students can suggest meeting themes or activities that they personally want to learn about or do.
The club aims to not only to provide opportunities for students to become politically active, but also to inform and to make sense of what exactly is happening in our country. They provided a comprehensive list of everything that has happened since Trump’s inauguration at the first meeting.
“Last week we talked about education and wanting to shed some light on issues that don’t get enough attention. We want to make sure that members who are interested in specific issues can use our weekly meetings as a platform for educating people, and then we can translate that into activism.”
On Tuesday, February 7th, NYU Dems will be participating in a discussion with the NYU Politics Society and other political clubs invited to attend. While the club also takes part in a yearly debate with the NYU Republicans, “this will give members an opportunity to ‘reach across the aisle’ and engage in conversation and civilized discussion with people with other viewpoints,” according to NYU Dems’ website.
Additionally, the club brings in people who are on the front lines of Democratic advocacy. This semester, they have already set up a meeting with Councilman Corey Johnson on Thursday, February 9th at 7pm and Patrick Toomey, Attorney for ACLU’s National Security Project, on Thursday, March 2nd at 7:15pm. These events and other information about the club can be found on their website www.nyudems.com.
