Weinberg sophomore Madhuri Kommareddi is a self-professed political junkie, an activist for local campaigns and candidates, and a strong Democrat. She strongly believes that being a Democrat means more than cheering on Josiah Bartlet on Wednesday nights.
“It’s about getting involved,” she said. “It’s about being a part of any political party. Getting an organization or creating an organization is so important.”
Kommareddi also thinks “a lot of people underestimate the potential of getting college students involved in campaigns. I think there’s so much potential there.”
From my own experience living and teaching among Northwestern undergraduates as the assistant master of the Public Affairs Residential College, I second that notion. Wherever the concept of “politically apathetic” students comes from, and many here do seem to accept the label, I personally don’t see it. My presidency class is filled with idealistic students who want to “make a difference,” whether for interest groups and news organizations or for Democrats, Republicans, Greens and Libertarians.
Nevertheless, there are gaps where idealism too often goes untapped. It exists between politicians who rarely ask enough and students who rarely realize the difference they could make right here on the North Shore. So I want to commend Kommareddi and also State Rep. Lou Lang, the House Democratic floor leader in Springfield. He also deserves some kind of gold star for the number of times he’s driven out to NU (he represents Skokie), in many years, to encourage college students to get involved.
In a fortunate conjunction, Kommareddi worked for Lang beginning in January. This fall, with the March 2002 primary approaching, he asked her for advice on how to recruit NU students to volunteer on several primary races. She suggested a free pizza get-together, and helped coordinate a meeting at Carmen’s on Tuesday. She ran off fiyers, worked with College Democrats and “hit every listserv (she) could.” Kommareddi anticipated between 40 and 50 students coming. Twice that number crowded in.
Working with County Commissioner Cal Sutker, Lang recruited a long list of state and local officials to come and ask for support. Then additional pols kept wandering in, not the least being the top stateside Democrat in Illinois, Secretary of State Jesse White. He was in the neighborhood and happened to hear about the meeting. “Very random, and very neat,” Kommareddi observed. Both sides knew this was an unusual opportunity to make contact and reach out.
I am struck by the difference that physically meeting elected officials can have on college students. More than 50 students signed up to volunteer, or signed individual cards for candidates who struck their fancy.
Obviously, one get-together over pizza is not going to bridge all suspicions that have grown between many younger Americans and elected officials. Too many on both sides suspect that the other doesn’t really care what happens to them. It will take many isolated encounters and events, with students taking initiative to reach up and committed pols taking the time to reach down. So let’s all be thankful there are dedicated individuals like Kommareddi and Lang working to build those bridges.
