According to a recent GW-Battleground study released by George Washington University, 63 percent of young adults are paying “a lot” or “some” attention to the upcoming midterm elections. But do any of these young adults attend Fairfield?
The characterization of Fairfield students as politically apathetic has long plagued the student body, but politics professor Jocelyn Boryczka disagrees with the stereotype.
“I don’t think students are apathetic; I think they are incredibly thoughtful. They may not be political activists, but I think they vote,” she says.
Kurt Schlichting, a sociology professor specializing in political trends, begs to differ. Citing data from the last federal election, Schlichting believes Fairfield will have little civic involvement, as has been the case nationally among 18- to 24-year-olds, the largest bracket of non-voters in the country.
John Nicosia ’08, head of the College Democrats’ “get out the vote” campaign, agrees.
“Fairfield students are overall pretty apathetic; I don’t think they see their one vote as counting much, and many would not register until after ‘Lost’ was over,” he says.
However, political groups on campus, such as the College Democrats and College Republicans, are working vigorously to battle low voter turnout. Both groups have sought voter registration, citing numbers as high as 250 new registrations. This number is impressive for an election year without a presidential race.
But Schlichting states that Fairfield students may have already fallen into the common trend of turning not-voting into a political statement.
“It has become a political ideology not to vote; it is a conscious choice that ‘this doesn’t concern me’ or ‘this is independent of me.'”
John Zanzarella ’08, who plans to stay home on Nov. 7, seems to follow the trend outlined by Schlichting.
“I don’t plan on voting. I don’t really think about that stuff; it doesn’t affect me,” he says.
But what students don’t realize, Schlichting says, is how much politics does affect students’ lives, citing such problems as Congress’s tendency to periodically change the Student Loan Program, as well as the proposed privatization of social security.
Nicosia notes the same dilemma: “I don’t think many of them connect problems like high college costs, gas prices and job availability in their lives with politics.”
For those who do make the connection between everyday life and politics, most say they are pessimistic about our nation’s future, and Boryczka understands why.
“Pessimism seems reasonable to me; it’s almost realism at this point,” she says, noting that grim issues, such as the Iraq War and North Korea’s nuclear program, will define our generation.
Jerzy Shustin ’08, a registered Democrat who plans on voting in November, agrees that the country is in a dire state.
“I am pessimistic about our country’s future,” he says. “Problems are furthered by [politicians] who refuse to admit any wrongdoing or take any responsibility for the nation’s problems.” He hopes the upcoming election will bring a change in the right direction.
However, Boryczka believes that this pessimism will not breed apathy among students. Instead, she says, it will promote action.
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