Jenna Smith (jesmith2@ursinus.edu)
The Ursinus College Democrats are moving on to new endeavours. The group has been inactive since the 2018-2019 school year, but now they’re coming back better than ever. Ursinus Democrats is officially affiliated with the Pennsylvania Democrats and is meant to serve as a partisan voice for left-leaning students on campus. Miles Noecker ‘22, the club’s interim vice-president, stated that the club gives “valuable connections to local and state officials who might be willing to come to campus in the future and take part in discussion about different political issues.” Alongside Noecker, the interim executive board consists of: Ben Henwood ‘23, Drishti Khandelwal ‘23, Isabel Wesman ‘23, and Olivia Negro ‘23.
The club announced their revamp on their new Instagram page @ursinusdems, and have since updated their constitution. The revamp started earlier this semester, after the club died out when the COVID-19 pandemic struck. Noecker jokes, “when the world needed UC Dems the most, we vanished.” Since the beginning of the revamp, the interim chair members have been working tirelessly to build relationships with Pennsylvania Democrats and organize the logistics of the club. After all their hard work, the UC Dems are finally in a position to welcome regular members.
The club focuses on the theme of “lead by example.” It wants to help state and municipal candidates in the Collegeville area succeed. As the club’s page on the Ursinus website states, they are “dedicated to a lifestyle of active citizenship, multi-partisanship, and helping politicians on campus, especially those who wish to pursue Democratic candidacy.” Their goal is to establish a partisan voice that aims to express the political beliefs of students for key issues, whether it’s something happening on campus or in the national political landscape. They aim to build more interest around campus and get additional peers involved with the club. A big desire of the organization is to create “an atmosphere where we can have more of a dialogue about inherently political topics.”
Elections are scheduled to happen on November 18th at 5 pm. Those on the board are in interim positions until the club’s election results are finalized. The club’s Instagram page, @ursinusdems, has more information. With the club finally open and not much of the semester remaining, there isn’t much time for activities. However, the club is hopeful for “bigger, brighter, and more liberal opportunities for the spring semester,” according to Noecker. Feel free to reach out to the club at ucd@ursinus.edu or follow them on Instagram @ursinusdems if you have any more questions!