I love AU. I love the political atmosphere: most students know what’s going on in America — and even what’s being debated on the floor of the House of Representatives. I love that we are located in Washington, D.C., where history is being made every day, and with one relatively short Metro ride we can be a part of it. I love that we have classes in the city that are based on a practical, rather than theoretical approach, and where instead of learning about Congress or the Supreme Court you can go down for a class period and witness the action yourself.
All of these things are taken for granted by AU students; after all, this is our reality every day. The fact that David Gregory or Jared Bernstein, the vice president’s economic advisor, came to speak on campus is just another routine, albeit exciting, happening.
This simple truth is not at all commonplace among American colleges. I have friends — intelligent friends — studying at all different kinds of schools in all different locations. None of them have a political atmosphere similar or even half as intense as AU’s.
While this isn’t terribly surprising — after all, we are one of the most politically active campuses in the country — the lack of interest on some college campuses is astounding. In fact, a recent study noted that only 26 percent of students entering college express an interest in following politics. One of my friends at Lafayette College in Easton, Pa., remarked to me the other day that nobody she knew heard about Ted Kennedy’s death until about two weeks after. At AU, I think the time delay was about five minutes. Besides the fact that I could never go to a school where 74 percent of students have no clue what’s going on in the world, this statistic is incredibly disconcerting.
It is our generation that will sooner than later have to pick up the mantle and take over the leadership of this country, both by becoming the next generation of representatives and by constituting a significant block of the electorate. The fact that a majority of our peers across the country are content with remaining politically unaware does not bode well for us at all.
However, there is one bright hope for our future. After attending quite a few of the Kennedy Political Union’s speaker series, I’ve noticed that Republicans and Democrats often can come to a consensus on even the most controversial issues. Take this past weekend’s debate between Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele and Chairman of the Democratic Leadership Council Harold Ford, Jr. Although their health care debate became heated at times, it remained a civil conversation about the issues, with no shouts of “You lie!” or any other ridiculousness that seems to have become all too prevalent in politics today. I left the debate with a positive view of both Steele and Ford.
That, I think, is the point and purpose of AU: to educate the next generation of political leaders and activists. It is not a hope, but a necessity for all of us to be able to sit down and have a civil conversation with members of the opposing party like Steele and Ford did.
Erin Cady is a freshman in the School of Public Affairs and an AU Affairs columnist for The Eagle. You can reach her at edpage@theeagleonline.com.
