Correction Appended
Student leaders from groups such as College Democrats and College Republicans said they are frustrated with AU’s guidelines for political student groups, but they understand why the rules are in place.
The students met with various members of the AU administration last Wednesday to address recent concerns with AU’s guidelines for student political groups, which they say have significantly limited the actions of their groups.
Student leaders from groups including the Student Government, Students for Choice, AU College Republicans and AU College Democrats attended the meeting.
Representatives from Student Activities, the University Center, AU’s General Counsel and Vice President of Campus Life Gail Hanson were also present at the meeting.
The meeting was coordinated in response to an incident on Oct. 5, when Student Activities Coordinator of Governance and Leadership Andrew Toczydlowski contacted the president of the AU Public Affairs Committee on Israel, AUPAC, Jackie Grill. Toczydlowski wanted to know whether the group was lobbying members of Congress as a Student Activities-recognized AU group.
He said AUPAC could not lobby Congress as an AU group because the Internal Revenue Service classifies AU as a nonprofit organization.
AU and its affiliated student organizations cannot act or campaign on behalf of any specific political candidate or piece of legislation because of AU’s tax status as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, according to Student Activities’ political guidelines.
The presidents of AU College Democrats and AU College Republicans said that while the roundtable discussion was helpful in clarifying their guidelines, they are frustrated that they are limited in what they can do as political groups.
College Democrats has violated the guidelines for political student groups twice in the past three years, according to Toczydlowski.
They violated the rule last year when members participated in a phone bank for the Human Rights Campaign to repeal “don’t ask, don’t tell,” according to Bo Hammond, the group’s president. The AU legal team discovered this event through a photo on Facebook and told group members to cease and desist.
College Democrats violated the rule again earlier this year at the Gloria Steinem speaking event, according to Toczydlowski. Junior in the School of Public Affairs Helen Boyer, the club’s secretary, said students could contact her to have an all-expense paid trip to help campaign for a candidate running for office in Ohio.
Toczydlowski said student organizations can present campaign opportunities to their members, but they should make it clear that those opportunities are not official events sponsored by the student group. Clubs also cannot collect information for candidates and campaigns as an organization.
This means that AU student groups cannot use University funding or resources to campaign for or against a political candidate or legislative bill.
Student leaders were previously aware of this rule but said this meeting was helpful as a refresher on its specifics.
Members of the A Voice 4 You campaign attended the meeting to listen to the information being presented, but this group is not affiliated with the University and is not restricted by the rules in its 501(c)(3) status.
However, Toczydlowski said AU student groups, such as the SG, could coordinate voter registration drives, but they cannot endorse a specific candidate. The SG organized voter registration drives on campus this semester to try to get AU students to register to vote in the District.
AU College Republicans President Stephen Laudone said it is sometimes difficult to work within the political group guidelines when it comes to planning group outings and other local events.
Laudone said students rely on College Democrats and College Republicans to provide them with information about how to campaign.
But the political group guidelines prohibit him from specifically stating that members of College Republicans will be attending events like campaign rallies.
“The fact I can’t even send an e-mail over the listserv or in Facebook format is extremely difficult,” Laudone said.
Hammond also feels his group is limited by the political group guidelines.
“It’s aggravating that the most politically active campus in the country doesn’t allow its students to be politically active,” Hammond said.
Laudone believes the meeting on Wednesday was productive and that clubs should meet annually, rather than as a “reactionary measure,” he said.
Hammond said Student Activities cannot be held responsible for this rule.
“[Toczydlowski] from Student Activities has been extremely helpful in the past,” Hammond said. “It’s his job to make sure we don’t get in trouble and that the University doesn’t violate the tax status. But it is incredibly frustrating that we can’t campaign.”
Toczydlowski stressed that student groups are not prohibited from advocating for certain causes.
“It’s okay to attend a rally for LGBT rights, but it’s not ok to support a rally against ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’ because that is a specific piece of legislation,” Toczydlowski said. “But LGBT rights is a cause.”
He hopes the groups that participated in the roundtable discussion now have a clearer understanding of their rights and abilities as political student groups.
“I hope they got a better understanding of what they can and can’t do,” he said. “My observation was that they could do a lot more than they thought they could. I think that was something positive that came out of this.”
jryan@theeagleonline.com
Correction: This article originally stated that Toczydlowski said groups like A Voice 4 U could coordinate voter registration drives, but they cannot endorse a specific candidate. It has been changed to say that A Voice 4 U is not affiliated with the University and is not restricted by AU's 501(c)(3) status.
