Correction Appended
As AU students, we take much pride in our position as the most politically active campus in the nation, but do we fully live up to our reputation as such? Although we join political groups, host speakers on campus, and take part in marches and protests, many ignore one our greatest advantages: the ability to directly advocate issues in front of our representatives.
We hold up as an exemplar AUPAC, a new group on campus that goes beyond the confines of campus to advocate for their cause. We call upon the campus community to follow their lead and fully embrace the opportunities presented by this city.
AUPAC is a relatively new student organization that advocates in Congress for policies that support Israel. Without wading into the issue itself, we are excited that a group of AU students have the opportunity to advocate for important issues. While we commend the actions of AUPAC, we admit our surprise that they are one of the only student groups to move beyond the edge of campus to actively advocate in Congress. However, looking at recent developments like the continued work of the A Voice 4 U campaign it seems that AU students are begging to live up to our reputation for activism.
Living and studying in D.C. provides us with a powerful advantage over other schools throughout the nation in that we can make our voices heard to the most powerful people in the U.S. In addition, with the large amount of issues concerning students under debate these days, the potential for students to advocate our own causes is greater than ever before.
We see the actions of AUPAC as a start for us. Among the multitude of student organizations on campus, there must be more that can take a similar course of action. There are opportunities in this city beyond hosting guest speakers on campus. As enlightening and interesting these speeches might be, they make AU students into passive observers. Let’s continue raising money to fight HIV/AIDS, let’s continue attending downtown protests and let’s start advocating our issues directly to the decision makers living just down Massachusetts Avenue.
AUPAC is helping to lead the charge into a new level of AU political engagement — now it is up to us to live up to our true potential.
Correction: In this staff editorial, The Eagle encouraged student organizations to actively advocate in Congress for causes they believed in. This is a violation of AU's 501(c)(3) nonprofit status and is against AU policies. We still believe that students should take advantage of living in the District and directly advocate for their beliefs, however, we encourage students to do so privately or through organizations with no official ties to AU.
