Activism Is Alive Among Student Campaigners

This year’s presidential campaign trails feature the “Straight Talk Express,” promises of change, and Chuck Norris. Columbians, too, are along for the ride.

Driven to the trail by passion for the democratic process, students, alumni, and faculty have been busy at work for a variety of candidates. Some work at candidates’ New York offices, doing phone-banking and outreach. Some traveled to Iowa or New Hampshire over winter break to get out the vote. Others are involved in organizing campus events with the College Democrats or Republicans.

“You’re actually trying to do something to change the country,” said Diana Lawless, CC ’08 and the College Republicans executive director, who is campaigning for Rudolph Giuliani.

Nancy Huemer, BC ’10, echoed this sentiment, proving that—regardless of where a campaigner falls on the political spectrum—the process is ultimately a fight against apathy.

Huemer, who worked for John Edwards in New Hampshire and who serves on the executive board for the College Democrats’ progressive think tank, said, “Now that we’re all of voting age, we need to be paying attention, and we need to be keeping track of what’s going on in our country, because ... these people are making policies that are going to change our future.”

One recent alum lives by this philosophy by devoting himself to another former Columbian.

Lukas McGowan, CC ’07, was first drawn to Barack Obama, CC ’83, after hearing the newly-elected Illinois senator’s 2004 Democratic National Convention keynote speech. “From that minute, I knew I wanted to work for the guy and that he should run for president,” McGowan said.

McGowan began working as an Obama field organizer in Dallas County, Iowa, recruiting and training volunteers, building support, phone-banking, and going door-to-door. After Obama’s victory in the Iowa caucus, McGowan drove to California, where he set up a campaign office in San Jose and assumed the position of deputy regional field director, to ensure that the eight Obama offices in the state run smoothly.

Philosophy professor Christia Mercer also hit the road to hunt for support for the former Columbia Lion. Mercer was up north campaigning for Obama during the New Hampshire primary, and Business School Dean R. Glenn Hubbard has been by Mitt Romney’s side as the Republican candidate’s economic advisor. Students Juan Lamata, CC ’10, Ory Rinat, CC ’09, and Nancy Huemer, BC ’10, traveled to Iowa or New Hampshire over the break to campaign for their preferred candidates—Barack Obama, Rudy Giuliani, and John Edwards, respectively.

But the campaign trail need not only be traveled by planes, trains, and automobiles. Many politically savvy students simply hop on the subway to candidates’ New York campaign headquarters. William Nosal, CC ’08, has been at work for Mitt Romney; Diana Lawless, BC ’08, for Giuliani; and Stef Goodsell, CC ’09, and Anna Durrett, BC ’08, for Hillary Clinton.

Nosal, who was initially impressed with Romney’s plan for universal health care, has been actively following the Massachusetts governor from his home in the neighboring state of Rhode Island. But while fundraising for Romney, Nosal has come to terms with the challenges of being conservative on Columbia’s campus and in this city.

“It’s hard in New York City, campaigning for a Republican candidate,” Nosal said. “A lot of my friends are not even Republicans, so it’s a hard group to get to give money.”

Yet the biggest challenge is the trap on the trail that snatches onto and absorbs the personal lives of volunteers.

“Over seven months they became friends, and they were the ones feeding me and making sure I was getting haircuts when I had to,” McGowan said of his fellow campaigners. “I was pushing them, and oftentimes I felt like I was almost exploiting them. I had my gold numbers [quotas to fulfill], and I was always pushing them to do more than they might have been comfortable with.”

The presidential campaign naturally requires personal sacrifices, and it can teach valuable lessons in time management.

“The hardest part has been being able to balance what’s become a full-time job with still being in school,” Rinat said. “But it works out eventually. You learn to catch up, measure your time better, spend less time sleeping, and do schoolwork in between everything else.”

Some student campaigners, such as Durrett and Goodsell, said their experiences on the trail have ignited their own dreams of running for office someday. Others, like Rinat, said they would like to stay involved in politics in other ways, such as through consulting work.

But in the end, it is the sumptuous moment of victory that keeps Columbia campaigners tacked to the trail—the point at which the sweat from running door to door, the sore throats from conducting hundreds of telephone calls, and the heartburn from unhealthy campaign snacks all become worth it.

McGowan recalled seeing Obama win the Iowa caucus. “To see my precinct captains and to say, ‘It’s because of you we did this’—that was the best part.”

maggie.astor@columbiaspectator.com