News > April 15, 2004

By Dan Parsons

Old Gold and Black Reporter

After decades of living under presidential administrations with which they have had no say, a generation of college students nationwide will have their first chance to cast a Presidential ballot in November.

The current political environment — composed of issues such as the “war on terrorism,” economic instability, foreign policy debates, gay marriage — has drawn attention to the bias of mainstream media corporations.

Lisa Sternlieb, an associate professor of English, said she wishes that university students made more of the current political environment. 

“I don’t know why everyone on this campus is walking around like it’s another day at the beach,” she said. “This is a dangerous, terrible moment politically.”

The university does house chapters of both College Democrats and College Republicans that students may align themselves with to become more politically active.

In fact, College Democrats is sponsoring a bipartisan forum entitled “Predicting the 2004 Election” at 7 p.m. April 21 in Carswell 111.

“Our goal is to inform students on the issues at hand and to get people thinking about the upcoming election,” said junior and College Democrat president Anjali Garg.

The forum will showcase four speakers, including local political candidates and university political science professors. It is open to all students, regardless of political affiliation.

North Carolina will also hold its first Democratic caucus on April 17 in which all registered democrats can participate.

“I encourage all politically-minded students — Democrats, Republicans and undecideds — to attend in order to gain knowledge on relevant issues and to learn about opportunities for local political activism,” Garg said.

National arenas such as media outlets can often affect the way students react to world events.

An example of how media organizations can influence student perception is in the way in which news is disseminated.  Nagesh Rao, an associate professor of English, criticized Fox News Network for projecting a conservative slant through its 24-hour newscasts.

“Fox News is the most egregious, biased, shamefacedly conservative news source of the lot,” he said. “However, it is often useful because it paints a basically honest picture of the Right Wing thought process.”

Sternlieb agrees that Fox News crosses the line of responsible journalism, and that students fail to take issue with its display on the third-floor TV of Benson University Center.

“It’s an entertainment channel and a propaganda channel,” Sternlieb said. “Why is that playing in the student center?”

A number of youth activist organizations that aim to aid America’s youth on political issues have sprung up online to combat the bias that is present in mainstream media.

Many of these offer concise information, often conveniently organized by candidate so as to make for easy comparison.

Sites include http://www.ClickBackAmerica.org, http://www.Youth04.org, http://www.Vote-Smart.org, http://www.RockTheVote.org and http://www.MoveOn.com

Sternlieb commended the efforts of such sites. “I want students who really do care about what’s happening in this country to long onto MoveOn and find out what they can do,” she said.

An alternative source of weekly national news can be found at http://www.AmericanFreePress.net Most foreign media such as the British Guardian and the Pakistani Don also offer mainstream U.S. media substitutes.

Once informed and knowledgeable of the issues, the next step is to register to vote, which can now be completed online through RockTheVote.

The site allows voters to update their address if already registered and to change party affiliation along with basic registration.

Also important to citizens is the use of their vote. Voting gives citizens the opportunity to affect change in the local and federal government. 

In a democracy or a republic, as in the case of the United States, voting provides a voice for citizens to express their approval or disproval of the government.  It is also a duty that many neglect to utilize as citizens, especially younger voters.

“Voting is the key civic duty of democratic citizens,” senior Christen Sewell said, “but unfortunately it is a widely held idea that one person’s vote doesn’t count.”

However, the 2000 Presidential election contradicted this prevalent belief.  In the national popular vote for President, fewer than 100,000 votes separated then-Vice President Al Gore and Texas Governor George W. Bush out of nearly 100,000,000 votes cast. When such a small number of votes is sufficient to turn the tide of an election, every vote counts.

“If people don’t keep voting, one day their votes won’t count,” Sewell said, “much like the thousands of votes thrown out in Florida in 2000.”

Rao suggested that voting is not the only way to initiate social change. “Social change does not come from a change in political administration but from movements from below, people in the streets demanding social change,” he said.

Historically, college campuses and student-run activist groups were key in catalyzing social change in the 1960s with the end of segregation and the Vietnam War.

“The civil-rights victories that your parents helped secure are being consistently whittled away,” Rao said.

“You now face the terror of perhaps 50 years of sustained war, no healthcare for yourselves and your children.”

Thus, although voting is a way of participating in democracy, civic engagement can be expanded to a larger role, by becoming involved at the grassroots level to defend individual rights and stand up for the issues relevant to today’s youth.

“Get involved in the many political movements from below and challenge the aspects of the status quo which are in need of change,” Rao said. “Just get involved, because silence only prohibits progress.”