Two students are creating a new democratic socialist group on campus.
Noah Paul, undeclared freshman, and Cole Fairchild, film freshman, are working to start an OCU chapter of the Young Democratic Socialists of America, the youth and student subdivision of the Democratic Socialists of America.
YDSA is a national organization which aims to encourage student organization around social issues, labor issues and political issues.
Paul said he first got involved with democratic socialism during the 2016 election.
“For me, personally, I am a little less than what Bernie is, but he is really what got me involved in politics,” Paul said. “That was the first time I heard about democratic socialism.”
Fairchild said he found an interest in politics in high school.
“For a while I did debate, and I was getting a little disenchanted with arguing for things I didn’t believe in,” Fairchild said. “My family had struggled a lot with finance and healthcare, so when Bernie was running, I was following him really frequently. I wished there were more candidates like him.”
Fairchild said he and Paul met because of their membership with the presidential leadership class at OCU.
“There were days where I would get frustrated with something in politics in our snapchat group, and Noah was always on that same kind of wavelength,” he said. “I heard a lot of liberal ideas on campus, but I didn’t hear them channeled into something.”
Fairchild said he hopes the club will have a lot of support.
“I hope we can do a lot of good for the community. When we start the club, we will do community service because I think the baseline of this is making politics more democratized. I hope that’s something all of our members would hold true and support people who are usually a little disconnected from the system,” he said.
The club will meet twice monthly, Paul said.
Paul said he and Fairchild are using their leadership skills to help organize the club.
“We did a training meeting for people who are doing a YDSA chapter,” Paul said. “We’re learning a lot of new leadership techniques.”
Paul said democratic socialism is very important to him.
“Democratic socialism to me means giving every person an equal and fair opportunity in our society,” Paul said. “We’re working towards a society to help everyone rather than just the top 1%.”
Fairchild said democratic socialism is different than how it is often portrayed.
“It’s not what you see in the news and it’s not what you’ve seen in the past,” Fairchild said. “Obviously you can’t persuade everyone to think that, but it makes sense to me because there are so many barriers entrenched into this system we’ve accepted. Socialism is designed to break down some of the barriers and democratize access to change. And that’s what I think it’s about, not equalizing money and everything, but opening doors for everyone.”
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