Dane Anderson is the webmaster of the Unity08 college site and a senior at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
August was a big month for the Unity08 college effort.
In the past four weeks, we’ve launched college.unity08.com, grown to include members at over 180 campuses, and kicked off our Fall Issues Campaign (I’ll come back to that later).
On campuses across the country, most college students are settling back into their dorms, buying books, and rehearsing statistics in anticipation of the first football game. Seems like the textbook version of a college students agenda. Right?
But this year there’s something different. There’s a vibe on many campuses; there’s a strong feeling of activism. Maybe it’s because they overheard a classmate discussing the notion of a viable third party. Or maybe their political-involved roommate mentioned he’d signed up as a supporter of Unity08. No matter how they heard of it, college students are talking about Unity08.
And college students have good reason to talk about Unity08. Consider just two crucial issues: (1) The National Debt: It’s no mystery that our generation will be stuck with an insurmountable debt. Ed Lorenzen of the Concord Coalition said this Wednesday:
“This nation must soon make some very difficult decisions about our fiscal future. On the verge of the baby boomers' retirement years, we have budget deficits that are problematic in the short term and, if we don't change course, economically ruinous over the longer run.” Full article found here.
College students want sustainable solutions to the growing national debt. Many college students believe that Unity08 will force our politicians to create solutions. (2) Global climate control: Our generation is confronted with major environmental and climate concerns. On Tuesday, California took a lead on combating global climate control. But it will take more than just one state. Susan Hassol explains: "It's going to take a federal policy. … We need it yesterday.” We believe that Unity08 will force elected leaders to begin solving these sorts of crucial issues.
College students are calling for leadership and action. And in response, college.unity08.com is launching the Fall Issues Campaign. We asked college students what issues they wanted to discuss... and they answered. Education, the national debt, global climate change, and America’s dependence on foreign oil led the pack and will headline our Fall Issues Campaign.
Each issue campaign will last 3 weeks, beginning in September and ending right before the elections in November. The first two weeks of each campaign will focus on debating the issue; the third week will culminate in a national action that college students across the country will do, both to send the message that we're fed up with politicians who ignore these issues and to demand that they do better. We are not advocating specific positions on any of these issues, though we expect the debates, both at college.unity08.com and on campuses across the country will be robust. We are setting out to prove that college students care deeply about these issues, and to demand that our elected leaders start focusing on them.
We’re excited about the success of Unity08 on college campuses. But, we want to make the Unity08 college effort bigger. So spread the word. E-mail us at college@unity08.com and come over to college.unity08.com to check out the discussion.
