Two students are gathering momentum to launch a Young Democrats club at the Downtown campus next week.
Journalism freshman Andres Cano and nonprofit leadership and management junior Joe Pettinato said they want to form an official chapter because there is a need for a Young Democrats club on the Downtown campus.
“Originally I went to a meeting for the Tempe chapter, but I realized it was impractical for me to try to go to Tempe for meetings,” Pettinato said. “Then I started to think about all the democratically-minded people that I knew on the Downtown campus.”
Cano said he mainly felt there was a need for the club because the campus is growing quickly.
“In four years we could have 15,000 students on the campus,” Cano said.
“I think it will be a really good opportunity for students to speak out about the things they are concerned about.”
The chapter will hopefully do a lot of networking and hands-on work, Cano said, adding he wants to engage with other chapters of the club across the state.
“We have a lot of opportunity to network and work with a other chapters to work on common goals,” he said.
Pettinato said one of the other reasons he thinks a Downtown chapter is necessary is because Tempe and Phoenix are in different voting districts.
“Of course we want to work with other chapters on common issues, but we also see issues that are unique to Phoenix, and we want students to have an outlet to accomplish things they are passionate about,” he said.
Political science senior Ashley Sherman said she is interested in joining the new chapter and feels it will be beneficial to students to have a broad variety of political activism on campus.
“I hope it will be an outlet for students who lean toward the left end of the spectrum,” she said.
The Young Democrats plan to host their first meeting Monday, Oct. 19 at Carly’s Bistro in Phoenix, and all are welcome to join.
“We want to gauge the interests from students and find out what issues they are passionate about,” Cano said.
He said he plans on the club being very active beyond having meetings and talking about issues.
“I plan on having us take the light rail to the Arizona Young Democrats headquarters, working phone banks and helping people register to vote. I want us to take action,” Cano said.
Pettinato said he’s confident there will be wide student interest in the club.
“One of the interesting things about the Downtown campus is how social the majority of the majors here are,” he said. “And we’re creating an organization that would give students a chance to make their voices heard and would engage them.”
Reach the reporter at sheydt@asu.edu.
State Press Television: Downtown College Republicans
