About the Dickinson College Democrats

About the Democratic Party

The Dickinson College Democrats were founded in 2002 to bring the political process to the students, faculty and staff of Dickinson College and to the Carlisle community. The Dickinson Democrats are actively involved in local elections in Central Pennsylvania, statewide campaigns, and at the national level. We work closely with the Cumberland County Democratic Party and the County Young Democrats.

In the 2003-2004 school year, after just getting our feet on the ground, we had approximately ten active members. Despite the slim turnouts, the College Democrats were able to make a real difference by working with the Cumberland County Party. By forging this wonderful relationship, the College Dems have been able to become active members of the community. Many of the members became even more involved by working with the Howard Dean Meetup group. This organization, which started with a handful of students and community members, ballooned to over one-hundred by the time of the presidential primaries. After the nomination was secured for John Kerry all of the factions supporting the various candidates came together to support our candidate. Although the organization at Dickinson is now much more organized, we still do a large amount of work within the County Party's structure.

When school started back up in the fall of 2004, the College Democrats ranks increased from 5 to 300 - practically overnight. The College Dems undertook a massive voter registration drive with the College Republicans, collectively registering over 300 students and providing absentee ballots to another 250. In addition, the Dickinson Dems brought to campus the Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania and our local State Senator and State Representative. We also actively undertook the tasks of canvassing neighborhoods, calling undecided voters, and promoting a discourse on campus with events such as debate watching parties, lectures, and films. Dickinson students got the opportunity to meet John Kerry, John Edwards, each of their wives, Senate candidate Joe Hoeffel, and multiple local and state candidates. Also, a few Dickinson students participated directly in the national campaign as interns. Although overall the election did not turn out as we had wished, we like to believe that the efforts of the Dickinson Democrats were a small part of keeping Pennsylvania in the Democrats column.

In February 2005 we held a conference entitled, "So, What's Next?: College Students and the Future of the Democratic Party and Liberalism in America", which brought 70 students from 13 colleges and universities together and made meaningful suggestions for how to strengthen the Democratic Party so that together we can improve our country.

We are currently working on developing a partnership with Franklin & Marshall College and Gettysburg College, which is called the Central Pennsylvania Consortium Democrats. The clubs have come together to maximize our effectiveness at electing Democratic candidates in the region, state, and nation and to better utilize our resources to elevate the level of debate on our campuses and in our communities.

In the 2004-2005 school year we were proud to be honored at Dickinson's All Campus Leadership Recognition Ceremony with both the "Outstanding Organization of the Year" and "Outstanding Event of the Year" awards. These awards are very special to all members of the Dickinson Democrats family and we are incredibly thankful for everyone who helped us to achieve our goals and improve our position in the community.

Please come to our next meeting and find out what you can do to get involved in promoting progressive policies here at Dickinson, in our community, and in our nation at large. Thank you for checking out our website and we hope to see you soon!