By Cristen DiPisa & Mary Breaden

In light of recent events concerning the College Democrats, some of the liberals on this campus would like to make their presence known. We were dismayed at the content of Anna Kwidzinska's story "Protest ends in new election" that was printed on April 20, and the subsequent "re-election" at an April 22 meeting. We think, it is unrepresentative of the left wing in general. In our view, the in-fighting in College Democrats is counterproductive to the goals of liberals and progressives.

Although we do believe that there is a lot of in-fighting among conservative groups as well, the purpose of student groups is to band together for a common goal, not to push one's personal agenda. There are, in fact, more liberals on this campus that are not heard from because of the stigma attached to College Democrats. The Students for Dean group was proof of this. Because we are worried that the conflict has become too divisive, we have taken it upon ourselves to create a new organization, a transcending effort of progressives — Students for Progressive Ideals.

In SFPI, we are about realistically reaching out and stimulating the progressive leaning individuals into a more engaged role in their community. We take a non-partisan approach to electing progressive candidates for group purposes and in supporting candidates that demonstrate our ideals.

While what the College Democrats stand for and aim towards is productive, we feel that in order to help stimulate and stabilize the liberal faction on campus, group goals should transcend personal ones. We are not against College Democrats. Rather, we seek to work with them and other groups in order to gain a strong base so that interpersonal conflicts are not a hinderance to our goals.

In general, we feel the issues that need attention are not being adequately addressed. We hope to change that. Some of the goals we wish to accomplish are voter outreach to minority areas, fundraising for community programs and working with national organizations to help their causes on a local level. We want students feel more connected on a consistent basis, and these are just a few of the ways in which we think progress for fulfilling societal potential can be made.

Progressives on this campus need to know that there are other outlets for information and advocacy. SFPI is the group to accomplish this. Progressives, we know you're out there. For more information, contact [email protected].

DiPisa is a junior journalism major and Breaden is a sophomore English major. They are writing in an official capacity for Students for Progressive Ideals.