Columbia University College Democrats
The Columbia University College Democrats make up one of the largest political clubs on campus. The president for 2013-2014 is Sejal Singh, and the Vice President is Austin Heyroth.
The body encompasses a variety of liberal and progressive opinion, ranging from environmental, civil liberties, social justice, and foreign policy issues. Recently the group has showcased this diversity with its new forum, "Liberal Sparring", in which members debate on issues that do not have consensus in the Democratic party. Every week in the body meeting a member gives a "Liberal Boot Camp" on something in the news or political arena he/she believes deserves more attention.
Criticisms
The College Democrats are sometimes criticized for their lower on-campus profile relative to their right-ward leaning counter-parts, Columbia University College Republicans (and for a time the Columbia College Conservative Club), who have a reputation for hosting deliberately provocative and controversial events, despite having fewer members and much less campus funding.
Annual events
Past notable leaders
- Seth Flaxman. Seth is credited with creating the modern CU Dems. He developed the campaign trip, which has been run continuously since 2004, and the Activist Council, the subsection of the Dems which ran the campaign trip as well as other activist events from 2004-2011. Post-Columbia, Seth developed TurboVote, a voter registration system which the Columbia Democrats and other campus groups use to register voters.
- Josh Lipsky. Josh revitalized the club after a lackluster year, and was the first junior to be elected Dems President. He established the Columbia chapter of the Roosevelt Institute, which was originally a part of Dems, and made numerous media appearances as Dems President.
- Janine Balekdjian. Janine was the CU Dems' first two-term President. She refocused the club with activism as its top priority, and presided over a new body meeting structure, the disillusion of the Activist Council and Umbrella Groups, a new Dems Constitution, the largest CU Dems campaign trip, and many successful activist campaigns. She will be a Fulbright Scholar in Ukraine, as was previous Dems President Kaley Hanenkrat.
