After reviving the club from a year of dormancy, College Democrats at Florida Atlantic University held its first general meeting on Tuesday evening. The organization held a watch party on campus at Live Oak Pavilion to view the United States Vice Presidential Debate between J.D. Vance and Tim Walz.
The group left campus in spring 2023, but they plan to increase their presence on campus as the presidential election approaches. Their main objective is getting people to register to vote.
“For the past month or so, we’ve been getting the Florida College Democrats [on campus] back online. There’s been a couple attempts to get the club up and running, but we’re here to stay,” said Nicholas Ostheimer, an FAU student and campus organizer with the Florida College Democrats. “It’s an election year, so we have a lot of work to do, and that has really motivated a lot of students to join us, work with us, follow the election and inform themselves about what’s at stake.
According to Ostheimer, FAU College Democrats is in cooperation with The Democratic Club of Boca Raton & Delray Beach, as well as the Florida Future Leaders (FFL) Political Action Committee. FFL offered financial support to the club, providing things like free Plan B, rolling papers and pizza during their tabling on campus. They also provided snacks and drinks at the VP debate watch party.
Trevian Briskey, FAU College Democrats student president, collaborated with Jayden D’Onofrio, chairman of FFL, to bring Florida College Democrats back to FAU’s campus. He said the club sought to provide access to students who may not have otherwise viewed the debate.
“[D’Onofrio is] the one who practically put everything together; the one that has been overseeing all of our ground organizers… I’m currently a paid organizer with FAU College Democrats and was basically paid to help restart this organization because, without a College Democrats chapter here, FFL can’t do anything,” said Briskey. “Without an actual College Democrats chapter on campus, there’s nothing that they could do.”
Although the FAU College Democrats is an organization that provides support for the Democratic Party and works alongside people involved in the Harris for President campaign, Briskey stated that the watch party was open to all students, regardless of political leanings.
“We just want to foster that environment that everybody feels safe and welcome to express however they feel, even if they are from another political party; it is open to everybody,” said Briskly. “Since [College Democrats] is technically a registered student organization, we are allowed to have anybody here, and we are open to anybody with any viewpoint.”
Camila Mercedes Alarcon, a freshman psychology major, heard about the club the same day of the watch party due to tabling outside her dorm. She stated that she had already planned to watch the debate on her own, but decided to go to the watch party as a way to make new connections on campus.
“I’ve been trying to make new friends and meet new people here since I didn’t know a lot of people from high school coming here,” said Alarcon. “So it was important to me to hang out with people that have similar values to me; so I was like, why not give it a shot?”
Briskey said FFL leaders were especially forthright about re-establishing a Democratic group on campus in an attempt to engage students.
“They realize that on campus, organizing is one of the most important things they can do, especially because there are so many students who are disengaged from politics, who really want politicians and political activists to meet them where they are,” said Ostheimer.
JD Delcastillo is the Managing Editor for the University Press. For information regarding this or other stories, email him at [email protected], DM on Instagram @jd.delcastillo or on X (Twitter) @jd_delcastillo.
