ACU may soon be represented among College Democrats across the state of Texas.
Jared Perkins, junior sociology major from Ft. Worth, is beginning his campaigning journey toward becoming the next political director of the Texas College Democrats.
Texas College Democrats is the statewide organization that connects every College Democrats chapter in Texas. ACU’s chapter was officially added to the 52 chartered chapters across the state last year. The political director’s job is to be the liaison between all of the chapters in Texas and the current democratic candidates.
With this position, Perkins hopes to:
• Increase the communication between the Texas College Democrats and current elected democratic officials.
• Create a database of democratic-elected officials to help give the chapters a voice on the advocacy issues they would like to get through.
• Get involved in campaigns as soon as they start for the 2012 election cycle, so students can begin volunteering as soon as possible.
• Plug Texas College Democrats into Obama’s reelection campaign and build excitement for that.
He has one other opponent, and more may be nominated during the convention at the University of Texas in April where the elections will take place.
“It’s a great opportunity, even if I don’t win, to be able to meet with a lot of people and talk about the issues that really matter to college students, and it’s a great way to kind of get ACU’s name out there and to show that an ACU student is really getting involved and trying to make a difference,” Perkins said.
Perkins believes ACU has a unique perspective of working for inclusion, equality and social justice, and he wants to use that perspective in the position. He said that, in the past, a lot of the chapters that have been the most involved in campaigns were generally from Austin, Houston and Dallas. He wants to make sure that colleges like ACU, McMurry and other universities in West Texas and other parts of the state are involved by encouraging people to listen to everyone’s opinion.
Rebecca Dial, sophomore political science major from Lexington, S.C., said she was excited about having a member of the ACU College Democrats run for a statewide position. Dial is the c president of the ACU College Democrats.
“We support Jared doing this and should he win, look forward to working with him in that capacity,” Dial said.
To learn more about the Texas College Democrats, visit txcollegedems.org.
