2008 Woodie Awards
Students show an alarming lack of political interest
Kathleen Vissichelli
Issue date: 2/1/07 Section: News
- Page 1 of 1
Students show a lack of knowledge and interest in politics, especially during non-election years, with many of them unaware of occurrences such as the President's State of the Union Address.
"I didn't even know it was on," said Christina Langella, sophomore, Westchester, N.Y., giving a common response amongst students interviewed.
"Many students are detached from the political process and a State of the Union Address is not on their radar screen," said Professor and Chair of the Department of History and Political Science Gary Rose.
The State of the Union Address is given once a year by the President, who reports on the status of the nation and share his goals for the coming year with Congress.
Although there is the presence of a Republican Club and a Democrat Club on campus, the majority of students don't participate in any form of political observation.
Even though important political issues that are imperative to students' futures were discussed in the address, even political-minded students lost interest quickly, " I watched [the State of the Union Address] for about five minutes before I turned it off," said Alessandra Giuffre, a sophomore and member of the Republican club, Valley Cottage, N.Y. "I really didn't pay attention."
Rose said that this detachment that students tend to show is not due to President Bush's policies, nor is it due to his low public approval ratings, but instead to a general sense among college-age students here and elsewhere that politics has little relationship to their everyday life.
As a result, it has become a goal of the Political Science Department here to introduce students to the political process and make them more aware, said Rose.
"One of the true challenges that we face as political science professors is to draw college students closer to the political process and to generate a genuine interest in political affairs," said Rose.
He explained that there tends to be more student awareness in politics in an actual election year when the importance of voting is highly published on campus, and students - being of voting age - have the issues put directly in front of them, encouraging them to vote. But in a non-election year, little student concern is in politics
"I didn't even know it was on," said Christina Langella, sophomore, Westchester, N.Y., giving a common response amongst students interviewed.
"Many students are detached from the political process and a State of the Union Address is not on their radar screen," said Professor and Chair of the Department of History and Political Science Gary Rose.
The State of the Union Address is given once a year by the President, who reports on the status of the nation and share his goals for the coming year with Congress.
Although there is the presence of a Republican Club and a Democrat Club on campus, the majority of students don't participate in any form of political observation.
Even though important political issues that are imperative to students' futures were discussed in the address, even political-minded students lost interest quickly, " I watched [the State of the Union Address] for about five minutes before I turned it off," said Alessandra Giuffre, a sophomore and member of the Republican club, Valley Cottage, N.Y. "I really didn't pay attention."
Rose said that this detachment that students tend to show is not due to President Bush's policies, nor is it due to his low public approval ratings, but instead to a general sense among college-age students here and elsewhere that politics has little relationship to their everyday life.
As a result, it has become a goal of the Political Science Department here to introduce students to the political process and make them more aware, said Rose.
"One of the true challenges that we face as political science professors is to draw college students closer to the political process and to generate a genuine interest in political affairs," said Rose.
He explained that there tends to be more student awareness in politics in an actual election year when the importance of voting is highly published on campus, and students - being of voting age - have the issues put directly in front of them, encouraging them to vote. But in a non-election year, little student concern is in politics
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