The College Democrats provides over 200 progressive-minded students with an organization whose values reflect those of the Democratic Party.
Weston Sims, the president of Auburn’s chapter of College Democrats, said that the group’s members value inclusivity, the working class and the environment.
“Just caring about people, in general, is sort of the center gravity of what I would say College Democrats is, just empathy,” Sims said. “I think all good politics flows from empathy, and if not empathy then a sense of duty.”
The College Democrats along with the College Republicans engaged with the community by helping people register to vote during political elections and volunteering to help with the campaigns of Democratic political candidates.
“We travel around the South and do campaigning,” Sims said. “We went to Florida to campaign for Hillary Clinton, we went to Georgia to campaign for John Ossoff … the civic engagement that we do that’s not partisan is mostly getting people registered to vote and encouraging civic engagement.”
Along with meeting new people and learning more about politics through discussion and debate, Sims said that the networking opportunities provided to members of the College Democrats is one of the group’s greatest advantages.
“No matter what business you get into, it’s good to be networked with people who are interested in politics,” Sims said. “It’s good to know people who are running the country and who are probably going to be running things when they’re older.”
To Sims, the efforts of College Democrats in a red state like Alabama or a seemingly conservative college like Auburn University is to make other left-leaning students feel like they aren’t alone and to encourage them to take part in politics.
“People think Auburn is an ultra-conservative campus with only conservatives on it, but there are Democrats and people who are liberal who don’t identify as Democrats, there are progressives and there are even communists,” Sims said. “The fact of the matter is that Auburn is a conservative campus … Democrats definitely aren’t a majority on campus, but there are more than you would expect.”
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