On March 9, a new Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA) chapter officially began operating here on Lawrence’s campus. The youth chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is Lawrence’s third left-wing organization, alongside the Appleton Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and the Lawrence University Student Democrats (LU Dems).
According to member and first-year Ernesto Torres, these types of organizations can help to create a healthy atmosphere on campus. Since being founded, the chapter has begun to create connections, recruit members and build a platform for future community engagement and political action.
Their parent organization, DSA, is a nationwide socialist political activist organization that provides connections and resources to chapters all over the country. It provides many resources that the club may need, from PowerPoint templates to funding. In addition, unlike many other clubs at Lawrence, the chapter is not reliant on the Student Activity Fund, meaning it can attempt to do more—or so its members hope.
To chapter member Hayden Young, a sophomore, YDSA is a way for people to work together and get involved. Their goal currently is to promote political engagement and positive action in the community through smaller goals, such as events and drives, at first. To begin with, a food drive has been planned by sophomore Nathaniel Laprade, head of the Food Drive Committee, and is set to take place over the course of a week sometime during April.
“Having [smaller] goals in mind, like doing food drives and clothing drives, helps get people more committed,” said first-year and Treasurer Emmett Bowman-Grubbs. “If we shot for the moon from the start, we would accomplish a whole lot of nothing, but as more people join and more little things get accomplished, I think bigger things can be on the table.”
Aside from the upcoming food drive, the club has already begun to engage in community outreach, says Young. Chapter Co-Chair Nolan Madrigrano, a first-year, has already begun to make connections with Fox Valley residents, and members participated in last week’s Women’s March. On top of this, YDSA is actively creating committees to plan and expand on projects in the future.
These committees allow for higher engagement among YDSA members, but Bowman-Grubbs notes they also allow for the chapter to cover more ground. More committees are created as more members join, and chapter members may be a part of one or multiple committees, and even may switch between them from week to week. This is all common for DSA chapter organizing structures.
For those interested, the club is open to anybody with an open mind. Anyone that’s open to or has new ideas is welcome to come and listen or be heard, said Bowman-Grubbs. He hopes alongside Young that the YDSA can continue to grow, helping to create a better future for Appleton, and Lawrence in particular.
“For anybody reading, just coming to a meeting is a good place to start,” said Young. “We’re not trying to overthrow the government or anything, it’s not huge, crazy projects like that, but it’s really just about bettering our local area, and I think that’s something Nolan was really passionate about and we found other people who are passionate about that, so it’s been nice to start.”
Meetings are at 8 p.m. on Thursdays in Memorial Hall Room 114.