Back in April, as classes were ending at colleges across the city, the ongoing back-and-forth between students and their neighbors was reaching irreversible new lows. Police were arresting students, residents were fuming, and universities could do nothing but watch as tensions simmered.
Mary Pat Clarke, city councilwoman for the 14th district and recipient of so much student ire for her role in the conflict, was rumored to be something of a quiet favorite for mayor in 2007. I asked Matthew Crenson, professor of political science at Johns Hopkins, if students could have an impact on her campaign if she decided to run.
“Yes,” he laughed. “They?d probably bring out her supporters.”
To say that most people my age see voting ? especially in local or nonpresidential elections ? as an exercise in futility would be an understatement. And Crenson?s comment, while somewhat harsh, captured that sense of apathy perfectly.
Even now, as an election looms less than two weeks away, that endemic sense of apathy persists -?despite the fact that reasons for students to vote in local elections mount.
In only the first week of classes at Johns Hopkins, for example, police raided four parties, arrested two students and issued citations ranging in the hundreds of dollars to dozens more.
The city has set up yet another task force, the Liquor Advisory Committee, to investigate and prosecute incidents of underage drinking. Its first priority: Prohibiting those younger than 21, i.e. college students, from entering bars and clubs in Baltimore. (Legislators in Annapolis are considering making similar rules the law of the state.)
And so, even as we try so incredibly hard to increase voter turnout and fight the scourge of civic apathy, the question on the average student?s mind is simple: Why should we even care?
In April, I asked around about Clarke?s chances should she decide to run for mayor. And while both experts and an unscientific online poll saw Clarke as a popular figure, I couldn?t find one student who felt the same way. The students I talked to seemed to think, without fail, that Clarke was “out to get them.” One even claimed that Clarke was using an attention-grabbing clash with the university as a platform to run for mayor. But the most interesting answer to the question, “What do you think of Mary Pat Clarke?” came when I found someone who was actually registered to vote in her district.
Kaitlin Lee, a senior at Hopkins, fumed. She, like many other students at Hopkins, was furious over Clarke?s hand in propping up local residents in their fight with the university.
“She doesn?t represent me at all,” she said, calling the possibility that Clarke might run for mayor “terrible.”
Almost every student I?ve talked to feels same way. Yet, when Lee organized a petition urging the university to fight back, only about 100 people actually signed.
In an e-mail, Lee acknowledged her disappointment over the apathy of her peers, but said the most interesting thing she saw about the petition were the signatures of alumni from almost a decade ago. They seemed to think the current conflict between students and their city officials was nothing new.
And when asked, back in April, if she felt she had an obligation, as an elected official in Baltimore, to represent the students living in her district, Clarke said she did.
But of course, nobody believed her. So the question this time around, as this election cycle draws to a close and potential candidates for mayor start jockeying for position, is whether city politicians really do have a responsibility to represent the city?s more than 100,000-plus student population.
And, if students really want stop losing real political battles, are they capable of abandoning their apathy to make a tangible electoral impact? Lee seemed to think so. Back in May, she promised to organize voter registration drives and start more petitions ? whatever it would take ? to keep Clarke out of office.
Let?s hope she?s not the only one.
Sal Gentile will be a junior at Johns Hopkins University next year. He is managing editor of student newspaper, The Johns Hopkins News-Letter, and can be reached at [email protected] Gentilewill be a junior at Johns Hopkins University next year. He is managing editor of student newspaper, The Johns Hopkins News-Letter, and can be reached at [email protected].
