Activist trio bikes for votes
■A new voting campaign
held along a cross-country
bike route makes a stop on
campus today
By Lindsay Buchele
For the Emerald
After visiting Kenya, college
graduate Brian Goldberg realized
just how much America’s youth
takefor granted.
He watched as the young people
in the East African country walked
three days just to cast their votes,
trying desperately to make a differ
ence in a country where the govern
ment reigns supreme, despite how
its people vote. Goldberg worried
that young Americans don’t appre
ciate their own right to vote.
“The youth in Kenya had
dreams, but didn’t see any way to
reach these dreams because of the
economic status and corrupt gov
ernment in their country,” Gold
berg said. “We [Americans] can
achieve our dreams, and voting is
the way our generation has a
voice.”
The “generation” Goldberg refers
to is the 18 to 24-year-old U.S. citi
zens who currently have the lowest
voting percentage in history. In
1972, following the Vietnam War,
the number of youth registered to
vote was 50 percent. Today it has
declined to 20 percent.
Ready to change this alarming
statistic, Goldberg recruited long
time friend Benjamin Bruder and
Bruder’s former classmate Jonas
Parker to start Bike for Youth Votes.
Both were ready and willing to as
sist in spreading awareness about
youth voting.
“Voting is a privilege and respon
sibility we have and need to take
advantage of,” Bruder said.
The first challenge for the 23
year-old friends was to find the best
way to reach at least a portion of
America’s youth, Bruder said. They
decided to cycle down the West
Coast due to its optimal weather
conditions and large progressive
cities. The next challenges were
more complicated.
“This has been a lot of work,”
Parker said. “Getting voter registra
tion forms was the easy part, but we
had to put the whole trip together."
Getting up to speed on the latest
political issues, deciding a route,
making contacts with schools and
the media and finding a way to fi
nance the trip took the trio four
months to complete.
The trio will be making an ap
pearance at the University today to
run a Voter Registration Drive.
By biking from the Canadian to
the Mexican border (approximate
ly 1,776 miles), Bike for Youth
Votes plans to run voter registration
drives, visit high schools and col
leges, meet
with local
political or
ganizations
and attract
media cov
erage. The
journey
started on
Sept. 15,
and, as a re
sult, around
200 young
people
have been
registered to vote. The response has
been encouraging, Bruder said.
“We’re really the perfect age for
this,” Bruder said. “The youth are
getting a message from other youth
rather than older people and politi
cians.”
Remaining “non-partisan,” the
group feels they are less threatening
than politicians pushing their
views on young voters.
“There are basically two reasons
why young people don’t vote,”
Goldberg said. “The first is they
don’t think their vote makes a dif
ference. The second is they feel dis
connected from the government
and don’t understand the govern
ment’s part in their lives.”
Cycling down the western Unit
ed States is changing these ac
tivists’ lives as well. While one of
the three drives (a car is necessary
to transport papers and supplies),
the other two travel bicycle routes
along highways and roads. Averag
ing 50 miles a day, they attempt to
stay with friends and sometimes
end up camping out. Thanks to
their sponsors, however, they aren’t
without the necessities of life.
“The sponsors have provided
money for food and gas,” Parker
said. “Two of our sponsors are Cliff
Bark and Balance Bar, and they’ve
been giving us their products,
which help with our energy lev
els.”
The cyclists are also self-pro
claimed “big athletes” who have
been biking since childhood. Park
er and Bruder live in Colorado and
are active in outdoor sports as well.
Being so active has lent the group
an “energy,” said ASUO vice presi
dent Holly Magner.
“They [Goldberg, Bruder, and
Parker] contacted us and let us
know they were going to be in the
area,” Magner said. “We jumped on
this awesome opportunity to have
fresh faces and fresh new energy re
cruiting voters. They just care so
much about the issue.”
Despite their energy, Bruder says
this will probably be the only trip
the group will make.
"After this trip, we’ll probably
move on to our respective careers
and have other things going on in
our lives,” Bruder said.
With that in mind, the group will
work hard on this trip and hope for
continued success as they move
into California.
“We expect a good response in
California, because it will be getting
closer to election time,” Parker
said.
Southworth
continued from page 1
fering views, but similar programs,
- would be considered equals when
it comes to funding.
With such a large opportunity
_ on the horizon as the ASUO gears
up for the impending budget
process, there are more questions
than answers floating around.
ASUO President Jay Breslow
said that until the Clark Document,
which contains incidental fee
guidelines for the University, is
updated in November, it is unclear
what groups will be able to receive
funding and how the process will
work.
Even so, some student organiza
tions are still planning to try.
Austin said that Justice for All,
an anti-abortion student group that
supports the use of graphic materi
al, will request funding during this
year’s budgeting process. The
funding will go in part to sponsor
the Genocide Awareness Project,
which JFA brought to campus last
year.
The issue, he said, is not
whether JFA will receive funding,
but how much funding it will get.
Generally, first-year student pro
grams are given S300 for their year
ly budget.
But Students for Choice, an
abortion rights organization on
campus, has received funding
through the incidental fee for
years. JFA is essentially equal to
SFC, Austin said, so there is a
chance it may receive full funding.
The amount of funding for vari
ous groups is not the only unre
solved issue surrounding this
year’s budget process. Austin fore
sees other complications when it
comes to fee distribution. For ex
ample, the ability of student
groups to request funds through
ballot measures, which they could
There are always more
requests then there are
money for. We've taken
the view that any group
can apply for funds, and
then we look at what the
activities are.
Melinda Grier
General Counsel s
University of Oregon //
do in years past, may be put in
jeopardy.
He said the ballot measure sys
tem allows groups that are popular
to get more money than those that
aren’t. If that were to happen,
equal groups would not receive
equal funding, which he said goes
against the Southworth decision.
And finally, there is the question
of how the decision will impact
the incidental fee itself.
University General Counsel
Melinda Grier said she doesn’t be
lieve the decision will result in
students paying more to the fee,
because students will continue to
look at the programs and decide
which ones they want to fund.
“There are always more requests
than there are money for,” she
said. “We’ve always taken the view
that any group can apply for funds,
and then we look at what the activ
ities are.”
Despite the overwhelming pres
ence of questions, groups that wish
to have funding for the next school
year must begin thinking soon
about their choices.
Already some groups are con
templating future action.
Chris Pratt of the College De
mocrats said that the group in
tends to ask for funding when the
opportunity arises.
In contrast, the College Republi
cans have decided as a group not
to ask for funding, Austin said.
“I don’t think it’s right for any
one to pay for something they
don’t agree with,” he said.
The Chi Alpha Christian Fellow
ship is steering clear of the inci
dental fee issue for the time being.
“I don’t think we’re at a place
where we’re able to deal with any
adversarial issues that may be out
there,” said Jack Hammond, direc
tor of Chi Alpha. He added that he
didn’t think the fellowship would
ask for funding “until our students
have a stronger conviction for their
fees going to Chi Alpha.”
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