Generally speaking, student groups tend to be a small and disorganized bunch. Every once in a while, they are able to make a splash, but that’s only when they aren’t flaking on their events or canceling at the last minute.
Consequently, lawmakers and administrators don’t take them very seriously. Reporters, however, cover the events with glee.
Take, for instance, a Wednesday rally hosted by students against Amendment 46. While the event was to last three hours and include a march, just a couple dozen students took part and interest fizzled out in less than a half hour. A Daily Camera reporter blogged as the event unfolded, providing a series of online updates.
But give credit where credit is due. What student organizers lack in organization, they definitely make up for in passion.
Kaitlyn Myers, a University of Colorado student, recently sent out an invitation to a press conference (PDF) to an assortment of state and local lawmakers and candidates. In the notice, she encouraged participation in a Nov. 13th event where the Colorado Public Interest and Research Group, a liberal public interest group with college chapters statewide, will release its "Boulder's Hunger and Homelessness Report,” a collection of statistics from local food banks and homeless shelters. (We'll look past the fact some candidates, depending on the outcome of the election, may not be too enthused about politics after Nov. 4.)
The email promises that, “At the press conference, we will have community leaders from local churches, organizations, and businesses as well as CU administrators and CU student groups attending.” Kaitlyn Myers offers an opportunity to sign a promise to “help lessen the impact of hunger and homelessness in relation to the report's findings.”
But Rep. Paul Weissmann, D-Longmont, wanted more (PDF). An adjunct professor at CU when not in session at the legislature, he wanted to know what time to show up. He also wanted to see the report’s findings before he would consider to sign on to a promise supporting the effort.
"What time is the press conference? Also, how can we be expected to sign 'a promise to help lessen the impact of hunger and homelessness in relation to the report's findings' if we haven't seen the report?" Weissmann replied to Kaitlyn Myer's email.
According to Robert Myers of the Leadership Institute, a Washington, D.C. based group that encourages students to participate in the political process, e-mails like the one from Myers are not uncommon and press turnout at student events tends to be low. “Most students are never taught how to write a press release,” he said. “This training is left out of the learning environment because the university doesn’t want students to be politically active. Students sending out press releases are a threat to the university. The school wants to control all the press generating activity coming out of it.”
The Leadership Institute works to train students how to promote their events to the media and write press releaseS. “We tell students to give the time, place, date, cause and why it’s important,” Robert Myers said. “If you don’t say that in the first three sentences, you will lose the press.”
LI is a conservative organization and focuses on helping center-right student groups, so it's not very likely Kaitlyn Myers would have taken any instruction from it. Lucky for her, CoPIRG has its own paid staff, funded by mandatory student fees, to help students organize and maximize their effectiveness. Some students might want to request a refund.