On Nov. 5, students who are registered to vote will be asked to make a very important decision. Their vote is important in many ways besides that there is an important gubernatorial race in this state because one of the candidates for State Representative in Burlington is Dr. Anthony Gierzynski, a Professor of Political Science. For the last month, Dr. Gierzynski has been going door-to-door with the UVM College Democrats in the dorms and to off-campus neighborhoods registering students to vote and discussing what issues are important to them.
Dr. Gierzynski is running with Nancy Kirby, a local Burlington business woman, as the Democratic candidates for State Representative. They are running against two Progressive Party incumbents, David Zuckerman and Bob Kiss, who have held these two seats for the last several elections.
What is important and respectful about Dr. Gierzynski’s running for office is that he is running for his students’ and the local community’s interests that have been neglected in the State Legislature. For the past 11 years, Dr. Gierzynski has been a Burlington Resident and Professor of Political Science at UVM and has witnessed how his students’ interests are underrepresented in the legislature. Dr. Gierzynski has seen students and the University suffering from a lack of appropriate state funding, the Progressive party seducing the student vote with false promises and the tuition costs rising within the University. Another issue that is being drafted in the House that antagonized Dr. Gierzynski to run for this office is the proposal to not allow non-resident students the privilege to vote in Vermont. Currently, the House Republicans are drafting a bill to revoke Vermont non-residents, specifically students, the privilege to vote in Vermont. The Republicans’ motives for doing this proposed bill are because they know that when students do vote, they primarily vote Democratic.
What is more interesting about this candidate is that throughout school, students sit in class and listen to their professors speak about theory and examples they have read from books. In this situation, the candidacy of Dr. Gierzynski, the professor of domestic politics is getting into the position of entering politics as a player and not just as an observer. If elected to the State Legislature, Dr. Gierzynski will not abandon his job at UVM, but will fit his full-time teaching schedule around the legislative schedule. This vow shows dedication to his profession, his students, the university and his research. If anything, the University and its students will benefit greatly from his election because UVM would have a representative seeking to uphold UVM interests in the State Legislature. After all, do you think that David Zuckerman and Bob Kiss really care about UVM students? They have not before, so why should they start now?
For information, any questions or where to register to vote for the upcoming election, Dr. Gierzynski’s e-mail address is [email protected] and his office is in room 513 in Old Mill. More information on the state races, getting involved in politics and registering to vote can be found at www.uvm.edu/~uvmdems.
