The student arms of the Democratic and Republican parties have struggled to remain active on campus in recent years.
UVM College Democrats has been largely inactive for the past couple of years, said sophomore Merrick Modun, club president.
Historically, College Democrats has not had a strong presence at the school, especially within the past few years, Modun said. The group has been suffering from a lack of recruitment and enduring leadership, he said.
In recent months, Modun and his friends have been trying to reactivate the organization at UVM, but have struggled with finding enough time to do so, he said.
“We’ve already gone through all the proper mechanisms through SGA to reactivate it,” Modun said.
Modun said the group is attempting to capitalize on the energy of the upcoming general election.
“The next step is just making sure that we actually can get members, and then beyond that, stay as an organization beyond just one year,” he said.
UVM’s chapter of College Republicans appears to have been inactive since the spring of 2022. None of the officers listed on the group’s UVM Clubs page are currently students.
The most recent post on College Republicans’ Instagram page is from Apr. 28, 2022, an announcement for a meeting with then-Vermont Senate candidate Christina Nolan.
The Cynic reached out to several students who were formerly involved with the organization. They all declined to be interviewed or provide comment.
Franklin Cody, ‘22, former president of College Republicans, said he felt like he had had to walk on eggshells at UVM due to the unpopularity of his political views on campus, according to a Feb. 24, 2022 Vermont Public article.
“I think that UVM, its students, are pretty far left, not necessarily liberal, but just left in general,” said sophomore Stella Sarefield, co-chair of UVM’s chapter of Young Democratic Socialists of America.
Republican groups, such as Turning Point USA, have attempted to establish chapters at UVM, but their efforts have struggled to gain traction because their politics do not resonate with most students, said Trey Cook, co-chair of UVM’s chapter of Young Democratic Socialists of America.
The focus of College Democrats and College Republicans in the past has mainly been on elections, and election season is when they have been really active in previous years, Cook said.
Disillusionment with the two-party system is a trend across the country. A survey of all 50 states and Washington D.C. found that 58% of adults in the U.S. agree that a third party is needed, according to an Oct. 1 Gallup article.
Vermont is one of the few states that has consistently had a third party capable of competing within the two-party system since its founding, said Johnathan “Doc” Bradley, a political science lecturer at UVM.
“Here in Vermont, we have, of course, the Democratic party, which is very strong, and the Republican party, which is somewhat strong,” Bradley said. “We also have the Progressive party, which does quite well.”
UVM’s chapter of YDSA ran the 2023 campaign that elected Marek Broderick, a UVM student and member of the Progressive party, to Burlington City Council, Cook said.
