Happy Holidays!

From everyone on the Executive Board, we want to wish you all Happy Holidays!

Enjoy your break from school and stay safe!
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New Executive Board for the Winter Semester

At our last meeting of the year, we elected a new Executive Board to lead the club next semester. We also have implemented some changes for the next semester as well.

The new Executive Board is:

President - Christopher Jackson
Vice-President - Alexandra Lyster
Secretary - Dani Wright
Treasurer - Claire Hawkins
Additional Board Member - Boaz Frazier-Bey
Membership Chair - Ryan Buckman
Civic Outreach Chair - Konye Ori

Next Semester, meetings will now start at 9 PM in Schwitzer 012. Also on nights that we have speakers, meetings will begin at 8 PM. Unlike last semester, we do not plan on having speakers at every meeting. Lastly, we will be meeting every Monday from now on (except for Holidays that UIndy is closed on). We will post the schedule of meetings and guest speakers as soon as it becomes available.

Also, in the coming weeks, the site will be revamped from the ground up. Let us know if you have any suggestions or comments!
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Special Event Showing of Milk


Tomorrow, Tuesday, December 1st, we will be showing Milk, starring Sean Penn. The event starts at 7:30 pm in CDFAC 115. The Indiana Stonewall Democrats will be speaking at the event before the movie. We are co-hosting this event with Pride and this is taking place of our normal meeting this week. We will be serving pizza and drinks! We hope to have everyone there to enjoy the movie, because it will be a good break from studying for finals! You can RSVP for the event on Facebook, here.
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College Democrats to debate College Republicans

On November 21st, at 2 pm in Good Recital Hall, history will take place at UIndy in the form of the 1st annual debate between the College Democrats and College Republicans.

College Democrats will be represented by a panel composed of Christopher Jackson, Mustafizur Prodhan, and Ryan Buckman. Topics that will be discussed include: Health Care Reform, Taxes, Energy Policy, Globalization, Foreign Policy in the Middle East, and Gay Rights.

The debate will last roughly two hours and refreshments will be served for attendees to enjoy during what should be a very enjoyable afternoon. We hope to see everyone there!
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Brian Williams, Candidate for Indy Mayor, to speak to UIndy College Dems


We will be having our next General Meeting on Monday, October 19th at 7 pm in Schwitzer 012. Brian Williams, Candidate for Mayor of Indianapolis (pictured right), will be our guest speaker. We will also be talking about our fundraising efforts and community service project for the year. Food and drinks will be provided and we hope to see everyone there!

Also, apologies for not posting reminders about our previous two meetings, so here is a synopsis. On September 28th, Marion County Judge Jose Salinas spoke to the club. On October 5th, Vop Osili, Candidate for Indiana Secretary of State, and Andy Miller, a surrogate for the Melina Kennedy for Indianapolis Campaign, spoke about their respective elections. Also, this meeting was a first for the year for the club: Vop Osili was the first Candidate to be hosted by our Club!! Many thanks to all three of these speakers for coming out and talking to College Democrats about getting involved in the community!
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General Meeting, September 21st


The school year has been proceeding quickly, and we have been in school for almost a month now!

Our next meeting is this Monday, September 21st, at 7 pm in Schwitzer 012. We have had a change in our guest speaker for this meeting. Our new guest speaker is Alison Griffin, State Field Director for Indiana OFA. OFA stands for Organizing for America, and it is what has been absorbed into the DNC from President Obama's campaign, so its all about the Grassroots organizing, and we love the Grassroots.

Free food and drinks as always! We hope to see everyone there!
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Health Care Rally Tomorrow!

UIndy College Democrats and ICCD members are supporting a Health Care Rally that is tomorrow, Saturday, September 5th, at 10 am. It is taking place at the corner of North Street and Pennsylvania Street, aka Obelisk Square. Congressman Carson will be there as one of the Keynote Speakers. There will be free breakfast for attendees. It is being hosted by SEIU and the Indiana Central Labor Council.

Club members, we are meeting in the parking lot between Krannert Memorial Library and Cory Bretz Hall at 8:45 to carpool, and we are leaving at 9:00 sharp! We hope to see everyone there to show support for Health Care Reform!
Also, don't forget we have our next meeting on Tuesday, September 8th, at 7 pm in Schwitzer 012. Our Guest Speaker will be Lowell "Butch" Shroyer, President of the Perry Township Democrats Club and Candidate for Marion County Prosecutor. There will be free food and drinks for everyone. We hope to see you there as well as this weekend's Health Care Rally!
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Classes start tomorrow!


The Welcome Week events on Friday were an astounding success for the club with many new members joining.

Today is the Marion County United Democrats picnic at Garfield Park at noon. We are hoping to have many members join us for this. We are meeting in the parking lot between Krannert Memorial Library and Corey Bretz Hall at 11:45 am to carpool to the Park. There will be free food and great times at the Picnic with Democrats of all ages attending! We hope to have everyone join us for this to show the rest of the County Party that we, College Democrats, mean business, and to remind them that we are a major bloc of the party.

Our first meeting is on Tuesday, August 25th, at 7 pm in Schwitzer 012. We hope to see everyone there, and there is much business to discuss, but we are going to try to not make it boring. Some things on the meetings agenda are: the Club Constitution, some new Elections, ICCD, Election Day 2009, Healthcare rallies, and many other things. There will be free pizza and drinks at the meeting for members to enjoy. As always, friends are more than welcome to come to a meeting and join the club.
I hope everyone has an awesome first week back in classes!
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Come One, Come All!

The beginning of the school year is quickly approaching with only 10 days until classes start, but before school begins, there is UIndy Welcome Week.

Picture of the Day is part of the Indiana College Democrats delegation at the CDA National Convention in late July.

On Friday August 21st, we will be participating in the UIndy Life Expo and UIndy Welcome Week Circus. We need members to volunteer to work at our booths at these events. The UIndy Life Expo is from 12-2 pm on the 21st on the Smith Mall, and at it, we will be passing out pamphlets to new and returning students with information about our organization to help in the recruitment of new members. Then from 7-11 pm that night, the UIndy Circus will take place, also on the Smith Mall. At the Circus, we will be passing out informational pamphlets, playing Pin the Tail on the Donkey, and selling Elephant Ears as a fundraiser.

We hope to see everyone at these events, and hopefully many of you will volunteer. If you want to be listed on the list of volunteers, email us at uindycollegedemocrats@gmail.com.

Also, our first General Meeting of the year will take place on Tuesday, August 25th at 7 pm in Schwitzer 012. We have much to discuss at the meeting, including: Guest Speakers, Communication methods, our new club Constitution, Events, Fundraising, Election Day, Club T-Shirts, and Campaigning. Everyone should be there, because many important things will be covered that shouldn't be missed.
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Convention Highlights

Well, I have returned from the convention, and needless to say is was pretty amazing. Here are some of the highlights:

-UIndy was one of the 6 Indiana universities represented at the convention, including; Norte Dame, IU-South Bend, Purdue, Ball State, UIndy, and IU-Bloomington, with a total of 10 participants! It was the largest Indiana delegation in recent memory.
-Katie Naranjo was re-elected as CDA President, while Jamarr Brown was elected as CDA Vice-President.
-The State Federation of the College Democrats of Indiana won the Rising Star State Federation of the Year award!
-Over 300 College Democrats participated in the Convention, with over 120 Chapters represented, and 38 State Federations were in attendance.
-I met with Congressman Carson and he said that he will come as a guest speaker to UIndy this year!

I hope that at the 2010 CDA National Convention, more UIndy students will attend. It is a good learning experience and an execellent resource to network with fellow Democrats from across the nation.

Later this week, I will post more news and an update on details regarding our involvement in Welcome Week activities. Anyone who would like to volunteer can email us at our new club email address: uindycollegedemocrats@gmail.com.
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Some Quick Important News

As some of you may have noticed, our website is constantly evolving and adding new features to make information more accessible to our members. So I advise you to spend a few minutes to look around the site and discover some of our new features.

The picture of the day is President Obama and our next Associate Justice of the SCOTUS, Judge Sonia Sotomayor.

In other news, the Executive Board has decided to move our weekly meetings to the 1st, 3rd, and last Mondays of every month, so that we will not overlap with the meetings of other Democratic clubs throughout Indianapolis. We have also moved the start times of the meetings to 7 pm in order to better accommodate our Guest Speakers. Our first General meeting will be on Tuesday, August 25th at 7 pm in the Schwitzer Basement (The exact room and Guest Speaker is TBA). Our first General Meeting on the new schedule will be on Monday, September 7th at 7 pm.

We are still looking for volunteers for the UIndy Life Expo and Welcome Week Circus, both are on August 21st. Let us know if you are interested in volunteering for this, so we can add you to the list. A list is also being made of club members who are wanting to attend the One City Indy Youth Rally and/or the Marion County Democratic Clubs Unity Picnic both are on August 23rd, we are hoping to get people to volunteer to carpool other members from the campus to these 2 very important events.

The Executive Board is meeting on Wednesday afternoon to discuss things and to work on getting things prepared for the beginning of the year. The results of the meeting will be posted on here and anyone that wants to attend the Executive Board meeting is more than welcome to because we believe in transparency, so just let us know and we can provide the details to you. This school year should be a very good year for the UIndy College Democrats and we want all members to be actively involved, because without you, we are nothing!
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Summer is half over!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Fourth of July weekend and that everyone is enjoying their summer break! Summer is more than half way over and classes will be starting again before we know it!

There is so much news to talk about so let's get to it! A new feature we are starting today with every new post is the picture of the day. The picture of the day, today, is President Obama meeting with the Russian President Medvedev.

On August 23rd is the One City Indy Youth rally from 5 to 7 pm. They are needing volunteers to help out with things, and ICCD will be having a booth there that we need people to come and work at, so any volunteers can let me know that they want to help out. It is in the afternoon, and we want everyone club member to show up, and I hope to have carpooling going on from UIndy to the IUPUI track stadium where the rally is taking place. Don't forget, it is going to be the state's largest youth rally and we will be setting 2 world records at it!

Also on August 23 from noon to 4 pm at Garfield Park is the annual Democrats Clubs Countywide Picnic. All of the city's Democrats clubs will be taking part in it along with UIndy's College Democrats Club and hopefully even ICCD. There will be plenty of elected officials there along with many party members and activists, so feel free to come join in on the festivities.

After talking to IUPUI's College Democrats, they are on board for ICCD and the Constitution for it has been written. We are still working on contacting the College Democrats at Butler and Marian Universities to get them involved in it. More information on the details of meetings and such will be posted in the coming weeks when more details have been worked out.

The UIndy College Democrats Constitution has been amended for the first time since 2005, and it has had a major overhaul, that was quite necessary. The Executive Board will be getting together soon to discuss it and then at our first meeting of the new year, the General membership of the club will be allowed to vote on the approval of the amendments.

We are signed up to have a booth at the UIndy Welcome Week Circus on August 21st, we are going to be having a game of Pin the Tail on the Donkey and we will also be recruiting new members, fundraising, and registering Marion County residents to vote. We also are set to have a booth at the UIndy Life Expo, and we will be needing volunteers for both events. Please let me if you are wanting to volunteer.

The National Convention for College Democrats of America is July 23rd through the 26th, and our President, Christopher Jackson, will be attending and representing the UIndy organization at it. He is also a candidate for the CDA Director of Political Affairs, so please wish him luck on this!

There are some details to discuss at the first meeting of the year, along with the amendments to the constitution, including the night of the week that we will be meeting, if we are going to go to a schedule of 3 meetings a month, guest speakers (who I have been hard at work recruiting), and planned activities and functions for the year, the selection of Committee Chairpersons, and much more. The meeting is tentatively scheduled for Tuesday August 25th, and we hope to see everyone there, and free food will be provided at the meeting! I will send out an email to everyone when the date of the first meeting is finalized.
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Getting Active in Local Democrat Clubs, Part III

Yesterday, Tuesday June 8th, Mr. Jackson spoke at the Decatur Township Democrats Club and their Club President, Jon Easter, proposed that they waive the membership fee for any young Democrat that is under the age of 25. Mr. Easter's proposal passed, and thus that makes the Decatur Twp. Democrats Club, the third Democrats club in the areas surrounding the UIndy campus to waive fees for young members. This is a very, very good thing because it demonstrates how vital the youth movement is to these clubs. I think State Representative Candidate, Timothy Huber, said it best last night at the Decatur meeting to the club members, "We aren't getting any younger, and these kids are the future of this club!"

We need to become more involved in the community and in these local clubs, if we ever want to be taken seriously and have a role in local politics. So please, feel free to join other club members at these meetings, it will mean alot for their organizations. The Decatur Club, beings it is my home township club, also appointed me as the Chairman of their Youth Committee, in order to try to get more youth involved.

Later this week, I will post more about our newly amended organizational constitution and in coming weeks, news about the Indianapolis Coalition of College Democrats and our participation in UIndy Life Expo, Move-in Day, and the UIndy Circus Welcome Week activities will be posted.
Please feel free to post comments below and let me know what you think about this developing news, or about any ideas you have for the club!
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Getting Active in Local Democrat Clubs, Part II

Last night, June 3rd, Mr. Jackson, our Club's President and a Candidate for Indpls. City-County Council, spoke at the meeting of the Southside Democrats Club, about the impact that young Democrats will have in keeping Indiana blue in future elections. He also spoke about the soon-to-be-created Indianapolis Coalition of College Democrats, his brainchild and something that more information will be posted on here about in the near future. The Southside Democrats Club held a vote to waive the membership fees for College Democrats, and the vote passed unanimously to allow the fee to be waived. This is very important news, because this makes 2 very important city Democrat clubs that have hopped on the banwagon and have recognized that young members are vital for their organizations, and Indianapolis' future. We should be very appreciative of what these clubs are doing, because they are going out on a limb to let us know that they are welcoming us with open arms to their groups.

Next Monday, June 8th, Mr. Jackson will be attending his home township club, the Decatur Twp. Democrats Club, and making a brief speech on UIndy College Democrats, ICCD, the youth vote, and his candidacy for Indpls. City-Council. The Decatur Twp. Club is working very hard with Mr. Jackson, and it would be nice to have some of our UIndy members attend this meeting to show support for Mr. Jackson's campaign to increase youth influence and engagement in the Indianapolis Democratic community, and there is the potential for some very important announcements to be made at this meeting regarding these things. For more information about this meeting, check out the Decatur Twp. Democrats Club page at: http://www.decaturdemocrats.blogspot.com/, or email Christopher Jackson at: chljackson@uindy.edu.

Btw: How does everyone like the new logo that I created for the club? Leave comments below and let me know!
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Getting Active in Local Democrat Clubs

On May 28th, our organization's President, Christopher Jackson, spoke at the Perry Township Democrats Club on behalf of UIndy College Democrats. He discussed the vital role that young Democrats have in the community and how we can help further the Democratic cause in the city. He also spoke of the creation of the Indianapolis Coalition of College Democrats, something he hopes to have established by the beginning of the 2009-2010 school year.

The most important news that comes from this function is that the Perry Twp. Club voted unanimously to waive their membership fee to any new members that are college students, in an attempt to stimulate the youth movement and encourage young Democrats to join their clubs. It has also been mentioned that Perry Twp. Democrats would like for us to oversee the elections in 4 precincts that surround and include the UIndy campus, but this idea is still in its infancy and might not materialize.

Tomorrow, June 2, Mr. Jackson will be speaking at the Southside Democrats Club about UIndy College Democrats. His hope is that the Southside Democrats Club will also vote to waive their membership fee for college students that wish to join their organization. He hopes to extend this momentum to other area Democrat clubs and to have UIndy Democrats become vital members of these organizations. If you would like to attend the Southside Democrats club meeting to show support for your UIndy Democrats or would like to join the Perry Township Democrats club, email Christopher Jackson for more information at chljackson@uindy.edu.
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College Democrats National Convention

So the recently announced College Democrats National Convention is on July 23-26. I have spoke those in charge of clubs and organizations on campus about having the school contribute funds in order for a few members, about 3-4, go to the convention. Apparently, we had to request funds in April to receive them for the summer (which doesn't help us, because we have new leadership and our summer break is so long that things like this could come and go within that time span, aka like this situation), so we won't be able to receive and funds from the the school.

I am planning on going, so I am extending an invite to 3 other club members that are serious about going to Washington, D.C. for this convention. I will most likely be driving out there, unless no one else is going, and then I will just be flying out there myself. I know that registration itself is $50, until May 31st, and then it increases to $65 until July 9th. I don't know how much it will cost total for us to go, yet. The site for the convention says that more information will be posted soon, so I am hoping that it will happen any day now. My personal guess is that it will be at least $1000 for the 4 days, unless the have a special deal on hotels and such. There is also a possiblity of sharing hotel rooms and such to make it cheaper, but that would be something to talk about later.

The website for the Convention is: http://partybuilder.collegedems.com/page/content/cda2009/

As soon as there is more information, I will post it on here. Anyone that is interested in this should email me at, chljackson@uindy.edu, and let me know that you are interested.

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Welcoming a New (Co)-Advisor


So I would like to take this moment to inform members and to welcome our new Co-Advisor for the organization, Dr. Woodwell.

Dr. Woodwell is excited to join the organization and looks forward to working with us on the projects that we have planned!
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-There will be a club meeting on Tuesday, April 28th at 9 pm in Schwitzer 004. I hope to see everyone there!
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New News:
-There might be some changes in the Club's executive board in the coming weeks and over the summer, I will keep everyone posted!
-Expect the email about One City Indy this weekend
-Quick question: What would everyone think about having a meeting next tuesday night? I know it is finals week, but I think a meeting might be necessary.
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Links

Democratic Party Links:
College Democrats of America
College Democrats of Indiana
Democratic National Committee
Indiana Democratic Party
Marion County Democratic Party

Community Links:
City of Indianapolis
One City Indy Group
State of Indiana
University of Indianapolis

Local Democratic Club Links:
Decatur Township Democratic Club

*Placed in Alphabetical Order*
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Schedule of Events



Our General Meetings are every Monday at 9 PM, unless otherwise noted.
*All dates, times, and locations are subject to change*



Schedule of other Democratic Club meetings
*Everyone is invited to attend these meetings and join their clubs/organizations*
IDAAC (African-American Caucus): 2nd Saturday, 10:00 am, Julia Carson Gov't Center, 300 E. Fall Creek Pkwy
Decatur Twp: 2nd Monday, 5:45 pm, Buffer Park Golf Course, 3825 Foltz St.
Franklin Twp: 3rd Tuesday, 7:00 pm, Franklin Twp. Informer Office, 8914 Southeastern Ave.

Indiana Democratic Club: 4th Tuesday, 7:00 pm, Julia Carson Gov't Center, 300 E. Fall Creek Pkwy.
Lawrence Twp: 4th Wednesday, 7:00 pm, Painters Union Hall, 6501 Mass. Ave.
Perry Twp: Last Thursday, 6:30 pm, CWA Hall, 1130 Epler Ave.
Pike Twp: 1st Wednesday, 7:00 pm, Pike Twp. Gov't Center, 5565 Lafayette Rd.
Southside: 1st Tuesday, 7:00 pm, Southside Headquarters, 1135 Shelby St.

Stonewall Democrats: 2nd Monday, 6:00 pm, Marion County Democratic Party Headquarters, 603 E. Washington St., Suite 100
Washington Twp: 3rd Wednesday, 6:45 pm, Northside Knights of Columbus, 2100 E. 71st St.
Warren Twp: 2nd Thursday, 7:00 pm, Warren Twp. Gov't Center, 501 N. Post Rd.
Wayne Twp: 2nd Tuesday, 7:00 pm, United Steelworks Hall, 218 S. Addison Rd.

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Officers

Our Executive Board for the Winter 2011 Semester


President - Mustafa Prodhan
Vice-President - Yaa Opoku
Secretary/Treasurer - Ryan Buckman
Communications and Advertising - 
Membership Chair - Peter Eckel
Civic Outreach Chair - Javier 

Advisors - Dr. Douglas Woodwell


Please, if any one has any questions, please contact any one of us at uindycollegedemocrats@gmail.com
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