Spring Break
Hopkins Engaged fails to attract high-profile speakers
Issue date: 9/18/08
After a summer of planning and raising funds, Hopkins Engaged has almost finished compiling its list of bands and speakers for the event this month.
Hopkins Engaged, programmed to begin on Sept. 27 during Fall Fest, has been billed as the largest political gathering on any American campus.
The highlight of the event will be speakers from both the Democratic and Republican parties including Chairman of the Maryland Republican Party John M. Kane, Congressman John Sarbanes (D, Maryland) and Brad Heavner, State Director of the Environment Maryland Research & Policy Center and state director of Maryland Public Interest Research Group (PIRG).
Video messages from Senator Benjamin Cardin (D, Maryland) and Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon (D) will also be shown during the event. Organizers of Hopkins Engaged are also trying to confirm if Senator Barbara Mikulski (D, Maryland) will speak during the event.
"The event is really going to be a synergy of all the political student groups on campus," said Dan Teran, sophomore co-chair of the Hopkins Engaged planning committee.
"Every group, from the far left to the far right, will be represented here."
Event organizers did not, however, invite Students for Life and Students for Choice to participate in this event until this week.
Earlier, however, Eva Yopes, senior co-chair of the Hopkins Engaged planning committee, said, "We have spoken to both groups and have decided that abortion is such a hot topic that it generally causes more heated debates, which is against the goals of this event. We want to encourage discussion, but not fighting.? This is nothing against either cause - [it is] simply us trying to maintain the open-minded and friendly atmosphere of this event."
The organizers of Hopkins Engaged have also planned for a massive voter registration drive on campus. The initiative, spearheaded by JHU Votes, a non-partisan voter registration club, will attempt to registrer every Hopkins student to vote.
Hopkins Engaged, programmed to begin on Sept. 27 during Fall Fest, has been billed as the largest political gathering on any American campus.
The highlight of the event will be speakers from both the Democratic and Republican parties including Chairman of the Maryland Republican Party John M. Kane, Congressman John Sarbanes (D, Maryland) and Brad Heavner, State Director of the Environment Maryland Research & Policy Center and state director of Maryland Public Interest Research Group (PIRG).
Video messages from Senator Benjamin Cardin (D, Maryland) and Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon (D) will also be shown during the event. Organizers of Hopkins Engaged are also trying to confirm if Senator Barbara Mikulski (D, Maryland) will speak during the event.
"The event is really going to be a synergy of all the political student groups on campus," said Dan Teran, sophomore co-chair of the Hopkins Engaged planning committee.
"Every group, from the far left to the far right, will be represented here."
Event organizers did not, however, invite Students for Life and Students for Choice to participate in this event until this week.
Earlier, however, Eva Yopes, senior co-chair of the Hopkins Engaged planning committee, said, "We have spoken to both groups and have decided that abortion is such a hot topic that it generally causes more heated debates, which is against the goals of this event. We want to encourage discussion, but not fighting.? This is nothing against either cause - [it is] simply us trying to maintain the open-minded and friendly atmosphere of this event."
The organizers of Hopkins Engaged have also planned for a massive voter registration drive on campus. The initiative, spearheaded by JHU Votes, a non-partisan voter registration club, will attempt to registrer every Hopkins student to vote.
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