NDSU Joins Political Discourse

The beginning of November brings the culmination of the election season.

As political banter between friends becomes serious discussion, what are the issues that college students should be concerned with, and how will the elections affect them?
Kjersten Nelson is an assistant professor of political science. She said that the biggest thing about local elections is that whoever gets elected here to go to the state legislature is important, because these are the people who will be dealing with issues that directly influence NDSU.

One of the issues is the funding structure, which puts NDSU at a disadvantage compared to other universities in the state because of how the formula is set up.

“It doesn’t really take into account how NDSU has changed, and we just end up getting less money,” Nelson said of the current funding structure. “Nobody set up this formula to hurt NDSU; it’s just kind of how things have evolved.”

She said there is talk of the state legislature addressing this funding structure, and whoever is voted to go to the legislature will be directly dealing with this issue.

Caitlin Drogemuller, a senior majoring in political science and public relations and advertising, said that on a federal level, higher education has not been as big of a priority, but there are still aspects of the national budget that relate to Pell grants.

She said that these grants are going to go under scrutiny when the national budget is being worked out, and there is a chance for these grants to actually decrease in the future.

Drogemuller also pointed out that the creation of jobs and the economy will eventually affect students.

“There will hopefully be a larger market for students to go out and to get jobs that actually make them apply their college degree so they can become a productive part of the workforce rather than, as we’re seeing right now, students taking jobs that they’re overqualified for,” she said.

Jacob Williams, a senior majoring in public relations and advertising, said that no matter what happens in the election, he hopes that the legislature will be supportive of NDSU in the future.

“The support provided by the state of North Dakota is what allows NDSU and its students to be so successful,” he said.

Williams also mentioned that the support of the legislature of a new proposed academic building on campus would “allow all of our academic programs to be more successful by providing a state-of-the-art facility for students to learn in.”

“Every student has a voice, and we encourage all students to go out and vote,” Williams said.

For students who are unsure about how to vote or to find out which district they live in, Student Government will be hosting a voting information booth in the Memorial Union on today and Tuesday. Students are also welcome to stop by the Student Government office if they have any additional questions.