"Fired Up and Ready to Go!" chanted the group of students at a crowded Blue State Coffee on Saturday, Oct. 13. Over the course of the night, about 150 students flooded the cafe for "Barack the Mic," an event hosted by the Brown chapter of Students for Barack Obama. The SFBO was started last spring and is one of about 600 national chapters.
The national SFBO, which is part of the national campaign organization of Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., began as a Facebook group and quickly earned a large following of students who began forming chapters on college campuses nationwide. Because of its quick growth, SFBO was made an official part of the Obama campaign. Sean Eldridge '09, who worked for the SFBO as national director of development, wanted Brown to have its own chapter. He and Adam Axler '08 founded Brown's chapter last spring.
"Student groups are usually a separate entity from campaigns, and as far as I know this has never been done," Eldridge said. "We also wanted to get a headstart on the other campaign groups on campus by starting early."
The group met during the summer and elected Max Chaiken '09 as chapter coordinator.
"Our group on campus is great because we have the national organization's support and structure, and we have the creativity from students here at Brown," Chaiken said.
According to Chaiken, the group on campus has about 50 active members who help man tables, attend meetings and canvass in New Hampshire.
"This organization is building up fast because students are taking action and making their voices heard," Chaiken said. "There is an intangible feeling people get when (Obama) speaks that makes them take action."
In addition to its listserv, which includes about 300 students, the group's Facebook page includes 123 members at Brown. The global Facebook group includes over 10,000 members.
On campus, members of the SFBO spend most of their time preparing for their weekly informational meetings, where they talk and ask questions about Obama's policy
issues.
Media Co-Coordinator Nicholas Greene '10 said the group's focus is to "teach people about what Obama is doing and what he's done. We want to show people that he has the right pedigree to be president, and we get a chance to do this with our meetings."
The meetings are held weekly on Tuesday at 9 p.m. in Wilson 309. Chaiken and Greene said 35-40 people usually attend.
But group members don't just want to inform Brown students: they are also active off campus. On several weekends, members have traveled to canvass in New Hampshire. SFBO members walk door-to-door in residential communities informing the locals on the candidate's policies.
"They teach us how to go door-to door with and talk to people about the campaign and policy issues," Greene said, referring to campaign workers at the Portsmouth, N.H., office.
Despite their efforts, the group still senses uncertainty in the general public - as well as on campus - about which candidate to choose.
"I think they're undecided because there are a lot of people that want to make a good decision, particularly in New Hampshire. Their votes are very influential," Chaiken said. "To some extent it is the same on campus. As much as our group is growing, I think that students are also undecided and that a large group is apathetic. I hope people will start to get more engaged."
To showcase student support and creativity, the SFBO hosted "Barack the Mic" on Oct. 13. The first of its kind for the group, the event included poetry and songs performed by 11 Brown students representing all four class years.
Craig Robinson, men's basketball head coach and Obama's brother-in-law, gave a short speech at the start of the event about how important young people are to this campaign.
"Every single one of your votes is going to count. This campaign is about hope and what you guys have to understand is that you're the hope," Robinson said to the students crowding the cafe and overflowing onto the sidewalk.
"We were really happy with the turnout at the event," Chaiken said. "We had 80 people packed in there at any given time. We saw that people were excited and were really happy that Craig Robinson spoke at the beginning and got people excited. This is a direction we want to keep going in."
Graham Browne '08, chair of the event, was also pleased with the results. "The event was all we could have hoped for and more. It was truly amazing to see Blue State Coffee packed," he wrote in an e-mail. "I think it's very possible that we changed a few minds about Senator Obama, The talent at the school is staggering! I was impressed by each act that performed. The first years were especially impressive."
Others at the event, though impressed by the amount of student support, were not as pleased with the performances.
"It was cool to see Brown students coming together to be politically active, I don't think we do it enough," Sandra Allen '09 wrote in an e-mail to The Herald. "As an audience member who is not entirely decided about which Democratic candidate I'd vote for, I was glad that the MCs and artists weren't overly preachy about Obama himself, but focused on the artistic aspect of the show," Allen wrote. But unlike Browne, she was unimpressed by the level of talent. "On an artistic level, I was a little underwhelmed," Allen wrote. "But I was glad that the amount of support and applause each artist received did not reflect this."
According to Chaiken, "Barack the Mic" was the group's first step toward what they hope will be many similar events to come. The SFBO will participate in a mock presidential debate on Nov. 8, to be hosted by the Brown Dems.
"The decision our country will make in 2008 is one of the most important in history. One of the biggest motivations is getting people involved, to take a stand and do the right thing," Chaiken said. "Now's the time. We can re-inspire America to be a country where people want to live. The inspirational thing about this campaign is getting people to take action against policies that only belittle our country."
