The National Pan-Hellenic Council’s eight campus chapters hosted a series of events centered on civic engagement throughout this semester leading up to Election Day in an effort to amplify Black student voices in the general election.
Divine Nine chapters at GW and across the country hosted voter registration drives and educational events about politics and voting in a push to prepare students to vote in the upcoming razor-close presidential election. Chapter leaders said this semester’s mobilization in civic engagement proved successful, with high levels of student engagement in roundtable and panel discussions and handfuls of students registering to vote in the upcoming election.
Matthew Jones, a junior and the vice president of the Nu Beta chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., said educating Black communities, in this case on topics, like the stances of the presidential candidates and how to cast their vote, is a commitment each member made when joining their organizations, which is why the chapters centered their programming around voting ahead of the election.
“We want to serve our communities in whatever way that we can, and so voting is a big part of that and especially with it are all of our organizations having an emphasis on promoting African American civic engagement and uplifting communities, that’s something that we all just naturally sort of would do on our own,” Jones said.
Alpha Phi Alpha, a District-wide chapter that encompasses GW, held a series of events during their voter education week at American University from Sept. 29 to Oct. 3, where attendees spanning from chapter members from colleges across the District discussed the campaigns of Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump in panels and information sessions. At one event, students were able to participate in a panel discussion with members of the NAACP about candidates’ specific policies, Jones said.
“We just wanted to highlight the differences in the way Black voters think and then also the importance of our Black people being able to participate in the election,” Jones said.
Jones said at the events, the fraternity would present the polling numbers of the election to stress how narrow the election is predicted to be and the impact one vote can have because he says some people within Black communities feel like their votes don’t matter as much due to the slow pace of political change.
“Change can be very slow, so there’s a lot of voter nihilism and just overall apathetic attitude towards the voting system,” Jones said.
Jones said the chapter also aimed to highlight the nuanced political opinions among students and “demystify” the misconception that all Black people are Democratic and vote the same way by inviting students to share their opinions on the presidential race and which policies impact them the most.
Jones said his fraternity focuses on continuing the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. — an alum of the Sigma chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. — and his political and social contributions to the Black community by continuing to spark change on GW’s campus. King, most known for his “I Have a Dream” speech, spearheaded the Civil Rights Movement through nonviolent techniques, like protesting and grassroots organizing and advocating for legal freedom and equality for Black people, efforts Jones says the fraternity hopes to renew on campus.
“Honestly, as a member of the fraternity, I still feel like I’m a part of what Dr. King set forth through all his actions throughout the Civil Rights Movement,” Jones said. “So yeah, I’m sure if he was still around, he would love to be able to see a Black woman being able to run for president now in 2024.”
Brittany Myers, a senior and the historian of GW’s Mu Delta chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., said Harris, an alum of the Alpha chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. at Howard University, serves as a “role model” for her and her chapter at GW.
“It’s the best feeling to know that someone who is and was in our shoes is in a place of power that’s so high,” Myers said.
Myers said through her chapter’s four events on voter engagement, which ranged from a registration drive to a streamed podcast, AKA strived to give a voice to Black students who may feel like their votes don’t count.
“Voting isn’t just like a college time period, this isn’t just something that they’ll learn in college, but it’s something that they have to do, like long, and so we want to make sure we’re making lifelong impacts that can stay with them for the rest of their lives,” Myers said.
AKA hosted an event Sept. 17, which is National Voter Registration Day, which helped students register and to be prepared to vote, and an informational event titled “Pretty Politics,” where the chapter discussed the platforms of each presidential candidate and how to navigate media coverage of each candidate. The chapter also hosted a live podcast in September on their Instagram, which allowed audience members to engage with chapter members by asking questions about how to vote and issues that affect GW students during this election.
AKA tabled in Kogan Plaza last Tuesday with GW Votes, a nonpartisan coalition of students, faculty and staff that promotes voter registration and participation among students, for National Vote Early Day to provide voting materials for students.
“In a broader sense, just helping inform students of the political landscape in an approachable way and connecting issues in the community to the values and concerns that they have and just making sure that they felt that they were fully informed on political environments today,” Myers said.
K’Shawn McNair, a junior and the president of GW’s Gamma Alpha Phi chapter of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc., said his fraternity hosted a voter registration drive in collaboration with GW Votes where they helped about 10 students register to vote in the upcoming election through GW Votes’ website.
Phi Beta Sigma also hosted an on campus policy roundtable Oct. 4, in which McNair said he moderated a discussion about both Democratic and Republican policies, like Agenda 47, Trump’s campaign platform that contains plans, like closing the borders and lowering taxes for workers. McNair said he fostered a civilized discussion at the roundtable where attendees could raise concerns and questions about the opposing party’s policies and beliefs.
“There was people from both sides of the political spectrum there, and actually they voiced their opinions and concerns of the opposite party and that party voiced their position and their concerns, and we actually had a civilized debate about everything,” McNair said.
Alexis Bello, a junior and the vice polemarch — the second in command — of the Kappa Chi chapter Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc., said his chapter focused on voter engagement events, like a voter registration drive and the voter education week alongside Alpha Phi Alpha this semester because they wanted to familiarize first-time voters with the process of voting and to understand the impacts their vote can have in electing officials to office.
“Voting has a common misconception that it will not matter in the long run, but we want to fight that belief and exemplify the value of voting,” Bello said in an email.
