March 20, 2011 - 4:38pm
Dearborn student announces candidacy for College Dems President
BY VALIANT LOWITZ
Chris Stergalas, the chair of the Young Democrats of America College Caucus and a University of Michigan–Dearborn student, formally announced his candidacy for President of College Democrats for America at an event held Saturday.
Students from across the region, as well as elected officials, attended the event, held at the Trotter Multi-Cultural Center in Ann Arbor, to offer support for his campaign and to meet Stergalas and his running mate, Jen Johns, a graduate student at the University of Pittsburgh.
“It was a rally to announce the candidacy, launch the campaign and make it official,” Stergalas said.
Stergalas is a former chair of the Michigan Federation of College Democrats and a former president of the University’s Dearborn campus College Democrats chapter.
The position would allow Stergalas to attend quarterly meetings with officials on Capitol Hill, as well as top leadership in the Democratic National Committee.
Stergalas said going to such a high profile meeting would allow him to speak on behalf of students all across the country.
“I would go to directly advocate on student issues,” like rising student tuition, Stergalas said, “(I would) say focus on this, and the direction of policies.”
Stergalas said his campaign will be run on the platform of opening up a new dialogue and bring new members to the organization.
“We want every member to feel that they are welcome, give input and know the direction of the party.”
Stergalas also said that at the local level, his goals would be to not micromanage and to continue communications with local chapters.
He indicated that he is more than qualified for the position.
“(Johns and I) have worked in all levels, starting at local to state, and now to national,” Stergalas said.
Stergalas said his campaign will rely on a large grassroots effort, utilizing new media tools like Twitter and Facebook, but he also said a lot of travel would be necessary for “face-to-face, one-on-one meetings.”
