Yale College Democrats

The Yale College Democrats (Yale Dems) is a chapter of the College Democrats of America located at Yale University in New Haven, CT.
History
While the Yale College Democrats has existed in some form or another throughout the late 20th century, the modern model of the Dems were formed in 2004. Since that time, the Dems have led undergraduate political efforts on campus as the official representative of the Democratic Party, growing to a steady active membership of 150 students members.
Campaigning in the 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, and 2012 elections, the members of the Dems have made thousands of calls and knocked on doors from Connecticut to New Hampshire to Massachusetts to Pennsylvania and throughout the Northeast. Having built a working relationship with the New Haven Board of Aldermen and Mayor John DeStefano, Jr., as well as members of the Connecticut General Assembly, the Dems have worked successfully with these local and state officials in legislative activism efforts for a state Earned Income Tax Credit; the passage of SustiNet, Connecticut's affordable health care plan; ensuring that supportive housing funding not be cut from the state's budget; and New Haven education reform efforts. Most recently, the Yale College Democrats successfully advocated a repeal of Capital punishment in Connecticut and passage of the CT DREAM Act, which provides in-state tuition at state universities to undocumented students.
During its weekly meetings, the Dems have played host to politicians, panels of experts, and other speakers including Howard Dean, Richard Blumenthal, Susan Bysiewicz, Sheldon Whitehouse, and Martin Frost, former Texas Congressman and head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
Past Presidents: Charles E. Borden ('96), Josh Kagan ('98), Jonathan Thessin ('99), Lex Paulson ('00), Abbey Hudson ('01-resigned), Michelle Mayorga ('01), Samantha Jay ('02), Alicia Washington ('03), Nirupam Sinha ('04), Alissa Stollwerk ('05), Brendan Gants ('06), Eric Kafka ('07), Ben Shaffer ('08), Sarah Turbow ('09), Ben Stango ('10), Marina Keegan ('11), Zak Newman ('12), Nicole Hobbs ('13)
Notable Alumni: Senator Amy Klobuchar, Michael Morand, .
Activities
The Dems has two established committees: the Legislative Committee and the Elections Committee. Members of the Dems elect to serve on any or all of these committees.
Legislative Committee
The Legislative Committee focuses on promoting progressive legislation through student activism. In the past, the Committee has organized campaigns advocating for universal health care in Connecticut, education reform, campaign finance reform, and supportive housing for Connecticut's homeless population. Most recently, the Legislative Committee successfully worked to repeal Capital punishment in Connecticut and to enact the CT DREAM Act. On February 26, 2011 the Yale College Democrats held a rally at City Hall in New Haven in favor of the CT DREAM Act; notable speakers at the event included State Senate Majority Leader Martin Looney, student DREAMers, and Senator Richard Blumenthal. In the spring semester of 2013, the Dems have begun working on gun control advocacy in response to the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary on December 14, 2012.
Elections Committee
The Elections Committee works to support the campaigns of Democratic candidates running in local, state and national races. In addition to more traditional field work and Get Out the Vote (GOTV) operations, the elections committee runs campus voter registration and issue education projects. In 2009, the Elections Committee organized a primary debate for the Democratic Aldermanic candidates. In 2010, the Elections Committee worked to elect Governor Dan Malloy and Senator Richard Blumenthal. In 2012, the Dems spread out all over the Northeast to elect Congresswoman Elizabeth Esty, Senators Chris Murphy and Elizabeth Warren, and President Barack Obama.
Marina Keegan Tragedy
May 26, 2012, former Yale College Democrats president Marina Keegan died tragically in a car accident shortly after the Yale Class of 2012's commencement, when her boyfriend, vice president Michael Gocksch, lost control of his vehicle on a trip to Cape Cod. Keegan's written works as a journalist and playwright, her political activism as a College Democrat and Occupy Wall Street activist, and her optimism and presence as a person were celebrated in memoriam by the national news media, including the New York Times, The Paris Review, MSNBC, the Huffington Post, The Boston Globe, and the New Yorker, where she had recently been hired to work as an assistant. Her final column for the Yale Daily News, entitled "The Opposite of Loneliness," reached the one million page view mark within six days of her death, according to that paper's website. Keegan was twenty-two years old.

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