Zach Coelius: Class of 2005
To walk into the office of John Sullivan, a deified regents professor of political science, with a scheme like ours should have been a recipe for disaster. A group of undergrad and graduate students had decided to help college students nationwide to register to vote in the 2002 Congressional elections via e-mail; at the same time, the group would help the schools meet their obligations under the Higher Education Act to assist students with voter registration. Having taken Dr. Sullivan’s political psychology class, I had a passing relationship with him. That, my poli-sci major, and this idea were all I had going for me. Standing there in my surfing shorts, T-shirt, and flip-flops, I made my pitch, rambling on for a good ten minutes before he stopped me.
“You mean to tell me that you’re going to collect millions of e-mail addresses, raise all this money, design a voter mobilization system, track all the responses to the e-mails, and then match your data to the voter rolls to test efficacy, all in the next couple of months?�“Yessir.�
“Sounds great. Let’s do it!�
I left not only with his support, but with the beginnings of the formidable team the U of M would align behind our project. Professors Mark Snyder and John Freeman and CLA dean Steven Rosenstone provided invaluable assistance. The University Relations office landed us a cover story in USA Today. And a multitude of fellow students pitched in to make our dream a reality. Only a first-class research university like Minnesota could turn that crazy idea into a 501(c)3 nonprofit that raised a quarter of a million dollars and in-kind gifts to register half a million voters.
Looking back, I am astonished at the diverse opportunities and resources available to U of M students. No matter our aspirations, we were given the tools with which to achieve them. While the massive scale of the University can seem overwhelming, I feel it prepared me for the more massive scale of the world.
Mr. Coelius lives in San Francisco, having recently completed his M.A. in International Studies at the University of Limerick, Ireland, on a Mitchell Scholarship. He holds a B.A. in Political Science (’05) from the U of M.