Obama visits Tech Saturday

Although Tech is not necessarily known for its students political involvement, Tech will host an Atlanta rally for presidential candidate Barack Obama Saturday April 14. Obama will make a public address at Yellow Jacket Park at 11 a.m., with 20,000 free tickets to the event being distributed on campus, around the city and online. The event is being co-promoted on campus by the African American Student Union (AASU) and the College Democrats.

"In terms of [Obama's] coming to campus, it has been a whirlwind. It was really spur of the moment and the address will be a really major event... The expected number of people to attend is 7,000 and we won't be surprised if [the attendance] exceeds this...This event will be a great opportunity for [the student body] to get out and get involved," said James Holder, AASU president and a fourth-year Architecture student.

Jared O'Neal, AASU membership chair and a second-year Biomedical Engineering student, was contacted Monday by Jeffrey Lee of the Obama campaign letting him know that they were coming to Atlanta and wondering if they could bring Obama to Tech. The Obama campaign effort to come to Tech, through contacts at AASU, was completely proactive.

"I'm excited about being in the right place at the right time. To bring any presidential candidate to campus is a blessing. [Obama] is trying to get more involved with college students. He was coming to Atlanta anyways, and [his campaign] was looking to see if a spot on Tech was open," O'Neal said.

College Democrats were contacted Monday morning to see if they were interested in sponsoring Obama's visit. By the evening, plans were set for his visit to be co-promoted by the College Democrats and AASU and they have been in constant contact with the Obama campaign staff.

"His visit came as a welcome surprise, and we immediately expressed our interest to his campaign.... While our organization cannot officially endorse candidates during a primary, we see this as a great opportunity to fulfill our chartered goal of electing Democratic candidates and as an excellent way to further develop our relationship with the AASU," said Griffin Wasdin, College Democrat president.

Although the event is free, tickets will be required to attend. Tickets are being distributed by both the College Democrats and AASU on campus, but can also be obtained from Obama's campaign website, www.barackobama.com.

"For all the events this year, we've been looking to do bigger and better things. Tech has really improved on who comes to campus," Holder said.

As a presidential candidate is making an appearance on campus, both leaders of AASU and the College Democrats are underlining the importance of political awareness.

"We are excited to be able to raise political awareness on campus by helping bring this high profile candidate to Tech. For many students, the 2008 election will be their first time voting or engaging in the political process in any way, and this particular race promises to be one of the most important in American history," Wasdin said.

"People have concerns with AASU endorsing a political candidate, but this isn't the case. This is a city wide [event] and people will be coming from all over. It is important for Tech to be out there. Someone may go and hear something they don't like and decide they should vote. Someone could hear something they like and also decide they should vote," O'Neal said.