Meredith Segal '08 is in Washington D.C. today, introducing expected presidential candidate and U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, at a rally at George Mason University. She has Facebook to thank for it.
Last summer, Segal started a Facebook group called "Barack Obama for President in 2008." Since then, the Facebook group has transformed into Students for Barack Obama, a grassroots network aimed at demonstrating support for a presidential campaign by Obama. Segal is the executive director.
The group started with a mere 30 students last July, burgeoned to 22,000 students by Thanksgiving break in November, and now has more than 53,600 members.
The structure and purpose of the group have changed radically, however, since its beginning, and has even caused rifts among Bowdoin students.
Frank Chi '07 initially signed on as the communications director of Students for Barack Obama (a non-Bowdoin-affiliated organization) in November. After a dozen Bowdoin students traveled to New Hampshire to see Obama speak at an event, Chi said some students who were involved at Bowdoin "had questions about where the group was going."
"We had created a great image, but it seemed like false advertising," he said.
"The group wasn't substantial beyond the Facebook mentality. Other people who don't really understand Facebook see that this group has 30,000 members and think that there are 30,000 live, active members. However, as college students, we know they were not necessarily active and engaged," Chi said.
As a result of "ethical and leadership questions," students including Chi and Clark Gascoigne '08 resigned from Students for Barack Obama.
"There was an unwillingness of the leadership to take on a campaign field structure. It relied entirely upon communications," Gascoigne said.
Chi said that "mainstream media should not be so impressed" with Facebook groups that grow to a large number. "All the number of members of the group indicates is the attractiveness of the candidate. That's the danger of Facebook. At most 10 folks were regularly involved when I was told to sell 22,000 people on my press releases."
Indeed, the press release posted on the Students for Barack Obama Web site claims that "created just over six months ago on the social networking site Facebook, the group now boasts of a Web site, a blog, and nearly 50,000 members?with more than a thousand new students joining each day since Senator Obama's announcement of a presidential exploratory committee."
Segal answered that the "biggest challenge was the transformation from a Facebook group to a pretty strong real-world grassroots network."
The group only changed, she says, "when we were entrusted with the responsibility of planning the [George Mason] rally and saw that [Obama's campaign] had an eagerness to work with us. It's a process that took a lot of time."
However, Segal said that Facebook was useful for a number of reasons.
"Facebook demonstrated youth support for Barack Obama," she said. "It was a great way to reach out to people. We advertised for leadership positions and solicited resumés through Facebook. It's also a great resource for local directors. You can see quickly who might be interested in joining a chapter rather than taking a shot in the dark."
"It's pretty cool to utilize these spaces that hadn't been used in the last election," she continued. "The more we can bring people to mediums with which they are comfortable, the better. It's a great gateway."
Another issue that ended in several Bowdoin students resigning from leadership positions occurred after the trip to New Hampshire during the fall. A couple of students claim that a van was taken out by Segal improperly.
Chi said that Segal "had broken school policy and took out a van with the authorization of the signature of Susie Dorn, and would reimburse the CSRC with money from Bowdoin Students for Peace. The problem was that this event was not community service or even Bowdoin related."
Segal said that she had discretionary use of funds for Bowdoin Students for Peace from fundraising earlier in the year.
"I had a discussion with a couple directors of student activities," Segal said, "and they decided that it was an appropriate use of funding, and was consistent with the mission of Bowdoin Students for Peace. The only thing not done in a professional manner was that there was an incorrect form handed in. There was never intent to do anything other than what was fully proper. I think the worst people can accuse me of is sloppy paperwork."
Gascoigne, also the treasurer of Bowdoin Students for Peace, wrote in an e-mail that "under no circumstances did we approve spending money on a Students for Barack Obama trip. If any funds from Students for Peace were spent on the trip, then they hadn't been approved by the group."
Director of Student Life and Smith Union Allen Delong said that "truthfully, there is no 'controversy.'"
"We in student activities work closely with students to plan, execute and assess co and extra-curricular programs," he said. "My staff did have a question about the Obama event and met with the student organizer, who answered it to our satisfaction."
The "Yes We Can! Rally" in honor of Obama is today at George Mason University, and invitations were sent to Washington D.C. area colleges and high schools in Fairfax, Virginia.