Welcome to the official site of the University Democrats at the University of Texas!
Established in 1953, the University Democrats is the largest and oldest political organization at UT-Austin and the leading force of progressive student activism in the state of Texas. Today, we are the largest College Democrats chapter in the country — working tirelessly to bring CHANGE WE CAN BELIEVE IN to UT, the state of Texas, and the entire nation.
This semester, University Democrats proved to our campus and our state that November 4th, 2008 was not the end of a youth movement, but the beginning of one. We sought to continue the momentum we created last fall by building a strong and committed community of student activists.
From launching an ambitious campaign to lobby the Texas Legislature for accessible higher education to holding the first ever joint-meeting with the UT College Republicans; from organizing a walk-out to protest a dangerous gun bill to dropping 5,000+ door-hangers for our endorsed Mayoral and City Council candidates; our organization worked to create change.
We saw our hard work pay off with this semester's historic vote by the Texas Senate to re-regulate tuition after 6 years of skyrocketing tuition prices. We also watched as Austin voters elected every one of our UDems-endorsed mayoral and city council candidates!
Throughout the past year, the University Democrats have been on the front lines in the fight for CHANGE. During the Texas Primary we registered and mobilized thousands of students to vote in the Democratic primary and played host to the CNN Presidential Debate between Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton. At the Democratic National Convention, we were awarded College Democrats of America Chapter of the Year. And last fall, we destroyed student voting records by leading the largest Get-Out-the-Vote effort in the history of the University of Texas at Austin.
This past academic year we continued the youth political movement in Texas by:
DISTRIBUTING 42,000+ voter registration cards in key neighborhoods!
REGISTERING 11,565 students to vote TOTAL (Including 5,700+ in one day)!
KNOCKING on 40,000+ doors statewide for key candidates!
CALLING 12,233 voters on behalf of Texas Democrats!
MOBILIZING 18,000 students to early vote (a UT-Austin record)!
LOBBYING for Accessible Higher Education!
FIGHTING for Gun-Free Schools!
UDems is proud of the work we did to STAND UP & CHANGE TEXAS!
University Democrats Officers Fall 2008 & Spring 2009!
During the Fall 2008 and Spring 2009 semesters we accomplished incredible things as an organization. We campaigned furiously for our candidates and as a result we have a new Democratic President and a new Texas Legislature that looks a lot “bluer”. Our generation defied the cynics and became the decisive factor nationally and in key races here in Texas. We also mobilized an unprecedented amount of students for change in our community and at the Texas Capitol!
As the top college Democratic organization in the country, University Democrats has a responsibility to continue the movement that we helped start. The upcoming Fall 2009 semester will give us no chance to rest. The approaching 2010 primaries and President Obama's fight to change Washington, will present us with fresh challenges and new opportunities.
With a new generation of students ready to be mobilized and a re-energized Republican opposition, UDems will have to work twice as hard to organize our campus and our community to fight for change we can all believe in.
Join us as we continue to STAND UP & CHANGE TEXAS!
JOIN US at our FIRST meeting of the Fall 2009 Semester: Wednesday September 2 @ 8:00pm in Location: TBA!
