Jevin Watkins wants people to vote.
This simple desire took shape in the Bengals Vote Coalition, which the senior history major formed in partnership with Rachelle Clark, a graduate student here at Buffalo State University.
If you know anything about the Bengals Vote Coalition (BVC), it’s probably because you’ve come across Watkins tabling in Butler Library or the Campbell Student Union during his free time. And he’s likely launched into a passionate diatribe about the necessity to fulfill our civic duty by voting: “As students, we have a pretty big civic investment in the direction of our town and our city.”
Watkin’s tabling initiative not only helps students and other campus-goers register to vote “to materially change the realities that people have,” but also advertises the Coalition in hopes to attract more members.
He’s also taken this endeavor to the United Students Government and the many campus organizations it oversees, in the hopes of engaging correspondents from each to play a part in the Coalition.
Watkins maintains that civic engagement is a venture requiring mutual aid, in the form of citizens staying informed and informing each other. The Coalition is agendaless aside from this basic tenet and the way it encourages everyone to vote; it does not lean towards any political party, only emboldens people to vote passionately and informedly.
“That is the end goal of the club: to make sure that idea is permeated throughout the entire campus,” Watkins said. “That you know there is a coalition or an institution within the university that is committed to that, and something that students can participate in and be a part of.”
The Coalition meets about once a month, and tables in the library and the student union frequently. But the lead-up to election time is when the Coalition does a majority of its work: registering voters and canvassing locally. Watkins envisions community discussions led by the League of Women Voters, of which the Buffalo-Niagara chapter is a frequent partner of BVC.
“My goal this semester is to establish the foundation that allows that stuff to blossom,” said Watkins, a senior graduating this May.
If every campus organization had a representative in BVC, it would give the Coalition “tentacles” and maintain the idea that this initiative is student-led and student-driven, according to Watkins.
Not only is joining the Coalition an opportunity to gain experience in community organizing, it’s also an opportunity to engage with people on campus.
“I somewhat masochistically enjoy awkward interactions,” Watkins said. “I love the awkwardness of asking strangers questions, and I get a lot out of it. But if you are not that kind of person, there’s still a benefit to sort of breaking out of that shell and talking to people.”
The Coalition focuses on discourse and, rather than trying to sway voters toward any particular position, having conversations about what is important to people and our community.
While Watkins himself may hold a lot of opinions politically, his mantra in these conversations is “but be registered to vote so you can have your [own] opinion.”
If you’re interested in joining the Bengals Vote Coalition, you can email Watkins at [email protected]
