Though many Brown students have strong opinions on everything from bottled water to Columbus Day, a recent poll suggests they might not have much to say about Providence politics.
Results of a recent Herald poll indicate that most students are not following the actions of Providence Mayor David Cicilline '83, with an overwhelming 71 percent of students choosing "Don't know/No answer" when asked if they approved or disapproved of the way the mayor is handling his job.
Only 7.5 percent of students indicated they had a strong opinion about Cicilline's job performance.
Of the students who answered, 15.1 percent said they somewhat approved, 6.4 percent somewhat disapproved, 4.7 percent strongly approved and 2.8 percent strongly disapproved.
Cicilline, a Democrat who has served as mayor since 2003, recently announced that he will run for a third term in 2010.
Harrison Kreisberg '10, the president of the Brown Democrats, said the mayor's focus has generally been away from College Hill and on the less prosperous areas of Providence. "So in that sense, there just hasn't been that much on the mayor's agenda that has brought him to the attention of Brown students," he said.
"You've got a lot of people who are in from out of state and it makes sense, I think, that people aren't quite sure what's happening locally," Kreisberg said.
But students may become more aware of local politics the longer they spend on College Hill. While 81.1 percent of freshmen selected the Don't Know/No Answer option, only 57.7 percent of seniors chose that option.
"The more time you spend in a place, the more you begin to care about it," said Sean Quigley '10, president of the College Republicans and a Herald Opinions Columnist.
Arielle Balbus '11 said she hoped the results of the poll would encourage students to get involved locally. "I have a certain amount of enthusiasm for any effort that would encourage students, myself included, to engage a bit more in Providence politics," she said.
"Students see College Hill as being separate from Providence," said Meghan Short '12. Short knows students who do volunteer work in the Providence community, she said, but she added that trekking off campus "feels like a trip away."
"It just goes to show that there's a lot of work to be done to tie the Brown community to the Providence area," Kreisberg said.
Some students, however, felt that students' separation from Providence politics might not be such a bad thing.
"It's probably a good thing that we don't get too heavily involved in city politics, because our stake in the community isn't as permanent as people who live here and pay property taxes," Quigley said.
"Most Brown students don't live here," said Adrik McIlroy '10. "It's probably not too bad that they don't keep up with the local politics."
The poll, conducted from March 16 through 18, has a 3.6 percent margin of error with 95 percent confidence. The information specifically about freshmen respondents has a 6.6 percent margin of error and the information about senior respondents has a 7.6 percent margin of error, both with 95 percent confidence. A total of 676 Brown undergraduates completed the poll, which The Herald administered as a written questionnaire to students in the University Mail Room at J. Walter Wilson, outside the Blue Room in Faunce House and in the Sciences Library.
