Students found Socialist group

An enthusiastic group of 10 students gathered Wednesday night in Houston Hall to exchange ideas and found the University's chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America. Organizer Robin Roberts, sociology graduate student and a member of the DSA, explained that it is "the responsibility of the intelligent youth to get the ideas [of democratic socialists] out into the open". David Glenn, a member of the DSA youth section coordinating commitee explained the theory behind the organization. "There is no party line; there is no truth," Glenn said. "The way of approaching a situation is through society." Roberts added that activism is a major thrust of the DSA ideology. "When you are not in power, you have a lot of time to think," Roberts said. "Ideas won't get vetoed, we let people make their own desicions." Originating in 1982, with the merging of the New American Movement and the Democratic Socialist Organizing Commitee, the DSA founded itself on shifting power to the people and away from the corporate capital. "There is a relation to Marxism," Glenn said. "But DSA thinks race and gender are tremendously important also." Issues raised at this discussion involved freedom of choice, legalization of drugs, the tension between individualism and democracy and free national health care. But Glenn cautioned that the groups can not "do it all tomorrow," Glenn said. The organizers said it is the students' responsibility to decide whether the University's chapter would consist of theoretical meetings or activism. All agreed that the primary issue is informing the student body of DSA's existence at the University. DSA's goals revolve around introducing the concepts of democratic socialism and encouraging others "to start living their politics," Roberts said. For the future, the fledgling DSA chapter organizers said plans to organize and assign a "liason," who would assume the responsibility of coordinating events with DSA National Headquarters and a local Philadelphia chapter. In addition, they said they plan to bring in guest speakers and help inner-city youth and exposing unfair labor practices. Glenn explained that there are many things DSA can achieve, but for democratic socialism to work, the system "must remain fluid and be open to change."