I’d like to take a little time to respond to an article published last week in the News section of the Iowa State Daily. There was an article written by a student about political groups on campus, but for some reason, Political Science Club was omitted from the list. As the vice president of Political Science Club, this causes me great concern.

After asking why our group had not been classified as a political club, I was told that it was because we are a non-partisan organization. Being a student who watches more CNN than MTV — sorry “Jersey Shore” — that response scares the hell out of me. Political is not the same thing as partisan. The very notion that a club should take a side before being considered political is absolutely absurd.

I’d be willing to bet that a fair amount of students mildly interested in current events don’t have enough information to make an informed decision about whether they do or do not support federal or state-level responses to issues, which is fairly common among the American public anyway so I’m not hatin’.

For example, humor me for a moment and list the following people: the team that won the NCAA Championships this year, Peter Griffin’s best friend’s name and the name of Lady Gaga’s most recent song. OK, now try these: the mayor of Ames, the president of Russia, the speaker of the house, your hometown’s district attorney.

Assuming that you may have had more trouble with the last set than the first — I can’t name Kansas City’s D of A for the life of me — this would seem to be a good reason to stay away from a highly partisan club as any information a curious student may get is already going to be given to them with a predetermined bias.

These students who are going to these organizations without independent research about important topics are vulnerable to being told what their opinion is by people who simply talk louder than they do.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is a problem.

I very sincerely want readers to understand that it’s alright not to belong to a party. It’s perfectly natural — everyone experiments in college, right — to actually look around to try and find where you fit best.

If you just go to one of the groups that have an established party they support, you’ll never know if you agree or not, and if you don’t, the message will become frustrating to you, leading you to completely disregard politics as some mess that’s not worth talking about. It’s a slippery slope into apathy and your early years of adulthood are no time to start sliding.

Political Science Club is a political club.

We are not partisan, and we make that choice on purpose so as not to get caught up in party politics. The issues are larger than the parties — many can’t just be seen as “we’re right and they’re wrong” because no one group of people can be held responsible for successes or policy malfunctions.

If you’re a student looking to become more informed about pressing current events, then do yourself a favor and try out Poli Sci Club.

Learn politics without the partisanship. Because there ain’t no party like a political party!