The Seton Hall College Democrats have organized a bus trip for students interested in attending the Rally to Restore Sanity/March to Keep Fear Alive in Washington D.C. this Saturday, Oct. 30.
Though it has two different names, fans of Jon Stewart's The Daily Show know the event as the Rally to Restore Sanity while fans of the Colbert Report call it The March to Keep Fear Alive. The event will take place at the National Mall in Washington D.C. between 12 p.m. and 3 p.m.
"We are going to be leaving at six in the morning which is early, I know, but it is a four and a half hour ride down so logistically that's what we have to do," said Jesse Buetell, president of College Democrats. "We are going to try and have everyone back on the bus by around 4:30 so we can get back to campus by around 9 or 9:30 at night."
Beutell said that, even though the event is scheduled for Halloween weekend, students will still get back early enough to be able to attend any parties or other Halloween events and that he does not believe this has impacted student interest.
Members of College Democrats decided to organize the trip after they heard about the Rally to Restore Sanity on the Sept. 16 episode of the Daily Show.
"There were rumors of it leading up to the actual announcement and as soon as it was officially announced, I was on the phone with some of my other e-board members and they were all about it so we basically made the decision that night," Buetell said.
Buetell explained that many members of College Democrats watch both Comedy Central shows on a consistent basis.
"Basically, all my e-board and most of my membership are fans of both shows—Jon Stewart's Daily Show and also the Colbert Report. As soon as we heard about it we thought it would be a fun thing for us to go to and we knew a lot of people who aren't involved in the Dems who are fans as well who would be interested in going," he said.
Beutell said that one of the main reasons they decided to host the event is that it works with the mission of many of those within the College Democrats.
"I think it works with our message to a certain extent because, even though we have a party affiliation in our student group, most of our members are fairly moderate," he said. "This event speaks to the great moderate middle that hasn't really been using their voice lately, that hasn't really been actively involved in politics."
One of the event's official websites, rallytorestoresanity.com, echoes Beutell's sentiments.
It states, "Ours is a rally for the people who've been too busy to go to rallies, who actually have lives and families and jobs (or are looking for jobs) — not so much the Silent Majority as the Busy Majority. If we had to sum up the political view of our participants in a single sentence… we couldn't. That's sort of the point."
All 44 available student tickets have been sold. Tickets were sold for ten dollars each.
College Democrats meets Wednesdays at 9 p.m.
For more information on the event visit rallytorestoresanity.com or keepfearalive.com.
Alyana Alfaro can be reached at alyana.alfaro@student.shu.edu.
