Michael Colglazier, Staff Writer
After former Take It On Initiative Director Mack Mariani stepped down to focus on his new role as the Interim Director of the Philosophy, Politics and the Public Honors Program (PPP), communications professor Andrew Zolides was selected to fill his absence in the organization
Take It On is a civic engagement organization which formally began at Xavier in 2020 with the goal to engage with students in a way that aims to get them excited about democracy through voting and having conversations about important issues.
Take It On tackles issues both on and off the ballot, intending for students to be armed with the capability to engage with one another about complex issues.
The club held a forum on Sept. 22 to welcome Zolides as their new director, who was selected to take over the role in part due to his involvement since the club’s conception.
Students involved with Take It On expressed excitement for professor Zolides’ involvement, including senior PPP major and Take It On ambassador Ella Anich.
“I think he has some new ideas on how to make (Take It On) stronger and better,” Anich said. “I know he wants to do a lot more collaborations with other student groups and he has a couple ideas on how we can get students more engaged.”
Zolides has previously been involved with the Ignatian Campus Speech Initiative, which developed Xavier’s principles of speech and communication.
Zolides, along with eight other faculty and staff members, created a document that laid out what Xavier means when they say that speech should be open and respectful.
Knowing the challenges involved with productive dialogue, Zoledis hopes to be able to lead Take It On in a way that reflects Xavier’s values of speech.
When speaking of his hopes for Take It On, Zolides expressed a desire for the organization to move away from the Republican-Democrat binary and instead focus on finding common ground.
“After Roe v. Wade was overturned, that was a very contentious, challenging time. They hosted a panel with people on both sides of the issue… One of the things I’m hoping to do going forward with Take It On is not just have those sorts of, you know, side A versus side B (debates) because it’s a little simplistic. Most issues are complicated, not everybody says they agree with everything this person says or everything that group says — it’s more nuanced than that,” Zolides said.
Additionally, Zolides hopes that he can persuade more students to get involved, even when politics seem like they do not belong to the youth.
“Our leaders are so much older on average than they’ve been… I think for a lot of (students), they’re like, ‘Why should I get involved? They don’t understand me, they’re not thinking about my issues.’ And that doesn’t matter if you’re a Democrat or Republican or independent or whatever,” he said.
Zolides hopes to assert the idea that politics is not just for older people and that Take It On is not just for certain students.
“This isn’t just for your political science, PPP, philosophy, pre-law students… We want to make sure people know this is meant for everyone. Voting isn’t just for the people who are super into that particular candidate or this particular issue, it’s meant for all of us,” he concluded.