Prescott Herzog, a senior at Dartmouth College, said it’s never too late to be involved in political organizing on campus. Originally from Claremont, New Hampshire, Herzog started his involvement in college politics just a few months after joining Dartmouth in 2021, where he is studying government and history.
“I was really interested in trying to get other students—especially being from the Upper Valley— be more aware of what’s going on here at the college,” said Herzog, who is the president of NH College Democrats, and a co-president of Dartmouth College Democrats—a campus-based advocacy group that helps elect Democratic candidates to the local, state and federal level. “[I wanted the students] to see how local and state issues are very much impacting their everyday lives here.”
Less than 50 days shy of the Nov. 5 general elections Herzog told The Granite Post all about how to be involved in campus politics, and shared his own journey with Dartmouth Democrats.
Q. When you first decided you wanted to join politics on campus, what doors did you knock?
I think what was really instrumental for me was the word of mouth of upperclassmen, and also seeing opportunities come through online, or just stumbling across in my algorithms.
There were two people that were crucial to not only me figuring out how to do college initially, but also in terms of how to best organize and figure out— “what are the different ways and outlets that people can get involved on campus?” or “What are the different opportunities that you can go in?”
Q. What were some of the initial activities you were involved in with the Dartmouth Democrats?
Initially I was a freshman executive board member. So at the start of every single school year—this is usually during non-election years—they have elections for three or four freshmen to join the board to start helping out with a lot of the initial election-related work. And so I was elected to that and really wanted to work on increasing information about what’s going on inside of New Hampshire politics week-by-week.
When I joined, it was also starting to be the 2022 election cycle, so my role involved spreading information about Sen. Maggie Hassan along with different bills and stuff like that. I also planned social events.
Q. If a young college student in NH wanted to join college politics, how could they do so?
The New Hampshire College Democrats have four chapters all across the state at University of New Hampshire, Plymouth State University, Dartmouth College, and Saint Anselm College Democrats.
They could reach out through the New Hampshire College Democrats social media account, and we’d be happy to get them started with initial information, and finding contacts for people. There are some great resources in terms of how to start up a chapter, making sure that you have the right materials, how to work relationships with school administrators and such, because not every campus is as friendly towards having political organizations and clubs on campus.
So just a single DM could get the ball rolling.
Q. For those who are undecided, independent or apolitical, can they still come to do a “vibe check” with the NH College Dems?
I think one of the really unique things, because we have this level of access with our representation in the Democratic Party here in New Hampshire, is you have these venues to go in and listen.
When I was at a club fair this past Saturday, there were multiple independents or even conservatives who came up to me and said, “Hey, can I still go to this talk with Maggie Goodlandler?” And they came away from it knowing more about her, and becoming more decided on that race. And at the end of the day, our mission is to get Democrats elected, but I don’t think there’s a single member of our executive board who would be upset if we had people from different ideological perspectives coming in because we just really care about making sure that people are informed.
Q. s it too late for students to be involved in college politics, if not, what are some of the ways in which they could participate?
Absolutely not!
So here in Hanover, and at chapters across the state, there are events happening every single day that you can attend. In addition, you can phone bank, or canvas to talk to your neighbors, or do friendbanking, which is reaching out to a couple of friends and encouraging them to vote.
Getting involved can be as simple as reposting an informational graphic about registering to vote on your social media! Any way you can let your friends and family know about what’s at stake this election, and how to vote is crucial.
Editor’s note: This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
