Celia Bigelow `12 is the founder of “Students against B.O.”; the “B.O.” stands for Barack Obama and the group is a project of American Majority Action, a nonprofit political action organization. Bigelow acts as the college campus director for AMA.
The goal of the initiative is to inform young voters why they should not cast their votes for President Barack Obama on Nov. 6.
Bigelow said young people have never been “more economically miserable” under any president than the current one.
“Tuition has increased 25 percent in the last four years, average student loan debt has increased 15 percent,” Bigelow said. “Obamacare will automatically increase healthcare premiums by 45 percent,” Bigelow said.
“On top of that, 53 percent of recent graduates are either unemployed or underemployed, and the average salary of a college graduate has decreased 6 percent. If young people want to see jobs, President Obama must lose his,” she added.
To spread the message, Students against B.O. is distributing fliers to campuses in swing states featuring a deodorant stick with Obama’s face on it. The accompanying words are “say no to B.O.,” along with statistics Bigelow mentioned. The group’s posters are on over 30 college campuses.
The initiative has a presence on Facebook where it has nearly 700 likes. It also has a website where students can donate to the efforts of the project, register to vote, or pledge to vote.
Bigelow encourages Hillsdale students to vote.
“While I was a student at Hillsdale, I realized how much apathy there is because we live in a conservative bubble,” Bigelow said. “As young Americans, this is the most important election of our lifetime.”
Bigelow said Hillsdale students can’t afford to be passive this year.
“We have been blessed with the truth,” she said. “We need to take our education and fight for our country.”