In a country where national debt is a hot-button issue, some Oklahoma Christian University students are attempting to change this narrative.
As part of one of their yearly campaigns, the Oklahoma Christian Public Relations department has partnered with the non-profit Up to Us to increase awareness and promote activism about America’s national debt crisis.
“There’s one undeniable fact: A brighter economic future for the next generation means addressing the unsustainable national debt,” the Up to Us website said. “Charting a better course for a sustainable fiscal future isn’t a partisan issue—it’s a matter of basic math.”
Sophomore public relations major Isa Woodson attended a Net Impact conference in Detroit at the end of last week to explore issues related to the national debt. The organization has a goal to “inspire and equip emerging leaders to build a more just and sustainable world.”
As a leader of the Up to Us program, Woodson had the opportunity to listen to keynote speakers, attend breakout sessions and network.
“[Net Impact] supports the Up to Us program that we’re doing on campus as well,” Woodson said. “It essentially is tackling the issue of the national debt and what we as students can do about that issue. We networked with people, learned more about the issue and what we can do about it, how to take that information back to our campus and how to get people to sign up to petition for change.”
The Up to Us organization promotes its message by encouraging students from different universities to compete with one another.
“It’s a competition where you have to get a certain amount of signatures for your school to compete,” Woodson said. “You just get people to say ‘I support this’ and they go online and enter their email. We actually have a campaign running currently where we’re doing a bunch of different contests. A certain percentage or the highest vote will get donations to their club or class.”
Last week in Taking Sides chapel, students Ashley Cannon and Drew Eckhart debated the Christian perspective on the national debt. According to Professor of Communication Brian Simmons, the United States has a debt of approximately one trillion dollars.
“If you think you’ve got debts from student loans, imagine if you were this country,” Simmons said at Taking Sides chapel. “There’s a campaign going on right now to raise awareness about this called Up to Us. And the ‘us’ are you, college students. And frankly, my generation and the generation before me are not going to deal with the problem. So it’s up to you to try and fix that.”
Taking Sides highlighted the Up to Us campaign, encouraging students to talk to PR students about the subject in the Brew after the chapel. The Taking Sides question asked, “What should be done about America’s debt, and why should Christians even care about it?”
While Cannon spoke about responsibly stewarding money and extending the responsibility to America, Eckhart took a more political stance.
“I’m not in favor of lowering the national debt by cutting spending,” Eckhart said. “I believe we should do it by raising taxes in some areas and investing in America and just making the tax code fair. As one senator from Vermont said, ‘The top 1% have more wealth than the bottom 90%.’”
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