All posts in up to us

Help Common Sense Action win Brown the Up to Us Competition!

By: / March 1, 2013 / No Comments /

Here’s a quick quiz: Do you like Brown? Do you like Bill Clinton? Do you like the idea of Bill Clinton recognizing Brown? I bet you answered ‘yes’ to all three. Also, gotcha – the time you spent taking that quiz could’ve been spent taking one of these quizzes and directly contributing to the prospect of the whole Bill Clinton recognizing Brown thing actually happening.

Screen Shot 2013-03-01 at 12.32.05 AM

Some of you may already be familiar with Common Sense Action, a student organization led by Samuel Gilman ’15, Andrew Kaplan ’15 and Heath Mayo ’13 (maybe you read our post on it last month). The group has led Brown’s participation in the Up to Us Competition, and has us close to the top of the leaderboard (University of Texas is currently in the lead) with only a few days left. Clinton will meet with the leaders of the winning school’s campaign and publicly recognize the school as a whole. If you want to help Brown edge out University of Texas, make sure to check out Common Sense Action’s Causes page and sign its petition or take any of its many quizzes – every action counts.

But on a larger scale, Common Sense Action is just getting started. Its marquee event, the Rhode Island Fiscal Summit, brought together student leaders from five colleges in the state for a discussion about approaches to the debt and deficit that focus on the well-being of our generation. The conference was co-sponsored by both Brown Democrats and Republicans, as well as many other campus groups – the Swearer Center, the Taubman Center, UCS – in a remarkable display of Common Sense Action’s ability to bring together all sides of the issue to work toward pragmatic solutions.  Continue Reading


Students who do cool things: Brown Up to Us and Common Sense Action

By: / January 28, 2013 / No Comments /

Brown is currently competing in Up to Us, a competition that highlights extraordinary demonstrations of campus advocacy, specifically geared towards our nation’s massive debt. If we win, President Bill Clinton will recognize us for our efforts as a university. We are currently in second place. Take a second to think about how cool this is. Here we are, competing against massive schools like the University of Virginia and the University of Texas, and we’re within reach of winning. All you have to do is engage with Brown Up to Us’s Causes page. Every time you click on a link or answer a question, Brown gets one point closer to recognition from President Clinton.

76636_290797407688150_1961104227_nWho do we have to thank for getting us in this competition for the first place? Meet Common Sense Action, a student group that strives to bring the youth voice to the policy-making table. Founded by Samuel Gilman ’15, Andrew Kaplan ’15, and Heath Mayo ’13 in the midst of our national debt crisis, Common Sense Action stresses the importance of future generations when making national decisions. Common Sense Action provides a grassroots outlet for young Democrats, Republicans, and Independents to vocalize their demands for strong bi-partisan leadership by creating a cooperative political landscape, eliminating uncompromising extremism on both sides of the political spectrum, and paving a sturdy and promising future. All too often, as policy-makers create legislation to please voter blocs and various interest groups, the importance of the future is placed on the back burner. Common Sense Action believes we can change that.
Continue Reading