By LILI EDWARDS and ELLA SILVA

This week we sat down with one of the students who worked with the Wisco Project to discuss the organization in a post-election landscape. Kitana Gulotta’25 agreed to talk about her experiences working with them, and what she thinks could be done moving forward. When asked what exactly the Wisco Project is and what its goals were, Gulotta said “The Wisco Project is a 501(C)4 and 527 organization dedicated to mobilizing college students to vote for Kamala Harris in the 2024 election. The goals included empowering students to vote in all upcoming elections and to educate students about the voter registration process.” This goal seems pretty simple, but putting it into action was perhaps less so. Gulotta talked about some of those struggles as someone working for the organization. She mentioned how as a fellow, she had to “learn how to be okay with people being uncomfortable with your presence or just ignoring what you had to say.” While that does sound rough, she also says that she “found it to be really rewarding to work for an organization that aligned with [her] values.” 

Now that the election is over and the results are in, it feels worth it to take a look back to reflect on what the Wisco Project was able to actually accomplish on campus, and if there were any large obstacles they faced during that process. When discussing if the organization was successful in its mission, Gulotta stated “I believe that we were successful to the best of our ability. My boss shared with us that Kamala Harris got 98 more votes from Beloit College students than Joe Biden did in 2020. That could of course be that people felt more inclined to vote this election season, and the push from the other voting-related organizations on campus, but I believe we did contribute to this increase in votes.” 

So in some ways, they did make at least a small difference in the campus’ approach to the election. But there is always room for growth with a new organization like this. Gulotta expressed this sentiment herself, highlighting how this organization could see greater success in the future as a more established entity. “The organization is a completely new organization which is a subset of a larger organization. This was challenging as we were learning everything on the go. We never really had a set schedule and had to be flexible as well as creative in thinking of campus events that would interest the students.”

Not all of the weight falls on the organization itself, however. The college’s support and student body response also had an impact on how much the Wisco Project could accomplish. According to Gulotta, Beloit College was supportive, at least as much as an organization that has to remain bi-partisan could be. She mentioned how other election-related events hosted by the college helped to continue the conversations that the Wisco Project was encouraging. The “Dissecting the Economic Plans of Kamala Harris and Donald Trump” session in particular seemed helpful, and she was “happy to see the kinds of real conversations happening there.”

The student body, however, could have been more involved. Gulotta says that she really “would like to see more individuals/groups engage in the political process. Politics shapes literally everything in our lives so I don’t think it is fair to say you don’t care about politics.” Perhaps more student involvement is something that can be worked for during future elections, but maybe in ways unrelated to the Wisco Project specifically, as at the moment its future is unclear. Gulotta relays that she is “not sure what the future of Wiso Project is. There was talk about sticking around to encourage students to vote in more local elections but I think the organization is taking a break for now.” 

Though this election is over, and the Wisco Project’s involvement in future elections is unknown as of now, that doesn’t mean that students should stop using their voices and remain educated on the political goings-on in our country. Knowledge is power, and the voice of every student is just as valuable now as it was before the election. People may just need to use those voices in different ways. In the words of Gulotta, moving forward right now means preparing for what’s to come. As she says, ”if the federal government is going to be defunding welfare organizations, grassroots organizations are going to need to step in now more than ever.”