Student organizations on the campus of UW-Whitewater have a sort of ebb and flow to them. Sometimes memberships swell and certain clubs and organizations get really popular. Other times organizations have had to shut down or die out because of declining interest. Some of these clubs that go by the wayside do end up making a comeback however. A perfect example of this is the resurgence of the Political Science Student Organization, or PSSA.

PSSA is meant to be a group where people can talk about politics without having to worry about the partisan divide and bickering.

“It’s a club for people that are interested in political science,” said Professor Louis Fucilla, a professor of political science at Whitewater and the advisor for PSSA. “If you like politics and you like talking about politics and understanding what’s going on in politics from an analytical perspective, it’s the club for you.”

While also being a club where students can talk about politics in a safe space, it’s also a club to get more people introduced to the political science department at Whitewater.

“PSSA is a nonpartisan organization that’s going to help to bring like-minded people together and help them gain access to opportunities in the political science department,” said Kate Swanson, the secretary of PSSA.

For Swanson, bringing like-minded people together is important because it exposes people to the department and the field. “PSSA has given me a place to cultivate relationships with people who have similar interests to me. It’s been really cool getting to know people outside of classes that are also interested in political science.”

On top of exposing more people to the discipline of political science, PSSA also illustrates the options available to political science majors.

“One thing that’s different of PSSA compared to Law and Society is that we do look at that other side of political science,” said Kennedy Cutts, President of PSSA. “Typically, political science is just seen as a way to get into law school, but there are multiple different things to do in political science. We’re trying to reach out more to that side of political science as a whole compared to just law.”

PSSA was an organization on campus some years ago that had seen a decrease in membership and had ceased to exist until recently when students and faculty inside the political science department decided to try and revive it. This has not been an easy task, however, as the group of students trying to restart the club have to do it from scratch, including having to write their own by-laws and constitution.

“We have a good group of student leadership,” said Fucilla. “They’ve got their constitution written and are heading towards official recognition status.”

Because PSSA has not been recognized by the University as an official student organization, they do not hold weekly meetings. But they are on their way to becoming an official organization, and do team up with other student organizations like the College Democrats or Republicans to hold events like debate watch parties and other things.