We are proud to announce the official launch of the Notre Dame Political Union (NDPU). Our organization comes at a time when political discourse often feels heated, and people too often choose to stay silent. NDPU aims to create a space of rigorous intellectual inquiry and civil discourse.
While Notre Dame has a few political organizations, we felt that there was no safe space for students to come and have civil, structured conversations with members of our campus community. Our goal is to navigate the complexities of what American politics has become not just through conversation, but through structured, parliamentary-style debate. We believe that by coming together to have discourse rooted in Catholic social teaching and tradition, we can use faith and reason to move beyond the stalemate of resentment that too often surrounds our politics.
NDPU is more than just a debate club; we are an organization that provides mentorship and sharpens research skills. Our biweekly debates are supported by a dedicated team of research analysts who evaluate arguments based on logic, evidence and the common good. We are a nonpartisan club. There are not political parties in our debates, simply sides.
Here is why some of our board members decided to join:
“When I found out that Notre Dame’s free speech ranking was sitting at 238 out of 257 colleges in the country, with a majority of students saying they self-censor in the classroom, I thought that was ridiculous. I came to Jorden with the idea of beginning Notre Dame’s first club that fosters proactive, structured debates on a variety of different political topics that honor the traditions of the University’s Catholic social teaching. The club will be built by two core bodies: an overseeing board and a supporting group of research analysts. Debates will be structured around teams of two to three people per week, allowing for a variety of different talking points — the audience will be engaged as well.” — co-founder/president Alex Moeller ’28
“When I was approached to start this club, I immediately knew that this was a step to solve the problem of silence on this campus. I feel that more often than not we only hear from the extremes on both sides of the political spectrum and not the average Notre Dame student. I wanted to work with Alex to create a space to do exactly that. We wanted to a place for all students from all different backgrounds and political ideologies to come and not just argue, but to actually learn from one another. We knew that the best way to do this was to use the thread that ties all Notre Dame students together: Catholic social teaching and tradition. I cannot wait to see this club grow into a hub for civil discourse on campus, and I hope that we can use our common thread to bring people from all walks of life together for the pursuit of a common good.” — co-founder/president Jorden Poulson ’28
“It is my pleasure to help grow the Notre Dame Political Union as a founding member and create a space where we can uphold an important component of a thriving democracy: organized, thoughtful exchange of ideas. The creation of this club is not a testament to a lack of opportunities to understand, question and educate others on experiences that contribute to policy ideas at Notre Dame. It is an expansion of this, an invitation to students who want to lead new conversations and challenge each other on a breadth of issues they are eager to touch on but that they may not have a dedicated platform to do so. A holistic education must be a balance of building bridges and sincerely acknowledging and critiquing the why of disagreements. Students deserve to expand this acuity before they take their Notre Dame experience and leave their impact on society.” - co-secretary Chloe Younis ’27
“Once I heard this club’s mission, I knew that I wanted to be part of it. NDPU has the opportunity to create a space for students to come together to realize that we have more in common than we would originally think.” — treasurer Cindy Apolonio Romero ’28
We are looking forward to creating an open space for dialogue and cannot wait to begin our meetings this fall! Go Irish!
Alex Moller and Jorden Poulsen
Co-founders and co-presidents
Notre Dame Political Union
Class of 2028
