The new project coordinator for the local chapter of the New York Public Interest Research Group has only been in town a few months, but he is already antsy to get things rolling.

Tim Marvin, who until last year was the project coordinator for NYPIRG’s Albany chapter, has taken over the position with new ideas for the upcoming semester and the energy to make them happen.

‘Great things are going on at Syracuse – politically, socially, and environmentally,’ said Marvin. ‘This year we hope to get NYPIRG working directly on campus more. There are tons of student groups here, and I want to work with them all.’

NYPIRG is the largest student-directed group in the state that deals with everything from environmental to consumer to governmental reform. Since its creation in 1972, NYPIRG’s 20 college campus chapters have played a role in lobbying for more than 120 public interest laws and executive orders.

‘Syracuse was actually the founding place of NYPIRG, so it’s a real honor to be here,’ Marvin said.

While NYPIRG deals with all sorts of issues, Marvin said the main focus is the upcoming election and making sure people are registered to vote.

‘We’re going to pull an old-fashioned get-out-there-and-vote campaign. We want to do everything we can do get people to the polls,’ Marvin said. ‘We’re thinking of doing things like holding an election night bash that promotes voting with concerts and entertainment. Things like that.’

NYPIRG already has members of its organization out in the field signing people up to vote. For last year’s local elections, the organization registered about 1,000 people, and this year it is trying to more than double it.

‘Syracuse’s record of voter registration is 2,700 people, and, unofficially, we’re trying to beat it,’ says Ryan Suser, representative to board of directors for SU and the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry.

Suser, an entrepreneurship and emerging enterprises major, has known Marvin for only a short time, but already says that the new project coordinator has what it takes to run the organization.

‘NYPIRG is a group of people people. We’re very outgoing, funny, and crazy, and Tim is all of those things,’ Suser said. ‘He’s open to all sorts of new ideas and had a bunch of them himself. He’s trying to give our group more vitality, and I know that he can do it.’

Marvin was raised in the small town of Attica, attending a community college and working multiple jobs before going to the University of Buffalo. It was there Marvin joined NYPIRG and got into activism.

Marvin became an intern and did outreach work in Ithaca, and was then hired as the project coordinator in Albany. When the spot opened for the SU and ESF chapter, he immediately transferred here.

‘It was all grassroots politics at its best, and I loved it,’ said Marvin.

Sean Vormwald, the project director for the SU and ESF NYPIRG chapter from 2001 to 2003, said Marvin was a good choice for the job.

‘Tim already had lots of experience as a project coordinator and working with student organizations,’ Vormwald said. ‘He’s also a great organizer and a great person, and he’ll bring a lot to this position and the group.’

Besides the voter mobilization project, Marvin and NYPIRG have other ideas on the docket for the year. The organization will focus on pushing reusable energy sources, financial aid issues in education and new sources of recyclable plastic. NYPIRG will also try to focus more on the local level by doing surveys of the different landlords and trying to lower the price of laundry in the residence halls.

While Marvin has just started on these tasks only a month into his job, he said he is already enjoying his work and his job is his main focus.

‘Right now we’re working solely on registering people to vote,’ Marvin said. ‘Many people are already talking about it, but we want to take that step further. We want them to do something about it, both in national and local politics. Students live here for nine months out of the year, and everyone should be active in the place they live.’

Published on September 8, 2004 at 12:00 pm