Simon Li: The People's Politician

Conflict, polarization and gridlock are all among the words that might come to mind when thinking about the current political climate. Stern senior Simon Li, however, is not nearly as pessimistic.

"The first thing that comes to mind is change," he said.
The finance and politics major speaks briskly and confidently when he discusses his passion for politics. Li, a self-described progressive, eagerly gives his thoughts on the Republican debates, the Occupy Wall Street protests and the student debt issue at great length. To inspire similar zeal in students, Li and others founded the Democratic Youth National Organization in May 2009.

"That was shortly after Obama got elected, and we thought, 'We really want to see the change happen, and not just see the movement die down,'" he said. "We wanted to create DYNO to serve as a stronger voice for students."

This began Li's burgeoning involvement in the New Jersey political scene. In March 2010, Li ran for a position on the Bergen County Technical District school board as an NYU sophomore. While he did not expect to win, he was seeking to weed out the corruption that had run rampant in his district. He started a Facebook page called SimonForNJ, listed himself as politician and began campaigning.

"I started the page as almost a petition to really bring out these issues, and a lot of people actually signed," Li said. "I was really heartened by the support I got from complete strangers."
Over 300 people signed Li's petition, many of whom were parents and students. Li was not elected to the board, but the pressure for more accountability and transparency led to widespread resignations, including the school's principal for allegations of sexual harassment and the superintendent for allegedly pocketing district money.

In June of the same year, Li led DYNO in a march against New Jersey Governor Chris Christie's education spending cuts. After the resignations in the Department of Education, DYNO proposed cuts to school administration to go along with those for students and teachers.

Christie ended up doing just that. In the fall, Li worked on the campaign for Tod Theise, a Democrat running for Congress in New Jersey, going as far as creating a campaign video set to Lady Gaga's "Telephone."

Li is also active at NYU: He is the president of NYU China Care and the founder of the group's Dumplings program. China Care — a national non-profit organization — provides medical, social and educational programs for Chinese orphans with disabilities. The Dumplings program established mentor groups at various U.S. colleges for adopted Chinese children.

Now Li's primary focus is SchoolDate — a college dating startup put together by a team of NYU students — for which he is the CEO and chairman. Although he was tight-lipped when it came to the website's specifics, Li thinks SchoolDate will promote an informal atmosphere that will differentiate it from its primary competitor, DateMySchool.

SchoolDate is set to launch this month, and following graduation, Li will work at UBS as an investment banker, a notoriously coveted position. And ultimately, Li plans on chasing his dream of running for Congress in New Jersey.

"People always say, 'Hey look, if you work really hard, you can achieve the American dream,' but I think that's been dying down," he said. "If you work really hard, you might be able to have a glimpse of it, but with the current state of the economy, the government policies, that's really been a big issue. I want to be part of the change to make things a little bit better — to have policies that really help the people."