Wheelan is a visiting professor at the College during the Summer term.
Economics professor Bruce Sacerdote held a cocktail party for Wheelan at the Hanover Inn on Jan. 23, just 11 days after Wheelan officially announced his candidacy. More than 100 students, faculty and community members attended the event, and many became inspired to undertake their own efforts on Wheelan's behalf, Sacerdote said.
"They decided to start with get-out-the-vote efforts," Sacerdote said. "The get out the vote thing is a student effort."
Dartmouth students also met Tuesday at Alpha Delta, Psi Upsilon and Sigma Nu fraternities to make calls to voters in Illinois's 5th Congressional District.
"The fruit of our efforts is getting people to phone bank for Wheelan," Syam Palakurthy '09, Wheelan's former student, said. "Since we are so far away, it's pretty limited to phone banking, but it seems like that's where their efforts are focused right now."
Over two dozen volunteers made 1,001 calls, Palakurthy said. Students will repeat these efforts every Tuesday until the election on March 3, Palakurthy said.
"I know the organizer from Wheelan's campaign said this is probably going to be their biggest volunteer night," Sig Nu President Ben Beckerman '10 said of the Tuesday event. "It also shows people who might have a negative view of the Greek system that we don't just throw parties."
Calls from students are especially helpful in the get-out-the-vote effort, Wheelan said.
"What's great about Dartmouth callers is most of them know me," Wheelan said. "They're smart, and that's really important to have on the other end of the line. And since people know me, they can talk pretty easily. It's that personal connection that matters more than anything else when you're calling people out of the blue."
Molly Schloss '11, who is studying abroad in Lyon, France, has been sending e-mails to campus urging students to get involved in the campaign. She said she became interested in Wheelan's work after he visited her high school and she read his book, "Naked Economics: Undressing the Dismal Science."
"The minute he announced his candidacy, I was so excited," Schloss said. "I'm a native of Chicago, so I've been working with members of the Dartmouth Club of Chicago, and my parents have been hosting parties for him."
Wheelan's knowledge of economics makes him particularly qualified for the congressional seat, Sacerdote said. In addition to publishing his book, Wheelan worked as a correspondent for The Economist and wrote for The New York Times, the Chicago Tribune and The Wall Street Journal.
"Out of the other candidates, he's the only one with a Ph.D. in public policy and a strong foundation in economics," Sacerdote said. "There are very few people in both houses [of Congress] that have the background to work on these complex problems, and Charlie actually has ideas of his own."
Wheelan is currently a professor at the University of Chicago.
