While Democrats on the campus geared up for a primary election race wrought with uncertainty, members of the College Republicans bided their time, patiently waiting for the moment when campaigning becomes necessary – and influential.
“We haven’t done much with the primaries because it’s pretty settled who’s going to win,” College Republicans President Paul Freeman said of the relatively uncontested nominations of incumbent Gov. Robert Ehrlich and of Lt. Gov. Michael Steele for United States Senate.
“It hasn’t been too intense yet,” Freeman added, “but it’s definitely going to heat up this week.”
While the College Republicans won’t hold their first open meeting until after tomorrow’s elections, other student groups such as the Republican Women at Maryland have already met to get a head start on confronting Republican issues at a time when their Democratic counterparts are in full force.
Standing behind a table draped in a large Republican flag Wednesday night, Republican Women President Kristin Freese welcomed familiar faces and frustrated freshmen with an understanding smile.
“Maryland’s not necessarily the best place to get Republican perspective in the classroom,” Freese said. “We want this group to fill that void.”
Despite the majority of members being absent because of sorority recruitment – only about a dozen girls showed up to the meeting – Freese hammered forward by addressing the group’s main goal: hosting Republican round tables that “equip members with information so when things do come up in classes, they know what they are talking about and know why they think what they think.”
The fledgling women’s group, now in its second semester on the campus, works closely with the College Republicans – “We’re different, but we’re not competing,” Freese said – to promote Republican ideals, a particularly important effort during an election year in a largely Democratic state.
The initiative to start the group came last semester after Tara Buckley, the group’s founding president, attended a Maryland Federation of Republican Women’s (MFRW) event in Howard County. There, Patt Parker, the parent group’s president, spoke to Buckley about the need for the campus chapters. Because Buckley had a group of girlfriends on campus she knew shared her political views, she decided to start organizing.
However, the women’s group isn’t funded by the Student Government Association, unlike the College Republicans. Their all-female board conflicts with the SGA’s rule against exclusivity, SGA Vice President of Finance Daozhong Jin said.
On Wednesday night, the women’s group met in the Armory with College Republican leaders to share their thoughts on the semester. Although neither of the groups have done much work for the chaotic primaries, plans for the next few months include working on a variety of charity events, such as the Mamie Eisenhower Library Project with Maryland’s First Lady Kendal Ehrlich. The first planned event, set for Sept. 13, features Parker as a guest speaker.
After discussing other events – such as a potential tour of the White House and a guest appearance by Kendal Ehrlich on Oct. 11 – Freese asked those attending why they had come.
Some students, like freshman letters and sciences major Adriana Torres, were there to “vent” about what she feels is a stiflingly prevalent Democratic undertone on the campus, a phenomenon that has been especially obvious during the preparations for this week’s primary.
In classrooms and lectures on the campus, derogatory comments and condescending looks aimed at people who approve of President Bush go unchecked, even by professors, the frustrated attendees said.
“It’s my first week of college, and I already want to leave,” Torres said.
For Torres, the most hurtful part of all is the disappointed looks she receives from fellow Hispanic minorities – Torres is of Cuban and Puerto Rican heritage – after they discover she’s a Republican.
“We have all these things in common – language, music, culture – and then when I bring up that I’m Republican, it’s like I’m on the other side again, like all our common interests go away,” Torres said. “It’s kind of like I’m supposed to be a Democrat just because of my background. It’s horrible.”
Despite the commiserating, Freese and the group’s board urged members to keep a positive outlook for the semester’s goals, which include fighting illiteracy, contributing to charities through fundraisers and “spreading the conservative word around campus.”
Contact reporter Kevin Rector at rectordbk@gmail.com.
