Closet Conservatives

Joseph Landor on January 1, 2011 in College Entry

Before one of the College Republicans club’s weekly Wednesday meetings, a member who prefers to remain anonymous said she didn’t want to tell her friend where she was going, so she instead told her that she was on her way to a “secret society.”

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Luke Springer / Photo Illustration

On an overwhelmingly liberal campus, Republicans are outnumbered. In a profile released last year by conservative website Campusreform.com, it was shown that 91 percent of all political donations by UW faculty and staff went to Democratic candidates, and that liberal student groups outnumbered conservative student groups 27 to eight.

Both co-presidents of the College Republicans, Samantha Bowman and Lauren Pardee, are disappointed with the turnout of the club.

“Our efforts are focused outside of the campus because it’s really a waste of time [focusing inside of campus],” Bowman said.

The College Republicans, a student-based political activist group, is comprised of six officers. The Young Democrats, on the other hand, have 12 officers. Bowman said the College Republicans have had a hard time recruiting new members in the past few years as many students are afraid of admitting that they belong to the GOP.

“It is challenging because there’s a large disconnect between Republicans and the rest of campus,” said College Republicans member Morgan McAllister.

One College Republican described how many students don’t feel comfortable walking around with a picture of a red and blue elephant or a Dino Rossi button on their backpacks or binders. Another College Republican recalled wearing a McCain/Palin T-shirt during the 2008 presidential race. He said that on his way to class an Obama campaign advocate jumped in front of him and shouted in his face, “Vote for change.”

Matt McCleary, a master’s student in the Evans School of Public Affairs, said many Republicans tend to not bring up the subject of politics too often on campus.

“I am cautious in expressing myself [as a Republican], because friendship is more important than my political views,” he said.

Members of the College Republicans said that on campus, this behavior is common.

“Don’t tell anybody I voted for Dino Rossi,” several members said jokingly.

Bowman and McAllister said that repeatedly hearing liberal opinions in the classroom also doesn’t help with communication.

“It’s the accumulation of those small comments that hurts our party,” said College Republicans member Aymeric Prieur.

An example of a different type of partisan animosity pointed to by the College Republicans comes from the Genocide Awareness Project, which sets up in Red Square during the spring. The project displays provocative pictures of dead fetuses brought by anti-abortion rights advocates and has drawn sharp criticism from pro-abortion rights groups.

Meera Puri, a member of College Republicans who considers herself anti-abortion, disagrees with the controversial display.

“It didn’t help change the view of the opposition,” she said. “People would not change their mind because the provocative images angered them.”

UW political science professor John D. Wilkerson, who specializes in legislative politics, public policy and methodology, said most faculty members on campus have liberal views.

“[Being at the UW] is probably not as ‘comfortable’ for a conservative as for a progressive,” he wrote in an e-mail.

Puri said this means the College Republicans have to work harder to be heard.

“We are a minority which is interesting because we are individually more involved than the Democrats because [there are fewer] of us,” she said.

Young Democrats debate co-committee chair Shelby Woods said that although the College Republicans are outnumbered, they still make their voices heard.

“I think [the Republicans on campus] do a pretty good job at representing themselves,” she said. “They have good publicity.”

The College Republicans have some advice for campus conservatives.

“Don’t be afraid to stand up for what you believe,” McAllister said.

Other members advised conservative students to understand that just because their peers don’t think like them doesn’t mean their beliefs are wrong, and to realize that they won’t be able to change everyone’s mind.

Wilkerson, along with members of the College Republicans, said there are more conservatives on campus than students may think.

“Very noteworthy conservatives such as State Attorney General Rob McKenna, former U.S. Attorney John McKay and former gubernatorial candidate John Carlson have graduated from [the political science] program,” Wilkerson said.

Both the College Republicans and Young Democrats agree that progress has been made with their debates at the UW. Young Democrats President Alicia Halberg said the two groups have worked on holding more open debates on campus to avoid the increasing polarization of the two parties and to focus more attention on the issues facing the country.

However, Halberg said, there is still tension between the two parties nationally and locally.

But Prieur and McAllister both said that students shouldn’t be afraid to make their voices heard.

“Know that there are others like you and that you’re not alone,” Prieur said.

Woods said the Young Democrats appreciate having voices from across the political spectrum on campus.

“We have a pretty good working relationship with [the College Republicans] and look forward to having them around in our quarterly forums and debates against them,” she said. “We definitely have a healthy working relationship.”

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