Republicans ready to 'kick ass'

After a two-year hiatus, the student organization College Republicans is organizing to spread their ideals and counter what they believe to be a liberal bias at The U of M.

"People are starting to get fed up," said College Republicans President Tyler DeWitt.

With The U of M hosting notable left-wing speakers Reverend Jeremiah Wright and Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now founder Wade Rathke in the last two years, DeWitt, a sophomore accounting major, questioned the absence of a well-known conservative speaker on campus.

"It's unfair to not include the other side," DeWitt said.

With that in mind, DeWitt and the newly reinstated College Republicans will host the recently-elected Republican Sen. Brian Kelsey at the Panhellenic Ballroom on Feb. 5 at 12:30 p.m. Kelsey, a Germantown native, is expected to speak to the group on what it means to be a young Republican.

DeWitt said he hopes Kelsey sparks the interest of the "quiet Republicans" on campus.

"We're trying to get the Republican message out there," DeWitt said. "We're just trying to unite people and give people a forum to get together and talk about what it means to be a young Republican."

The group has designed an attention-grabbing t-shirt as part of their efforts to recruit new members. On the shirt, a muscle-bound elephant with the American flag tattooed on his bicep stands before a beaten, bandaged donkey. Printed underneath is the phrase, "It's time to kick ass!"

The group plans to push for gubernatorial debates on-campus, as well as volunteer for Republican causes. Though they have found new life under DeWitt, the last two years were a struggle.

Lisa Huffstetler, political science instructor and College Republicans faculty advisor, said the organization fell apart after an unsuccessful transition to new leadership.

"Sometimes you can have real vibrant leadership, but when that leadership graduates and they pass the baton on to someone and they don't keep up with it, it's just really easy for the organization to fall apart," she said.

Leadership problems in 2008 led to another Republican organization on campus, "Tigers for McCain," competing with them for members.

A post-election decline in Republican activism also hurt the group, said Huffstetler.

"It's really easy for an organization like this to fall apart," she said. "People aren't excited when there's not an election. Republicans weren't really excited towards the end of the Bush administration anyway, as you can see by the shellacking they took in the 2008 presidential election."

Huffstetler said the recent election of Scott Brown, the first republican to win a seat in the traditionally democratic Massachusetts senate since 1972, is helping that resurgence. She hopes that Brown's election, combined with Obama's fizzling approval ratings, will translate to more interest in the Republican Party.

College Democrats President Frederick Day, senior physics major, said that is unlikely.

"It's not so much a turning point for Republicans as it is a wake-up call for Democrats," he said of Brown's victory. "I still feel the country is going in a more liberal direction."

Former College Democrats President Michael Lipe, who helped bring Barack Obama to speak on campus in 2006, also sees Brown's victory as a minor dent in the progress of Democrats nationwide.

"I don't see it as a loss for the Democrats," Lipe said. "Last time I checked, we still have the majority of the Senate. They're celebrating 41 (seats). We still have 59."

Lipe also said College Democrats will likely respond to the College Republicans t-shirt, which he called "juvenile."

"As long as it's all in good fun, I'm sure College Democrats will come up with something," he said.