By Maddie Mondell
Staff Reporter
Politics is in the air on Bryan Campus. With the presidential elections coming up, a new club has arisen: College Conservatives. President senior David Corwin and the College Conservatives now provides clash for the on campus College Democrats. Both clubs are planning a face off debate which will take place on October 4 at 9:30 in Mercer 110 to tackle domestic issues and set the tone for the election season. This will be a continuation of the Presidential Debate taking place the day before.
Both presidents are close friends and talk on a daily basis about politics, school, girls and life in general. During the interview, jokes about the “College Confederates” and “College Communists” were thrown back and forth with big smiles and laughter.
“The purpose of the College Conservatives is to energize and give resources to conservative students who want to make a difference. Because of the upcoming elections, there is a lot we can do to help conservative candidates and people with a conservative persuasion,” said Corwin.
In contrast, President of the College Democrats, junior Ashton Alexander said “My job is to be that counter force on campus to try to explain and champion progressive issues such as social justice, fiscal responsibility, and the idea of responsible stewardship of the environment. The fact that the namesake of the college is William Jennings Bryan means a lot when we look at his legacy.”
Alexander went on, speaking of the legacy W.J.B. had concerning public faith and political activism, especially for the progressive cause. One would find a lot of similarities between the club and his beliefs. He supported progressive democratic policies.
“Bryan is a predominately conservative school and I don’t think that a lot of students fully consider the weight of Bryan’s progressive policy,” says Alexander.
Each president was asked what each club thought of the other:
“I haven’t seen much as far as political activism or policy that has come out of the College Democrats, but I think College Democrats has done a wonderful job with their local service and with their projects. I definitely commend them with that and I’m glad they stepped in and have gotten involved and I respect them because it’s hard to be a liberal on campus and I respect them for coming out and openly admitting their political views,“ said Corwin.
“It’s good to have the College Conservatives back around. I think they’ve had a difficult couple of years. Their influence had reduced, and the students stopped being interested. I think it’s good to have an opposing viewpoint on campus, I think it’s healthy for debate and dialogue. I am personally good friends with their leaders and their chairmen. I love to hang out with him. They’re good people and I’m looking forward to having good conversation around here,” said Alexander.
Both clubs have some big plans coming up in the semester. The College Conservatives will be working with local republican leadership to get out and do some work with campaign events as the election draws closer. The College Democrats are planning a tea party to discuss electoral politics the week after the debate with the College Conservatives.
As for their hopes for the result of the presidential election, both are interested to see how it will turn out.
“My biggest hope is that we can move the country forward. I think everybody wants to go forward and move ahead. Forward motion on equality, jobs, equity, on anything that is progressive basically,” said Alexander.
The purposes of these clubs are to encourage involvement in current issues and political activism. Any student looking to get involved can contact Ashton Alexander or David Corwin to get more information about upcoming events, club meetings, opinions on certain issues or the opportunity to send hate mail.