Articles about us and our members:

1. Crossing Over: The Other Side of the Party Line -- Journalism Student

2. Conservatives take Carnegie Mellon by Storm -- The Flipside

3. Encouraging Political Debates on Campus -- The Tartan

Crossing Over: The Other Side of the Party Line 

Journalism Student, October 30th 2008 

      Leaves aren’t the only things turning red on Carnegie Mellon’s campus this fall.

      Defying the university’s left leaning or politically apathetic atmosphere, conservative undergraduates are joining forces in unprecedented numbers.  Since August, four conservative clubs have been founded at CMU – The Flipside, the Respect for Life Club, Students for Freedom (SfF), and the Gun Club – with a fifth, the College Republicans (CRs), being revitalized after a year of inactivity.

      While CRs are focused on the politics of the 2008 campaign, the newer clubs are largely focused on educating students about conservative issues and raising awareness for their alternative viewpoints.

      “Over the years, I’d built up this frustration that I wasn’t allowed to talk about my beliefs,” Jessie Kaercher, founder of the Respect for Life Club, said.  As Kaercher spread the word about her group, she encountered far less resistance than she had originally expected. 

      “With the first 25 members, I began to feel great.  There’s finally an outlet for our opinions.”

      The Respect for Life Club held its first event on Oct. 16, giving out free cupcakes “for babies who never got to celebrate their birthdays, uplifting them so people can consider them humans” Kaercher said.

      Kaercher is hesitant to give a political label to the Respect for Life Club.  Members’ religious backgrounds and political affiliations are varied, but everyone agrees on pro-life concerns.  “We want abortion to be seen as more of a human rights issue,” she explained, “and because we’re creating awareness, we’re a lot like FORGE.” FORGE is a human rights group concerned with African refugees who have been displaced from their homes. 

      In fact, the majority of students involved with the new clubs are more likely to identify themselves as conservatives than Republicans.

      “I wear a McCain hat just to get reactions,” Micah Rosa, who describes himself as a conservative, said.

      Rosa is cofounder and editor-in-chief of The Flipside, touted as “Carnegie Mellon’s Only Conservative Newspaper.” And though he will not be voting in this year’s presidential election (he is not yet 18), Rosa’s political charge rings strongly.  One might even argue it has to.

      At least 60 people attended the year’s first CRs meeting on September 11, but chalking for the event was repeatedly erased. Student support for Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic candidate for president, has been visible campus wide.  Students for Barack Obama ran a strong voter registration effort and have extensively distributed campaign stickers, buttons, and posters. 

      But Rosa’s hat and words indicate a growing trend at Carnegie Mellon: the right-leaning fraction of the student body is beginning to seek the political spotlight. 

      “I feel sorry for the Democrats: every election, the youth vote fails to show up.  Until there’s a national crisis and students are out there protesting on the cut, youth issues won’t matter,” Rosa said.

      1100 copies of The Flipside’s first issue were distributed by hand in late October; its editors were not comfortable leaving papers in public spaces, as do The Tartan and ReadMe, after the CR chalking incident. 

      The cover story, titled “Diversity…or not?  Ideological Diversity on the Back Burner,” was written by managing editor Katie Small and lists faculty donations to the 2008 presidential candidates.  With 35 professors listed as donating to Obama and four listed for McCain, the campus’ liberal leaning is clear.

      “At first, I just wanted to write to The Tartan about these issues,” Rosa said.  But, as in the case of the Respect for Life Club and others, Rosa’s The Flipside got some outside help.

      Founded in 1979 by Morton C. Blackwell, the Leadership Institute (LI) of Arlington, VA, “produces for a new generation of public policy leadership unwavering in its commitment to free enterprise, limited government and traditional values and equipped with the practical skills to implement sound philosophy through effective public policy,” according to its website. 

      Through its Campus Leadership Program, LI’s field representatives go across the country, bringing students together to start conservative campus groups.  “The majority of campuses have that liberal bias,” Michael Balsam, Carnegie Mellon’s field representative, said.  “We’re changing things for sure; these new clubs show students that there’s competition.”

      Balsam came to Carnegie Mellon in August and attended the first CRs meeting.  “I located my leaders there,” he said, indicating Kaercher, Rosa, and two other students, Chris Conte, of SfF, and Matt Goldfarb, of the Gun Club. 

      LI offers up to $800, along with training, for the groups it helps found and also supports clubs as they seek grants for campus speakers.  But Balsam attests that his groups are independent.  “My clubs are fully autonomous,” he said.

      When asked whether LI identifies itself to university administrators, Balsam said, “it depends on the universities.  I have no problem saying that I’m a Republican, that I’m a conservative, but LI is not party-affiliated.”

      As for the new groups’ individual autonomy, Conte uses direct dialogue that mirrors the shift in the Republican Party, a shift that increasingly divides conservatives and moderates.

      “The easiest way to tell a person’s political affiliation?” said Conte, a Libertarian.  “Use the IQ test: If a person has an IQ above 50, they’re a Libertarian – even if they don’t know it.  Anywhere under a 50, and they’re a Democrat or a Republican.”

      “I would put my head down if someone called me a Republican.  I’d rather lose with the best than compromise my beliefs,” Conte said.

       SfF is based on the Libertarian Party’s philosophy of non-interventionism, the free market, and personal liberty.  Still, Conte stresses that members come from all political backgrounds and that the club is geared towards political activity, not campaigning. 

      “To quote Thomas Jefferson, the greatest patriot kicks his country when it’s screwed up.  We trust in freedom, and that’s the best belief,” Conte said.  SfF anticipates increasing its campus involvement after the Nov. 4 election, independent of which candidate wins. 

      For the large part, each group is weathering criticism well. 

      The Flipside’s first issue reached a broad audience, the result of distribution efforts to students in front of Doherty Hall and to campus leaders.  An Oct. 21 debate run by the Triple Helix, an undergraduate science journal, featured five minutes for Conte to speak on behalf of SfF.

      When some people refused to take the Respect for Life Club’s cupcakes because they were a pro-life group, Kaercher responded with optimism.  “We had very interesting discussions as a result,” she said.

      So when fall gives way to winter and red leaves turn brown, Carnegie Mellon’s conservative students will not go into hibernation.  They can stand the cold.

 

       Works Cited

I conducted in-person interviews with the following people:

Chris Conte

      cell: 973-747-8842, email: ch1no13@aim.com 

Micah Rosa

      cell: 252-259-1279, email: rosamicah@yahoo.com 

Jessie Kaercher

      cell: 412-335-5327, email: cmurespectlife@gmail.com 

Michael Balsam

      cell: 407-712-5505, email: mbalsam@limail.us, mbalsam25@yahoo.com