With the resignation of former WSU College Republicans President James Allsup came an outpouring of former club members disavowing the recent direction and message of the organization.

The Daily Evergreen also finds the recent rhetoric of the organization to be inflammatory, divisive and ineffective in promoting Allsup’s stated mission.
“Our mission as a club is to promote intellectual conversation, spark debate and promote conservative and Republican ideas on campus,” Allsup said in April.

The WSU club has been in the news often since the beginning of the 2016 presidential election cycle — first with the building of a model of President Donald Trump’s proposed Mexico-U.S. border wall, then with their “Hillary for Prison” campaign and their invitation of controversial speaker Milo Yiannopoulos.

These stunts, which at the time were negatively perceived by many WSU students, were created with the intent of stirring people up and trolling for attention. In an interview on Aug. 17, Hayley Hohman, a former WSU College Republicans president, criticized the direction of the club in the past year, saying that rather than drawing students into the club, they angered and alienated people.

The Evergreen believes the organization is not representative of the party they claim to be the next generation of. Moderate Republicans in the club have allowed themselves to be led by an alternative movement rooted in hate and xenophobia, rather than traditional conservative values.

The club planned these events under the guise of starting civil conversations about important topics with the intent of swaying people to their side. But instead, they pushed people away.

Hohman explained that when she lead the organization, the College Republicans worked toward tangible change, advocating for lowering tuition, debates and constructive discussion. Instead of focusing on divisive stunts and social media trolling, the club worked for the good of the campus.

Involvement in political clubs doesn’t have to just be protests and demonstrations. Unity can be as simple as a former College Republican, Jacob Heinen’s work to start a bipartisan club in an attempt to start conversations between students of different political background.

Every campus organization should be working toward enacting positive change for all WSU students, rather than finding ways to divide us.
The Daily Evergreen hopes that new leadership in the College Republicans will take a more proactive approach to improving the campus climate and bringing students together.