A Gonzaga student has replaced former WSU College Republicans president as the leader of the Washington College Republicans Federation.

According to an article published last week by the Gonzaga Bulletin, junior Nick Gervasini, the new chairman of the organization, intends to take a more collaborative approach than his predecessor.

“How [Allsup] did things at WSU is definitely not how we do things here. His style of activism, like building walls and stuff like that, we’ve never done that,” Gervasini told the Bulletin. “We keep trying to bring in speakers to basically inform people that there is this whole other side to every argument.”

In his interview with the Bulletin, Gervasini, who was previously vice-chair of the statewide group, said he opposed Allsup’s style of activism, particularly his participation in the widely-condemned “Unite the Right,” rally.

“The Charlottesville thing, I just disagree with it. I think any kind of violence is totally unnecessary, there’s no reason for behavior like that,” Gervasini said.

Gervasini told the Bulletin he doesn’t intend to build any walls between viewpoints on campus. His focus will be on encouraging students to share their conservative ideas in class, and he hopes to lead a more open-minded dialogue.

“Something I think is kind of lost is the ability to go have the [political] conversation and then just go get a bite to eat after,” Gervasini said. “The whole thing that you can’t get along with people who disagree with you is very common and it’s unfortunate.”

Reporting by Rebecca White