“Combat civil apathy.” That’s the motto touted by the newly revived Biola College Republicans club. After three years of relatively stagnant existence, the Republican club has been picked up and revamped by a group of students with a passion for political activism.
“The main goal is just to help create political awareness on campus,” said sophomore John Sirjord, the club’s new president. “We want to make the students are aware of what’s going on politically that will affect them for an indefinite period of time.”
Inspiration for reestablishing the club came earlier this semester when Sirjord, along with sophomores Nick Griepsma and Clark Hedrick attended a question and answer forum being held at Chapman University for Republican Presidential primary candidate Mitt Romney. Following the event, the three began a discussion concerning the lack of similar events sponsored by Biola.
“One of the big reasons we thought was because we [Biola] lacked a strong Republican club here on campus,” Griepsma said.
So the three teamed up and got cracking on a solution. They discovered there had been a formerly active Republican club with a BUBBS account, AS funds and even a mailbox. From there it was easy to simply take over the old association and give it a little fresh paint.
The official kickoff party took place Tuesday night in the new Crowell Business Building. Over 40 people were in attendance, and the order of the day consisted mostly of friendly introductions, root beer floats, presidential trivia and an overview of the club’s goals for the upcoming year.
According to their mission statement, the club intends to “educate the Biola community, combat political and civic apathy and spark political thought on campus.”
Immediate plans for working toward those ends include familiarization with Republican presidential primary candidates and writing letters of support to the troops in Iraq at the next meeting.
Leaders of the group were disappointed with the lack of attention given to Veterans Day throughout campus, and they want to see more people becoming involved in showing appreciation for our troops and public servants.
Sirjord said they wanted Biola to “stop for a few minutes to recognize all those who serve to make Biola what it is — to give us the freedom to pray every time before class.”
Discussion fueled the desire for an established party affiliated club, and discussion is a major goal of that same organization. According to the club’s faculty advisor, Dr. Paul Rood, the Biola campus is home to a wide spectrum of political orientations. Rood has been taking anonymous surveys in his political science classes for a number of years, and his statistics reveal something surprising to many students.
“A lot of people think we’re homogenous politically. I find that not to be the case,” Rood said. “We’ve got a pretty wide spectrum.”
As the only party affiliated political club on campus, the Biola Republican Club wants to provide an open forum for students of all political stances to come and talk about issues of importance in a constructive manner.
“Discussion breeds thinking, so if we had an open environment in which to discuss political ideas, people would probably exponentially consider political topics and develop their own opinions,” Griepsma said.
The next meeting will be help on Tuesday, Nov. 27 in Crowell Business Hall.
