College Republicans

Name:
Alison Brorby
Title and Organization:
President of the College Republicans
Year and Major:
Senior, psychology

Q: What are the NDSU College Republicans?
We go through the National College Republican Committee, which is a national organization, and it is for students of all ages -- undergraduate, graduate, Ph.D. -- anyone can join. We are involved, especially this year, because it is an election year, in volunteering for local politicians, for statewide politicians and advocating for the Republican Party. We have been in contact with pretty much everyone who is running through the Republican Party for a seat somewhere. It’s our part, whether it’s making phone calls, knocking on doors or putting up yard signs, advocating for them and talking about what their agenda is on campus.

Right now one of our biggest things is the Fargo Victory Office. We have for the last six weeks or so been having students go out there from our organization to make phone calls from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. basically every day of the week.

It’s really about being able to hang out with people who believe the same thing you do and being able to talk about the Republican view on government or life.

Q: What is the biggest misconception about being a Republican?
Gosh, what are the biggest misconceptions -- do you have any? (laughs) I guess that, for me in particular, that I’m probably not as “righty” as you think I am. I’m certainly not liberal in any sense, but I think it’s important to not be at an extreme. Some of us have moderate views in mind, which might surprise people because they might think that just because we’re the College Republicans we have to do everything Party-wise, but that’s not true. I might not support everything that the Party decides is OK, and I won’t advocate for that.

Q: Why do you support Mitt Romney, other than the fact that he is a Republican?
That’s kind of a hard question because if he’s a Republican, he’s going to believe in the same things that I believe in. It’s maybe easier to say why I don’t support Obama, but I can also say why I support Romney. Essentially it’s because Romney is going to put more emphasis on free market capitalism society versus “let the government take care of it and let’s rely on the government for my job, my pay and my health insurance.”

Me, personally, and [the College Republicans] group have a lot of faith in what he could do to turn the job status around, to turn the economy around and balance the budget. I think it’s hard for the population in general to believe that [Obama] is going to do what he says. I think Romney has a lot of business experience, a lot of economic experience. We could talk for days about the different agendas, but it can also come down to the fact that Barack Obama is pro-choice and I’m not.

Q: How do you think this election will affect students on this campus?
The people who we elect into office [locally and statewide] will determine how much funding we get as a university. As of last fall, I believe that per student we were getting less funding than UND even though UND has a smaller campus population than we do. So I think it’s important to get people in there who will change the formula they use to determine how much funding a school gets to give us more money, essentially, out of the state budget that is allocated for us.

Q: How do the College Republicans impact our campus or the community at NDSU?
We certainly have a positive impact in terms of being friendly people … not crazy, but just being really welcome to anyone who is of our political stance or other. I would have no problem sitting down and talking with someone who was completely opposite of me. I don’t think anyone else in my organization would either. I think we’re a lot more understanding than people maybe make us out to be. We threw an event this fall for students that was just off-campus by Kappa Delta, and that was awesome -- we got a lot of students involved there. It helps when there’s free food (laughs). Being as involved in campus volunteering, and that kind of thing, as we can.

Q: How has being involved in this organization helped you in your college career and how will it help you in your actual career?
Well I’ve definitely met a whole new group of people … but long term? Networking. It’s amazing how many people of influential status that you meet. Just in the last few months I’ve met more people than I probably would have my entire life just because I was in this organization. Being able to shake hands with people who will make a difference, being able to put really influential people down as recommendations, and I think it’s so great to make those kinds of connections with people who genuinely care about you and who you can namedrop later in life. Networking is always good.

Q: How can students get involved with the College Republicans?
We’ll take as active or as non-active as a student wants to be in our organization. We would love someone who would be able to come to our weekly meetings, who can help us volunteer when we need to volunteer and someone who wants to make a difference in the community and statewide. Anyone who has a conservative view on life is who we’re looking for.

For more information about the College Republicans, you may attend their weekly meetings on Tuesdays at 7 p.m. in the Room of Nations.

We tried contacting the president of the NDSU College Democrats multiple times for an interview for this story but received no response.