College Republicans strive to represent party at USD

For any student on the right of the political spectrum, the College Republicans provide a club for meeting others who share a common political viewpoint, senior Colin Eilts said.
Those connections are what he likes best about being in the group.

“I enjoy most the gathering of like-minded individuals from differing backgrounds,” Eilts said. “Through this organization we are able to promote our party’s platform and help foster eager, young Republican leaders of tomorrow.”

College Republicans President senior Matt Hittle said the club is involved in a number of activities interested students can get involved in. The College Republicans host a number of lectures and forums, and also have the annual College Democrat-College Republican debate. Last year, Hittle said, the South Dakota College Republicans had their convention at USD, and Republican politicians from across the state attended.

“Firstly, we exist to educate the student body about the Republican Party and platform,” Hittle said. “Secondly, we exist as a vehicle through which students can be politically active and third we exist to assist local campaigns for Republican candidates.”

The College Republicans were very involved in the 2008 elections, Hittle said, and worked hard to both help Republican candidates and to educate students on the issues.

Eilts first became active with the College Republicans in the fall of 2008. Some of his favorite moments came during the election cycle, and they included watching Sarah Palin’s Republican National Convention speech and going to Sioux City to work as staff at one of her speeches there.

“My favorite moments as a College Republican were moments when we were unified for a purpose and shared a sense of camaraderie and unwavering belief in our ideals,” Eilts added.

The club is also a very diverse organization, Hittle added, and the College Republicans try to bring many different students together.

“We invite students from all ideological backgrounds,” he said, “because we are not so much a partisan organization as we are an organization dedicated to political education and political activism.”

Reach reporter Sarah Paulus at Sarah.Paulus@usd.edu.

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