GOP Aims to Make a Splash

This is the second story in a series about what various student groups are doing on-campus leading up to the presidential election.

Over the past year, the UB College Republicans have made a name for themselves as the club that never shies away from controversy.

With events ranging from an affirmative action bake sale last year to a second amendment gun-shooting excursion next month, club members said they aim for events that spark big reactions.

"We try to raise awareness of the issues in unique ways," said Ashley Rae Steinkirchner, secretary of the College Republicans.

With New York traditionally voting Democrat, club President Matt Pelkey said that over the years the College Republicans have focused their efforts on working local campaigns. Now, Decision 2004 is giving the College Republicans a chance to shine in the spotlight.

"This election is going to be huge for our club," Pelkey said. "The presidential election is what people want to get involved in. I think it will bring a lot of our associated members out to become more involved."

"New York is becoming a battleground state, and the Bush campaign will be opening up here in Western New York," he added. "A lot of people are going to join to get involved in the Bush-Cheney campaign."

According to Pelkey and Steinkirchner, the College Republicans have a lot in store for the election year with events ranging from voter registration drives to the Second Amendment Rights Excursion on Oct. 2.

Pelkey said voter registration drives are crucial to the club.

"Our biggest goal is to just get people out and vote," he said.

Eric Sharp, the election campaign coordinator for the club, echoed Pelkey's sentiments.

"Everyone should have an educated vote," he said. "Our first thing is to vote, the second is to vote Republican, and the third is to know, this is why."

With the recent expiration of the assault rifle ban, the club is also taking on the issue of the second amendment's right to bear arms with its Oct. 2 excursion.

"It is one of our main rights, to shoot guns," Steinkirchner said.

Held at the Niagara Gun Club, the event will allow members and the general public to shoot pistols and certain assault rifles under the supervision of a trained former military instructor. This event is especially significant with the recent expiration of the assault rifle ban, allowing the event attendees to shoot weapons like AK-47s and AR-15s.

"It is our responsibility to shoot, and to know how to use these weapons safely," Pelkey said.

In the month before the election, the Republicans are also reaching out to other groups in UB's cultural spectrum.

On Oct. 3, the club plans to attend a debate with UB Muslim SA at the Yemmenite Community Mosque in Lackawanna, which Pelkey said will be a friendly debate regarding issues that concern local Muslims.

"It might come up, but it is just not appropriate for us to discuss the war in Iraq and the Middle East here in their mosque," Pelkey said.

According to Pelkey, the first major election event the College Republicans are running is a statewide program of a mock election, where students will be able to vote for president on October 6 and 7.

"It's really a statewide public opinion poll of college campuses," Pelkey said. "The plan is to start at the most liberal schools in the and go to the more conservative schools as the election comes closer so the ways the numbers are going to work out is to go up. We're going to put out press releases to show the numbers as they go up."

As the election approaches, Pelkey said the club will also hold various debates with the UB College Democrats, run voter registration drives, conduct more local campaigning, and start the publication of their own newspaper, The National Perspective.

"We want to get an unbiased voice out on campus," Pelkey said.

Steinkirchner said a newspaper would make UB more conducive to conservatives on campus.

"Conservatives are the minority here on campus," she said. "Republicans are almost outcasts. We want to raise our profile and let people know it's OK to be a conservative."