Posted on 12/28/2003 9:40:56 AM PST by governsleastgovernsbest
Republican views lands local grad in collegiate controversy ByAnthony Ronzio
AURORA, N.Y. (Dec 15): Growing up in Warren, through Colleen Curry's time at Medomak Valley High School, being a Republican wasn't anything special.
Her parents, Jim and Susan, were conservative, but not especially so, and Colleen didn't feel any pressure on her beliefs.
In college, especially Wells College in Aurora, N.Y., being a Republican all of a sudden became a big deal. Now Curry, with other like-minded Wells students, is in a pitched battle of wills with the school administration that's drawing national media attention.
A group Curry co-founded, the Wells College Republicans, was denied status as a student organization by the Wells College Collegiate Association last Wednesday, after the group authored a study identifying leftist leanings of the tiny college's faculty.
Colleen Curry of Warren, a 2002 graduate of Medomak Valley High School, has found herself at the center of a politcal maelstrom at Wells College for her Republican ideology. (Photo by Kristy Lee Hochenberger/Wells College Republicans)
Articles on the group's study and subsequent denial have been a staple on the pages of upstate New York's largest newspaper, the Syracuse Post-Standard, for several weeks, and even made one of commentator Brit Hume's recent reports on Fox News Channel.
Meanwhile, the controversy has polarized the all-girls college, pitting Curry and the half-dozen or so other members of the Republican group against an angry faculty, and embittered a student body that numbers approximately 400.
One professor, in an e-mail to the entire student body, even said all Republicans are "stupid" and suggested the best course of action for dealing with them is for them to be forcibly lobotomized.
"He was quoting a bumper sticker he has on his office door," said Curry, an economics major and political science minor, on Monday. "It's been a bad environment for the past couple of days, but it's starting to blow over."
The whole controversy has been eye-opening for Curry, 19, a 2002 graduate of MVHS who went to college with political beliefs, but not much experience in acting on them.
"I really hadn't been politically active until I got to school," she said. "My parents were fairly conservative, but they exposed me to everything. My friends weren't real interested in politics."
Curry's grandmother is a Wells alumnus, and helped persuade her to attend. "I was looking for a small school, where I could have personal relationships with my teachers," she said. "When I came to school, I realized I was in such a minority."
Earlier this year, Curry and a few others banded together to form the Wells College Republicans and eyed the fall semester for full recognition from the university, which would open up the group for funding to hold events.
Instead, Curry said, the group ran afoul of intensely liberal faculty and student sentiments that drowned the Republican's opinions and made her feel intimidated.
That reception then motivated the group to action.
Following other college's examples, the GOPers headed for the state capital, Albany, to examine the voter registration record of the 37 professors in the college's humanities and social science department.
They found 34 of the 37 registered to the Democratic, Liberal or Working Family party, and only three registered Republicans. Results of the study were then sent to all local media, and to each student and faculty member on the school's e-mail listserve.
Which is when Tom Vawter, a biology professor, made his suggestion for cranial surgery. The professor later told the Post-Standard his words were misrepresented by the Republicans, and intended as an afterthought.
"He is so closed minded," said Curry. It's a common problem, she added; many professors ask Republican students like Curry to check their beliefs at the door.
Which is why the Republican's stoked the political embers at Wells. "We wanted to point it out to them," said Curry. "(The college) purports to enhance diversity; we wanted to show the biases they have."
On Wednesday, the student government voted against acknowledging the Republicans as a student organization, a move Curry derided as "cowardly" in an interview with the Post-Standard.
All 29 acknowledged student organizations at Wells College voted on whether to accept the Republicans; 11 voted in favor, 7 voted against, but 11 abstained, leaving the group well short of the two-thirds majority needed to pass the measure.
Another press release was sent decrying the decision, and Curry pulled no punches with her criticism of the administration.
"Wells speaks often and loudly of its devotion to diversity. But when it comes to faculty, somehow there is a glaring absence of conservatives," she said. "And when the few conservative students on campus want to organize themselves into a club, they are denied recognition."
Wells doesn't have a recognized group affiliated with the Democratic Party, but does have a group affiliated with the Green Party. The Republicans say they are the only active political group on campus.
A phone call Monday to Wells College administrators for comment went unreturned.
The statement and ensuing nastiness on campus landed the Republicans into a closed door meeting with administrators on Monday to discuss their public relations campaign, Curry said.
Despite all the hostility from her peers, Curry said she couldn't be happier. The controversy has been an exciting experience in political thought and activity.
"Government is such big part of our life today," she said. "Everyone should have a voice."
The Republicans will try again for recognition next semester. Perhaps by then, a sentiment of live and let live between them and the administration, students and faculty will allow for a smooth decision.
For Curry, it's changed her perspective on many things, including the future.
"I always thought I wanted to get as far away from Maine as possible," she said. "Now I can't wait to come back."
And when she's back, don't be surprised if this now-grizzled political veteran ends up as Selectman Curry, Rep. Curry, Gov. Curry or maybe even Sen. Curry.
"I never thought I'd ever go into politics," she said. "Now, I'm giving it some thought."
This story was printed from http://rockland.VillageSoup.com/Community/Story.cfm?storyID=19421
This can't be true. Hate speech on a liberal campus from a liberal professor.
"Perhaps by then, a sentiment of live and let live between them and the administration, students and faculty will allow for a smooth decision."
Not likely. Liberals don't like letting good things live.
I pledge zero dollars and use their own stamp to send it back. I applaud them for putting the "liberal" into their Liberal Arts curriculum. I mock them for celebrating Che Guevara. But I don't get the chance to see the look in their face when I accuse them of being intolerant.
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