Thursday, May 7, 2009

Who are the Calvin College Conservatives?

If you are reading this entry, you're probably wondering a little about who we are. Until summer 2009, we were known as the Calvin College Republicans but as part of our society's "reboot" we adopted the new name Calvin College Conservatives.

Many people at Calvin were unaware that the Republicans were the largest student organization on campus. More than 300 students self-identify as members. But over the last several years, event attendance has dwindled.

Though we bring excellent speakers, provide valuable information and offer opportunities to connect with the community, sadly, engagement was low.

Much of our problem had been one of image. For many students, Republican wrongly means an unpopular war, economic inequality and disregard for the global community.

On a national scale, we have seen this in the overwhelming losses of the Republican Party in the November 2008 election. On campus, this means that when we advertise events, people have seen the Republican name and dismiss the idea of attending. To solve part of this problem, CCR launched a "reboot." We reorganized under the name Calvin College Conservatives which will help us to continue our mission, making a positive difference in student lives.

First what this is not. This is not a break with our past. We are not hiding from the world of politics. In short, we are not changing our principles.

Now, what this is is an opportunity to restate what we have always held dear. We are still committed to our values of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We still believe in freedom, individual responsibility, the rule of law, fiscal responsibility, smaller government, market economics and American exceptionalism. We still believe that the future is bright and that we will leave a worthy legacy to subsequent generations.

Our reboot is just like a computer reboot, improving performance, streamlining and enabling better service to our fellow students.

We believe that the move to CCC offers our society many new opportunities. We can work more broadly with other student organizations across the ideological spectrum when we can build a consensus. We can bring more speakers to campus without concerns of the message being partisan. We can reach out to those on campus who have been neglected by the dominant political parties. In short, we can better engage students to foster growth and intellectual flourishing.

We believe that this is an exciting time for our society and look forward to the many new opportunitie that await us.