Hampton Williams and his friends are staked out in the back corner of the Village Pourhouse. Surrounding them are flat-screen TVs, half-empty beers and McCain-Palin posters propped against the wall. They chat lightly and sip beer in anticipation of the vice-presidential debate. And they stick together; when you’re young and conservative in New York, there’s safety in numbers.
The debate begins and battle-lines emerge in the bar. Biden attacks and most of the Pourhouse crowd cheers, while the band of rightists wince and roll their eyes. Palin counters and the crowd hisses. The young “mavericks” in back jump to their feet and high-five.
Meet the College Republicans of New York University — a growing bloc of conservatives in one of America’s deepest wells of liberalism. They constitute “the true alternative lifestyle at NYU,” according to their website. And as the election season has heated up, their numbers and enthusiasm are reaching levels like never before.
The club started this semester with about 50 members attending its weekly meetings. Recent weeks have seen that number swell upwards to 70 – twice the attendance of its counterpart, the College Democrats. For the past few sessions, the GOP group has had to move to a larger room. But even there, latecomers are stuck standing in the back or sprawling on the floor.
Williams, the club president, attributes the rise in popularity to the liberal atmosphere that pervades campus even more intensely come election season. The liberals can get their news and political camaraderie practically anywhere, he said. But for the conservatives on campus, the outlets are scarce.
“We’re the only place; it’s sort of a safe haven,” said Williams, a senior hoping to attend law school next year. “If we aren’t active, we can’t expect anyone else to tow our way.”
As a result, the club has become a refuge for a variety of ideologies. About a third of the regulars are self-defined Libertarians. In recent weeks, Williams added, a smattering of Democrats has been coming to meetings, concerned that Obama’s experience doesn’t yet translate to executive mettle.
The club has worked closely with the off-campus McCain-Manhattan, an all-volunteer grassroots effort to keep the Republican Party in the White House. Being young and in Manhattan’s minority has its privileges. When Sarah Palin came to New York in late September, 10 club members got to meet her and even ride in her motorcade.
A few weeks later, on the eve of the final presidential debate, at Hofstra University, 15 club members worked at a fundraising dinner for McCain-Palin in the Grand Hyatt at Times Square. They met both the candidates and supporters such as Donald Trump and Stephen Baldwin.
On campus, the club is active and tight knit, fielding intramural sports teams in men’s football and co-ed soccer. But the club is most visible when it confronts its peers. At a student council voter registration drive on October 1, Williams and freshman Andrea Catsimatidis took on the College Democrats in a passionate debate. The sides swapped views on the economic crisis, foreign relations and the relevance of experience in selecting a president.
The crowd was cordial and – predictably – not behind them.
Joe Puglisi, a senior music business major, said: “I was glad to see the College Republicans here, despite no one actually supporting them. Both sides made good points. But the Democrats felt the love much more from the crowd.”
At the following night’s meeting, guest-speakers Brett Joshpe and S.E. Cupp advised the club on how to counter their liberal professors and classmates. The two young authors, who co-wrote the new book “Why You’re Wrong About the Right,” suggested various ways to debunk the stereotypes liberals use about conservatives.
They urged members to be active voices in local and national politics. They encouraged them to write Op-Ed pieces and letters to the editor, and to name professors who treat conservatives unfairly in the classroom. And they reminded them to have fun with it.
“Everyone in New York assumes those around you are liberal,” said Joshpe, a recent Cornell grad and former College Republican, who said he was astounded by the turnout at NYU’s chapter. “You can make it incredibly uncomfortable for them. I get great satisfaction in expressing my disagreement.”
Being in the minority is something new for freshman Sean Kross, a biochemistry major from Hagerstown, Maryland. He’s adjusting quickly, though. “Often you’ll see other Republicans in the park or just walking to class, and you’ll be like, ‘Hey! You going to Young Republicans tonight?’ And like a million people will look at you on the street like you have 18 heads. It’s a strange feeling. But it can be enjoyable.”
In years past, the club has used this outsider status as a license for some “liberal feather ruffling,” as they call it. They held an affirmative action bake sale in 2005, charging prices on a sliding scale – white males paying the most, black females paying the least.
Two years later, they put on a game of “Catch the Illegal Immigrant.” Participants hunted around campus for a student wearing a nametag that read “Illegal Immigrant.” The first person to catch the ‘alien’ and turn him in to ‘authorities’ won a gift certificate.
Both events led to campus protests and heavy media coverage. The latter landed member David Laska on television shows like Geraldo Rivera, where he was lambasted, and the Glen Beck Program, where he was praised. Keith Olbermann honored then-president Sarah Chambers as the day’s “Worst Person in the World.”
Williams said that their hands had been forced: “A lot of these things just come to us. Other clubs aren’t interested in discussing the issues – or at least they say they aren’t – so we have to provoke their interest to prove that the issues really are important… We’re not being racist at all; we’re simply illustrating the absurd by being absurd ourselves.”
As a result of the illegal immigration game, the university hosted a panel discussion to address immigration. Professors and activists spoke on the issue and more than 400 students attended.
While the prospects for Election Day remain uncertain, at least one thing is clear: This year, win or lose, more liberal feather ruffling is likely. As a recent meeting came to a close, one member announced a guest speaker for early December: Ann Coulter. Hoots and hollers ensued.
“She called us the Holy Grail!” a student exclaimed. “She was like, ‘Can you imagine the protests?’”
