At the fourth annual convention of New Hampshire College Republicans, held this weekend at the Hanover Inn, speakers urged convention attendees to voice their ideas and avoid intimidation by classmates and professors. And in an unexpected appearance, Democratic Governor of New Hampshire John Lynch spoke about the strength of bipartisanship.
Bradley Smith, former chairman of the Federal Election Commission, told students to take pride in being Republican.
"It seems that there has been a concerted effort to make being a Republican not cool for young people," he said. "But, let me tell you something: it is always going to be cool to say that I believe in freedom."
Encouraging students to remember what he called the Republican values of freedom, Smith talked about freedom in the economy, freedom from high taxes and freedom that comes from taking national security seriously.
Smith warned about current legislation called the Media Ownership Reform Act, which would reintroduce control measures similar to the Fairness Doctrine, abolished by President Reagan in 1987.
The measures would require a radio station to allocate equal speaking time to both conservatives and liberals. In other words, if a conservative radio talk show host has three hours of speaking time on a particular station, that station must broadcast a liberal host for the same amount of time.
Nancy Merrill, the 2004 vice chair of the Bush-Cheney presidential campaign, asked students to remember that Amos Tuck, an 1835 graduate of Dartmouth College and close friend of Abraham Lincoln, contributed to the party's foundation.
"It was formed on the basis of opposition to the expansion of slavery into the Mid-West," she said. "There's a lot that's right with this party."
A member of the University of New Hampshire College Republicans, freshman Anthony Battaglia said that his organization tries to promote more conservative thought in the classroom and to defend that conservative point of view.
"At UNH, even English classes are very Democrat-focused," he said. "If you do find a Republican viewpoint, it will be shot down quickly by the professor."
At the meeting, the crowd unanimously nominated Greg Boguslavsky '09, spring interim president of the Dartmouth College Republicans, as chairman for the statewide organization. Also from Dartmouth, Christian Ginez '10 was nominated as the organization's treasurer.
Boguslavsky said that he wants to bring together the College Republican groups across the state to support candidates in the vital 2008 presidential election cycle because he believes in the Republican principles.
Fifty people attended the event coming from Dartmouth, Saint Anselm College and UNH, as well as out-of-state schools Bates College, Colby College, and Harvard University.
At Dartmouth, Boguslavsky wants to try to bring people into the College Republicans group who are not staunchly Republican in how they support the party line.
"If [students] don't know where they stand on the issues, go to College Democrats meetings, go to College Republicans meetings.," he said. "To be a college student in New Hampshire at this time is really a singular opportunity in America, and students might regret not getting involved."
