College Republicans in crisis?
For a non-election year, the College Republicans have seen their fair share of controversy and heated discussion.
Midland freshman and group member Dennis Lennox III said there has been problems within the organization, and has used blog postings to question, among other things, the legitimacy of the group’s constitution.
“I think there’s some issues between new and old members,” Lennox said. “There’s a general misunderstanding of what several members are trying to accomplish.”
Lennox said one issue he has taken a problem with this semester was whether or not the constitution the group has on file with the university is valid.
Some members of the group said that issue was just a misunderstanding.
“Two years ago, we amended our constitution,” said Kara Lambert, College Republicans president. “The problem is the chair at the time didn’t submit it to Student Life.”
Lambert, an Illinois junior, said the amended constitution, which had already been ratified, was formally submitted to Student Life after it was discovered they did not have it on file and was not voted on again.
“It was an issue of whether the constitution we had on file with the university was the real constitution,” Lennox said.
In a November blog posting at www.cmurepublicans.blogspot.com, Lennox said there’s strife within the group and questioned Lambert’s leadership.
“I certainly understand the importance of blogs in politics, but I don’t believe it is the best forum to launch attacks on other college Republicans,” said group member and Mount Pleasant sophomore Matt Golden.
Because it was posted shortly after Lambert had a death in her family, the posting led to a heated discussion at the group’s Nov. 30 meeting.
“Everyone is entitled to have complaints, but to personally and publicly attack someone for things beyond their control right after you find out their grandma passed away is completely inappropriate,” Golden said. “Some may argue that politics is dirty, but there are things you just don’t do.”
Lennox said the issues facing the group are common with any student organization on a college campus.
“Particularly at the college level, when sometimes meetings are infrequent and there’s some older people and younger people (within an organization), there’s not always the best lines of communication,” he said.
Golden said Lennox’s concerns with the group’s leadership should have been an internal matter to begin with.
“It’s a shame (Lennox) couldn’t voice his concerns with me,” said Lambert, concerning the blog posting. “I thought it was a bit unclassy, but I’m not going to take it personally.”
