Picks of the Litter

Rather than writing a new article this week, recent events have compelled us to depart from our usual format, and comment on a change enacted by the newly elected administration. The new CR administration has been, in our opinion, overeager and foolhardy in their efforts to legislate new restrictions on communication between CR members. Specifically, we are referring to the decision to close down the IUGOP_TALK distribution list, seemingly without input and debate from the general membership. We fear that this decision will reduce involvement from casual members, and perhaps lead to decreased interest and membership in the College Republicans as a whole.

The haste with which this decision was reached is particuluarly troubling to us. We feel that there was not ample opportunity for discussion among all CR members. In relation, we fear that the IU College Republicans leadership may be in danger of alientating its grassroots base and may be reverting to a form of elitism (much like IUSA).

Apparantly, the new executive board, and the president in particular, are embarrassed by the frank discussions and varied opinions of the list's participants. We quote the following line from a recent e-mail sent by the Communications Director: "Robert is concerned that the discussions and/or disagreements on this list give people a bad image of Republicans in general, and CRs in particular."

In contrast, we feel that the Republican Party should be a place of inclusion, where members can express their diverse opinions, yet still subscribe to basic conservative principles. With the cancellation of the IUGOP_TALK distribution list, the new administration is sending the message that discussion will be limited to the executive board, and not the general membership. We do not find this acceptable.

While we object to the decision of the executive board, we realize that this is not the biggest issue concerning the College Republicans today. With the establishment of the new non-IUCR affiliated discussion list, we hope that communication between members of the IU College Republicans will continue.

Sincerely,

Bryant E. Lewis
Joel Corbin

The new list can be reached at: eseymour_goptalk@majordomo.ucs.indiana.edu