In the past two years, political clubs have emerged at Hill. It began last year when Alex Rakos ’17, Matt Krick ’17, and Stuart Fuller ’17 began the Young Republicans Club just months before the 2016 Presidential Election with David Wolter, instructor of history, as their faculty adviser.
For the 2017-2018 school year, President Quin Mastrangelo ‘18 and Vice President Alex Tullman ‘18 will lead the club of over 80 members with their new advisor Patrick Lake, instructor of Humanities and Classics.
The primary goal of the Young Republicans Club is to provide a fun environment for people to express beliefs that aren’t always popular among students or teachers.
“We want the YRC to be a place where anyone can come and express themselves and their opinions in a free and open environment, something that can be pretty hard to find nowadays,” Mastrangelo said.
Last year, communication between club members was primarily exchanged through the club’s notorious email chain. This year, their goals include raising money for various organizations and having more meetings in person. Most recently, the YRC held a bake sale to raise money for the victims of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico.
The Young Democrats Club has started this year as their counterpart. The club will be led by co-founders Lou Alpert ’18 and Izzy Lux ’18 with Dean of Students and instructor of Economics Ari Baum as their faculty advisor. The club has over 70 members.
“It bothered me that there was only a club for republicans,” Lux said. “We wanted to make a club for democrats to have a voice.”
The YDC aims to get started on the right foot by sharing liberal opinions on campus and helping organizations at risk of being defunded.
“We realize that not everyone is born in the same economic situation,” Alpert said. “We want to spread messages of equality in general.”
The emergence of these clubs exemplifies not just a Hill, but a generational phenomenon in a growing interest in politics amongst young adults.
“Younger generations are getting more involved because the decisions being made are going to affect our lives,” Alpert said. “This election pushed people into being active.”
The Young Republicans and Young Democrats encourage any student to join no matter what their political opinions are. “We want to engage with the community more than we did last year by being a club that everyone can participate in,” Mastrangelo said.
“We need liberals to join. If everyone is from the same political party, it’s not as much fun to discuss,” said Tullman.
Both clubs plan to work with each other and The Hill News. The club leaders have shown great promise in being able to collaborate effectively.
“In the political climate we’re in today, neither side is moving forward. We need to come together and find a middle ground. Change begins with conversation,” Alpert said.
“Some people would say the U.S. electorate is more divided than ever, I would say we are more excited than ever,” Mastrangelo said.
Their opinions may be opposing, but the clubs have at least one thing in common: encouraging their classmates to think about issues bigger than themselves.