Reporter

Despite the backlash the College Republicans Club faced for attempting to bring guest speaker Milo Yiannopoulos to CSU Bakersfield last year, the club would like to bring him to campus in the future.

Last year, the College Republicans Club at CSU Bakersfield sparked controversy when they attempted to have a guest speaker, Milo Yiannopoulos, visit the campus. Yiannopoulos is known for his criticism of feminism, racist derogatory remarks, and for arguing against LGBT rights; he has often incited riots from students who are disgruntled by his statements.

Yiannopoulos was scheduled to make an appearance at CSUB on October 25, 2017. The guest speaker requested $20,000 to come speak at the campus. Due to university regulations, the republican club was unable to pay the fee and the event was cancelled.

The College Republicans were criticized for their attempt to bring a controversial speaker on campus, which affected the club to this day.

When asked if she had ever heard of College Republicans, Jennifer Rosco, a junior at CSUB, said, “I actually didn’t know they had a club called that, this is the first time I hear about it.”

Daisy Flores, a junior, said, “I would not feel comfortable with a racist, extreme conservative trying to talk to students about his political opinions. As a CSUB student I would not want to be a part of that.”

Shelby Moore, a grad student at CSUB, is president of the College Republicans Club. She has been a club member for three years, but this is her first year as president of the club. Moore said that, although the club would still like to have Yiannopoulos speak on campus sometime in the future, their intentions are not to start controversy but to encourage lively debate and expression of opinion.

According to Moore, the incident with Yiannopoulos has worsened the stigma that she believes is associated with being a republican.

“I think people think we are all hardcore Trump supporters and that we agree with everything that he says. We all have our own opinions and sometimes even disagree with some of Trump’s ideas, but we still consider ourselves republican,” Moore said.

One of the major events hosted by the College Republican Club was “Coffee and Cops” during which the club members treated the cops at the sheriff’s office to Starbucks and donuts. Moore stated that the club hopes to plan similar events in the upcoming semester.

“We want to clear the misconception about our club. You don’t have to be a republican to come to one of our meetings or be interested. Our own advisor isn’t a republican!”

In previous years the club has met on Wednesdays, but it has yet to set a meeting day and time for the upcoming semester. When a meeting time is decided the club president will post the information on the College Republicans Facebook.

Moore said that the College Republican’s current goal is to rebrand itself. This year, members plan to raise awareness on what it dedicates itself to.

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