College Tea Party Groups Boost Campus Conservative Ranks

Over the past year, the Tea Party movement has grown from fringe group to Palin-supported national sensation. Images of angry, disheartened protesters crying out for fewer taxes and less government spending were ubiquitous in media coverage of the health reform and stimulus debates, and the movement's impact is beginning to be felt in the 2010 election cycle. Despite the partiers' broad base among older, libertarian-leaning Americans, the ranks also boast members from college campuses around the country.

During the big Tea Party tax day protests on April 15 of last year, one event took place on the steps of the state capitol in Jefferson City, Mo. The rally of 200 people shouted down a Democratic member of the state legislature who was invited to speak. The tea party was organized in part by University of Missouri sophomore Brett Dinkins.

Dinkins, a sophomore communications, political science and sociology triple major, recruited 75-100 Mizzou students to attend the rally. He said that along with the members of the Missouri legislature he invited, all participants could speak out.

"A lot of people feel like they're not being represented by the government officials," he said. "So I thought, instead of having some big speakers come in and get them fired up, I'd let the people fire up the people by letting them speak about the problems they have going on."

Since last spring's tea party, Dinkins has teamed up with the Mizzou Young Republicans and the College Libertarians to host anti-Obama demonstrations, including protests of the president's Nobel Peace Prize and health care legislation. Dinkins said that he is working to bring either Meagan McCain or Ann Coulter to his campus as a response to the university bringing in socialist political activist Angela Davis to speak last year.

Tea parties have also made their way to Texas A&M University. The Princeton Review ranked the university as one of the most conservative campuses in the country, so it is no surprise that two competing April 15, 2009 tea parties were held in College Station, Texas.

Senior Courtney Hunter attended the tea party that was not organized by College Republicans because she did not agree with bringing in party candidates to speak. She said that the Tea Party movement isn't just for Republicans, but for a wide range of political backgrounds.

"The Tea Party movement is based in liberty, and when you base something in liberty, it creates a big tent and brings in a lot of different people," she said. "The good thing about it is, I think, you're not always going to agree with those people at all, and in fact you could disagree a lot on some really important issues, but it doesn't matter because that's the essence of liberty."

The differences in conservative ideologies have led to conflicts between Texas A&M political groups. When organizations like the Young Conservatives of Texas or the College Republicans plan different Tea Party events, Hunter notices limited student participation.

Some college campus tea party organizations have outsourced their organizational efforts to a group called Campus Tea Parties. The not-for-profit organization, based in New Jersey, services students from universities including Rutgers University, Ocean County Community College, Seton Hall University, Fairleigh Dickinson University and Drew University.

Doreen Finkle, one of the organization's founders and adult leaders, has been involved in her community tea party in northern New Jersey for over a year. She said that Campus Tea Parties helps groups found new tea party organizations and assists groups that are already on campuses with materials on how to plan events.

Finkle is reaching out and trying to show to college students different effects that the national debt and federal spending will have on them in the long run.

"This is their future and they need to know what's going on," she said. "This debt that our government has taken upon should not be taken lightly."

Finkle also believes that the lack of conservatism on college campuses is a problem, and advocates for wider political representation.

"We would like both political viewpoints to be heard on campus," Finkle noted. "It's not an unknown factor that campuses lean left and most professors are left. All we want to do is offset that balance a little bit."

Dinkins said that his involvement with the Tea Party movement stems from liberal pressure and bias that he saw in some professors, including being asked by a professor last year if he was excited about voting for Obama.

"When I started seeing some of these professors forcing their opinions on people during class, that's when I started taking a lot more of an active role in politics and the political process," he said. "It was from there when things like the stimulus bill were happening, and things like health care and some of these bigger issues occurred -- that's when I was really able to utilize my ability to speak out for people, to create events like what we're doing for the Tea Party."

Hunter said that because Texas A&M has so many conservative organizations -- including the Aggie Libertarian Club, Aggie Objectivists Club, College Republicans and Young Conservatives of Texas -- they would not have to look to an outside source like Campus Tea Parties to organize events.

Texas A&M junior Allie Williams attended the same Tea Party event as Hunter last year. She said that she is skeptical that the tea party movement will gain ground on college campuses where political issues are not a priority to many students.

"I was surprised to discover upon entering college that a majority of students are oblivious to the happenings in Washington D.C.," Williams said. "Each person has their own life and priorities and for the most part students are busy getting their degrees and don't have time with political issues. Regrettably, I don't think all of them realize how influential these political issues are to them and their future."