“I like to build a bridge between our generations, and that’s why I’m here today.”
That is what Marion County GOP Chairman Scott Crouch told the Fairmont State University Student Government Association on April 3 at one of the weekly SGA meetings.
Crouch asked if Fairmont State has any conservative or republican clubs on campus. An SGA advisor answered, saying “As far as I know, we don’t. At the moment, we’re trying to get together a College Republicans and a College Democrats. As far I know, we don’t have either at this point. We used to, but they’ve both kind of faded away, and I think we’ve got to get them back.” Crouch said that he would like to be a part of the effort.
Crouch expressed his intent to offer opportunities for students to work with the Marion County Republican Executive Committee. Crouch explained that the Marion County Republican Executive Commitee hosts fundraising events known as Reagan dinners to raise money during election years. Crouch expressed his intent to partner with the SGA and the Marion County Republican Executive Committee.
The Columns spoke with Crouch after the SGA meeting. The agenda for the meeting on April 3 mentioned establishing a Turning Point USA chapter. Crouch was asked to elaborate on that because he mostly spoke about a College Republicans chapter during the meeting. “In the future, if there is enough interested generated, you all could vote on establishing a turning point USA chapter here, which is Charlie Kirk’s organization.” Crouch said that Turning Point USA is a conservative group that is focuses on voter registration and “getting people out to vote for conservative candidates.” When asked if he believed if a future Turning Point USA chapter would be involved with on campus elections, Crouch said “Yes, I would like to see that happen. I think there’s a great potential with turning people out from your generation to come out and vote and participate.” Crouch told me that he first spoke to Dr. Samantha Godbey, the chair of the Fairmont State University Civics Insititute, about the prospect of bringing a College Republicans chapter to Fairmont State University.
The Columns spoke with Dr. Samantha Godbey, the chair of the Fairmont State University Civics Institute about the College Republicans, College Democrats, and Turning Point USA chapters possibly opening at Fairmont State University.
“When I was in college, we had a pretty active young Democrats and College Republicans, and it made for a really civically vibrant campus.” Dr. Godbey said that each group would bring their own speakers and host their own protests. “But at the end of the day, we all went and got dinner together.”
Dr. Godbey said that she emailed the Marion County Democrats and offered the same access to SGA. The Marion County Democrats were contacted for comment by the Columns; the Marion County Democrats were initially available for comment, but an interview with the Marion County Democrats was never conducted.
