ON THE CUTTING EDGE: A Flower Child’s Worst Nightmare: Young Republicans Have Taken Over Berkeley
Using such imaginative tactics as "an Affirmative Action Bake Sale" and "Anti Antiwar Rally," the Berkeley Republicans have recruited enough members to become the largest political group at The University of California at Berkeley. The Wall Street Journal examines the group’s ascendancy at the epicenter of left-wing campus radicalism:
At Berkeley, while leftist students still dominate and outnumber conservatives, the liberal groups have splintered and are now spread across factions from the Cal Democrats to the International Socialist Organization to groups formed to oppose the war in Iraq. At the same time, several faculty members say, there are more conservative-leaning students than in the past, propelled by swells of patriotic feeling after events like Sept. 11 and an increase in the number of religious student groups. ...
The strength of the Berkeley Republican students is surprising given that the club barely existed in the late 1990s. A revival began in 2000, when several new students restructured the group to hold social activities as well as engage in political debates and attend Republican conventions. They also founded a conservative publication called the Patriot. To spread the conservative gospel, the club has set up a Web site, created an alumni database, regularly brings speakers to campus and holds weekly meetings. …
"I gave an interview to a British newspaper recently, and the journalist asked me about Berkeley's liberalism," said [UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert] Birgeneau ..."I had to tell him that the largest student political group on campus is Republican. You should've seen him: He was so disappointed."
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