The Wake

Laura Gatz is a white female of average build, with brown hair and large eyes. She is standing in a black jacket next to a table in front of Coffman Union, next to an arch made out of red, white, and blue balloons. The table is staffed by several other students—white males—who are also wearing the appropriate clothing for an unusually mild November afternoon. I know that I am looking for a female named Laura, and since there is only one at the table I walk towards her with confidence. “Hi, I’m Jenny from The Wake, we spoke on the phone?” She turns and smiles, her perfectly straight white teeth gleaming next to her shimmering pink lips. Gatz is the president of CFACT, or Collegians for a Constructive Tomorrow, a national conservative action group with a branch on the U’s campus.

We decided to go inside, where we could talk with less hindrance from the wind. In the back of Coffman, on one of the couches near the windows, I start digging into what exactly Conservative Awareness Week is. Gatz says that the primary function is to let other conservatives know that they have a place to go on campus. “Since most of the students and faculty are liberal, it’s hard to feel comfortable as a conservative,” she says. At times, Gatz suspects that she has been graded down for her political views, and says she has heard similar stories from friends. “We are all about opening up the marketplace of ideas that this university is supposed to be,” says Gatz. In the real world, she says, not everyone is liberal, and students of all political ideologies should feel at home here.

The day we spoke, Wednesday, Nov. 15th, was coined as a “coming out day” for conservatives on campus. “We have been misinterpreted over the phrase ‘Conservative Coming Out Day,’” says Gatz. She says that she supports the GLBT community, despite a disclaimer after the event’s tagline—“Conservative Awareness Week: Because the GLBT’s feel more comfortable at the U than we do.” Gatz insists that “we aren’t mocking the gay community. Imitation is the highest form of flattery.”

But some students are unwilling to accept this form of flattery. A nursing student, member of the National Guard, and veteran of the Iraq war who requested he not be named, says that he is offended by the coming out day. “They have no idea what discrimination is. It’s really offensive that they can equate their feelings of discrimination with any other minority,” he says, going on to point out, “they’re not in the minority, they’re very privileged. Middle to upper class, typically white, the most privileged people in the U.S. For them to say that they’re coming out is ludicrous.” He also shared that he has seen firsthand the type of discrimination that gay people can face. “I’ve seen repercussions of someone coming out publicly. They were out of the military the same day … I think that there are a lot of gay people in the military because they love their country and they want to do something for it.”

Another student, Brandon Mchie, says that using the term “coming out” seems like an implicit parody, and that “being conservative is not appropriate to equate with being gay, that’s really heavy.”

The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP) reported that in 2004, there was “a 4 percent increase in reported incidents of anti-LGBT violence … Included in rise in incidents for the year, was an 11 percent increase in anti-LGBT murders.” The NCAVP’s report on hate violence in 2003 concluded that the 26 percent increase that year was a public reaction to the victories in the GLBT community of removing anti-sodomy laws and being granted the right to marry in Massachusetts. The organization linked the increase in violence in 2004 to the President’s call to ban same-sex marriage, which they called “the demonization of lesbians and gay men in particular in the 2004 election cycle.”

Civilrights.org, a website sponsored by Leadership Conference on Civil Rights and the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund, does not have any information available on the prevalence of hate crimes aimed towards those who identify as conservatives.

Tyler Jones, a member of the gay community, says that this is a “wretched comparison. There is no flattery involved here.” He says that “they need to deal with it, having elected the president, it’s time to deal with the repercussions of what he has done. Of course they’re going to feel uncomfortable, we disagree with what has happened here.” He adds that “they are making it sound like they are refugees in war.”

Gatz wants to makes sure that students understand that this event is about political ideas, and is not associated with a political party or a religious group of any kind. “We welcome students from all political identities who have conservative views. One of the things we are trying to do today is to help students identify with us and as a member of our community,” she says. The website for the event says that “The College Republicans’ members may be a part of this event, but due to fees restrictions, the club cannot technically be a part of this event due to partisanship.”

In that same vein, Gatz says that she and the other organizers are trying to get away from the negative connotation that being a Republican holds. She says that a lot of people are conservative or have many conservative viewpoints, but don’t necessarily identify with the Republican Party. “Like a lot of Minnesotans on the Iron Range, they vote Democrat, but they feel the same way we do about allowing people to carry guns and less restrictions on trade, and the removal of the welfare system,” she says. Gatz says that she believes in the value of the dollar, and that people just need to be more responsible with their money, rather than relying on the government to support them. She says that the welfare program that began with Roosevelt’s New Deal was not meant to be long term and that private enterprise and charity can take its place. “America has a social responsibility because we are on the top,” says Mchie in reaction to Gatz’s comments. “It’s shooting ourselves in the foot to only think about the U.S.” Gatz went on to say, “Schools and teachers need to learn to be more responsible with the money that they are given.”

On the Tuesday of Conservative Awareness Week, the group focused on environmental issues. The day was called “Free Market Environmentalism Day.” Gatz discussed her organization’s stance on the global economy, stating, “we are for free trade, not fair trade.” And that while many think that caring for the environment is a liberal issue, CFACT believes that our environmental problems can be solved through the free market. I asked her about the issues involving the free trade zones and pollution, since it is widely known that factories in free trade zones are not held to any laws requiring environmental responsibility. Gatz said that she was unaware of this issue, and that all of the information she had on the subject came from Center for American Progress, which she describes as a conservative think-tank that does independent research to support conservative viewpoints. With a huge staff of conservative scholars, Gatz says the Center is the primary source of information for CFACT.

The National Guard veteran I spoke with says that the Center sounds to him like “basically a bunch of people saying to themselves ‘how can we skew this for our purposes?’”

Gatz says that regardless of the pollution in free trade zones, “what happens in other countries is not our problem, our problems lie at home. This country is not perfect.” Gatz says that she and CFACT are opposed to plans to create a super-highway built to simplify trade between the United Sates, Mexico and Canada. She says that the third world is highly corrupt, and that “when we open ourselves up to helping them, we open ourselves up to deterioration.” She stressed the importance of the United States being more of a sovereign nation, and explained that Monday’s event had been themed as “Patriotism Day: securing our borders, supporting our troops.” The day’s activities included passing out yellow ribbons and writing notes to send overseas to troops. They also hosted speaker Ruth Hendrycks, from Minnesotans Seeking Immigration Reform. In response to this, the National Guard veteran says, “securing borders does not equal supporting our troops. Most of the troops are immigrants, so that would be totally counterintuitive.” He pointed out how vital the immigrant population is to our armed forces, and that many love this country and want to protect it.

Wednesday, as has been noted, was “Coming Out Day” for conservatives on campus, which was centered around students walking through the red, white and blue balloon arch to “come out” to the public as conservatives. There was also a scheduled appearance by Jason Lewis, a Fox talk radio host, to discuss what it means to be conservative. Sue Jeffers, a former candidate for governor, was also scheduled and planned to talk about the smoking ban.

Thursday’s theme was “Education or Indoctrination?” In conjunction with distribution of the academic bill of rights, the main event planned was a teleconference with several anonymous University faculty members who were going to “act as whistle blowers without a face,” says Gatz, exposing the liberal bias in the administration. The speakers planned to discuss the discrimination they experienced as a result of their political views. Journalism and Mass Communications professor Ken Doyle was a tremendous help in organizing the event, says Gatz, adding that Doyle is a great resource for CFACT and an understanding faculty member. A member of The Wake staff attended the event, advertised to have been at 7:00 p.m. in Anderson Hall, room 250. Ethan Stark, the photo editor, reported that the room was empty except for a display of balloons, the photos of which are displayed above.

Friday was “2nd Amendment Day,” focusing on the right to bear arms. Members of the College Republicans have been involved in an effort to allow guns into University-owned buildings, and Friday was supposed to be a discussion of the right to bear arms. Along with this, Gatz said that there would be information from the National Rifle Association and from Students for Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. The event was advertised to run from 10:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. in the lower level of Coffman, but when I arrived after 2:00 pm there was no sign of CFACT or the NRA.

On November 28th, CFACT will be hosting “The Inconvenient Truth Squad” with Marlo Lewis, a political scientist who argues against those who say that global warming is occurring. Lewis will be speaking alongside a showing of Al Gore’s documentary An Inconvenient Truth and discussing the errors in reasoning that the scientific community and Gore have made in assessing global warming. CFACT plans a follow up to this event sometime in January, when they will throw a “global warming beach party” on Northrop Mall in their bathing suits to show campus how ridiculous it is that so many people think the world is getting warmer. Obviously, Gatz says, January is still freezing in Minnesota. She says that the event happened last winter, and was a success.

Gatz says that her political views can be summed up by a T-shirt she saw online that says “American, Conservative, Republican. In that order.” She said that it is most important to support the country, above all other ideals that she holds. After that, her conservative stances on trade, welfare, the environment, gun control and immigration are the principles she votes on. And lastly, she is a member of the Republican party, because they represent her views on a national level and fight to keep the country moving in what she feels is the right direction.

For more information about CFACT, visit .