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With Republican Leaders such as Congressman Bill Sali, Lieutenant Governor Jim Risch and Alaska Governor and Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin all having graduated from the University of Idaho, there is a real possibility the future Republican leaders of America could currently be on campus.
Senior Kathryn Waite recently founded a UI chapter of The Network of Enlightened Women, a fledgling national organization that represents the values of conservative women on college campuses.
“We finally have a voice,” Waite said. “I don’t think anything can hold us back.”
NeW was founded in 2004 at the University of Virginia as a conservative response to the National Organization for Women, a feminist organizations.
“People think of a conservative woman as just looking for a husband,” Waite said. “A quiet, stay-at-home mom … Actually, we’re looking for a way to balance a career and a family. We’re strong enough.”
NeW believes the feminist struggle for women’s equal rights was just, but went too far by encouraging women to abandon their femininity and moral superiority to men by encouraging sexual promiscuity, the organization’s Web site said.
Waite said she sees Sarah Palin as a rolemodel for conservative women and believes the media has treated her unfairly because she is a woman.
“She’s broken down a lot of barriers,” she said. “It’s been unfair — they’ve attacked her on her gender and her family.”
Waite said she believes the media is questioning Palin’s ability to raise a family and hold office at the same time — a question she said has not been raised about male candidates.
The UI chapter of NeW was recently approved as an official organization by ASUI and currently has about four members, she said. Waite said she founded the organization to “fill a void on campus” and “feed diversity.”
Waite said she believes the role of a woman in society is to uphold conservative values by being a loving mother and balancing raising a family and having a successful career.
“A woman’s role in the household is to love and nurture,” Waite said. “To provide support and make your house a home and to teach. I learned so much from my mom.”
The UI chapter of NeW maintains a Facebook group, and Waite encourages anyone who is interested in the group or has dissenting opinions to attend meetings, which Waite said she hopes will be in a “book club” format.
“We welcome everyone,” she said.
The UI chapter of NeW currently doesn’t have anything planned between now and Election Day, but Waite encourages students to vote.
“I don’t care if you’re conservative or liberal, get out there and vote,” she said.
Waite said she is currently employed as a case worker for the Bill Sali campaign for Congress and hopes to work in Washington, D.C., when she graduates.
Junior Casey Attebery first became interested in politics in a high school political science class and has been involved ever since.
Attebery is the president of the UI College Republicans and also serves as an ASUI senator. He said he hopes to continue to work in politics and was interested in the Republican Party because of their “internalization of responsibility.”
“It’s been a pretty good turn out this year,” Attebery said.
He said this year has shown an increased interest and participation in the UI College Republicans. Attebery said he believes concerns over issues such as the current economic crisis have led to this increased interest.
He said he isn’t sure how the crisis will be solved.
“I think everyone is in the same boat,” Attebery said. “There is no quick solution.”
Attebery said most Republicans agree the recent congressional “bailouts” of banks are a bad idea.
“The bailout is no good,” Attebery said. “It socialized our credit system.”
The UI College Republicans currently has about 50 members with 20-30 members that show up to meetings, he said.
Voting for Republicans is beneficial to college students because they offer earmarks for education and lower taxes mean students get to keep more of their money and have less debt when they graduate, Attebery said.
Recently, the UI College Republicans participated in the Sept. 11 memorial by placing American flags out on the Administraion Lawn. They also sponsored Sali’s visit to UI’s campus, he said.
Attebery said they are a diverse group with students from different departments and welcomed new recruits.
“Anyone who wants to support the Republicans can join,” he said. “We try to have fun with our events. I just hope the interest keeps up.”
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