The Conservative Student Union at Cal State Long Beach is back in action after a year hiatus, and plans to be bigger than ever. The CSU, first established in 2003, disbanded in 2006 and then regrouped this year with new members and a new president.
“We promote traditional American values,” said Jason Aula, president of the CSU.
Aula described the CSU as “not directly affiliated with any political party – it’s just based on someone’s beliefs.”
This semester the CSU has already been involved in a campus event, and has many planned for the upcoming year. Aula and members of the CSU participated in the Oct. 24 war protest by holding signs and promoting the group’s ideology.
On Nov. 7, the CSU had a table in front of the Psychology Building near the Multicultural Center to recruit members and promote the its upcoming event.
“I want to plant the seeds, recruit freshmen and build up the program,” said Aula.
At the CSU’s invitation, Jim Gilchrist, founder of the Minuteman Project, will be speaking in the Beach Auditorium in the University Student Union today at noon.
“He’s a great guy, and he’s coming here for free,” said Aula. When asked why the CSU invited Gilchrist to campus, Aula said he “promotes traditional American values.”
Gilchrist’s Minuteman Project is a controversial organization that recruits volunteers who try to prevent immigrants from illegally entering the United States. Members camp out at border areas to spot people crossing and, they claim, tell the authorities about them.
“We have a specific agenda we want to achieve before the school year is over,” said Aula. When asked what the agenda entails, Aula talked about illegal immigration as “one of the big issues for the group.”
Aula spoke about the future events the CSU plans to hold on campus. “We want to have Ted Hayes speak on traditional American values and the civil rights African-Americans are losing because of illegal immigration,” said Aula.
The CSU hopes to have Hayes speak later this month.
Aula also mentioned an event he called “Catch an Illegal Immigrant Day,” which he compared to a game of dodgeball. Aula explained the game as follows: A group of people will line up dressed as illegal immigrants and throw dodgeballs at a group of people dressed as border patrol agents.
“It’s supposed to represent how border patrol can’t fight back against [illegal] immigration,” said Aula.
Aula said it is difficult to be a conservative on what he said is a liberal CSULB campus. He compared conservatives expressing their beliefs in a liberal environment is “like a gay person coming out of the closet. Some conservatives may have a hard time speaking out.”
Aula also mentioned that people are stereotypical of conservatives on campus. “Because I’m against illegal immigration, people think I’m racist. I’m not racist,” said Aula.
According to Anna Nazarian-Peters, a coordinator for the Student Life & Development, the CSU has 10 official members.
However, even though some of the activities student organizations have can be controversial, “We don’t censor. We don’t dictate what they can or cannot do,” Nazarian-Peters. “We don’t tell them, ‘We don’t agree with it, so you can’t do it.’… We are here to help them as the liaison to the university departments.”
Nazarian-Peters said that the goal of advising student organizations is “to help students build their leadership skills outside of the classroom.”
