CDA Convention Update

The College Democrats of Missouri faired will at the annual College Democrats of America Convention. Four CDMOers were elected to leadership positions within the national organization. CDMO had the fourth largest number of delegates at the convention, behind North Carolina, Massachusetts and Wisconsin. In fact, they brought more people the convention than they did last year when it was held in St. Louis. Here are the new CDA leaders from Missouri.

• Sam Hodge, CDMO Vice President, CDA Political Affairs Director: We've been following Sam Hodge's campaign for a while now. Well, it had a happy ending for him, as he won with about 90% of the vote against Lee Drake, the Northwest Regional Director. While Hodge was a favorite, few would have expected the vote to turn out that lopsided. As far as I'm aware, this is the first time a Missourian has ever been on the CDA Executive Board.
• Mark Buhrmester, Mizzou Chapter President, Chair of the CDA GLBT Caucus
• Anna Koeppel of Mizzou, Vice-Chair of the CDA Women's Caucus
• Trevor Turner of Mizzou, Vice-Chair of the CDA Disability Caucus

CDMO/YDMO Connections

I mentioned earlier that the College Democrats of Missouri and Young Democrats of Missouri are coordinating their efforts at least to some degree through their officers having roles in each organization. I said that I would try to sort through it all. I had grand aspirations of drawing a diagram, but you'll just have to settle for this instead.

Nate Kennedy - CDMO President, YDMO Nat'l Committeeman, Mizzou Dems Member
Rick Puig - CDMO Comm. Director, YDMO President, Mizzou Dems Treasurer
Mark Buhrmester - CDMO Pol. Director, YDMO Member, Mizzou Dems President
Stephen Griffard - CDMO Member, YDMO Secretary-Treasurer, Mizzou Dems Vice-President

Clearly, Mizzou is the nexus of power for the CDMO and YDMO, but expect to see the responsibilities start to move out to other chapters like Missouri State, Missouri Southern, SLU and WashU as they are strengthened and brought into the CDMO/YDMO organization.

CRNC Update and Emily Brooker Addendum

CRNC Elections: The NewCRNC team swept the elections. Charlie Smith of Colorado was elected Chair with 145 votes in favor and 7 abstentions. Justin Smith of UMKC was elected Midwest Regional Chair.

A bit more info on the Emily Brooker Intellectual Diversity Bill: In a previous post I mentioned the letters to the editor written by college students regarding the Intellectual Diversity Bill, but I could only find a link to one of the three letters I had in mind. Jeremy Hagen, Vice Chair of MOCR, emailed me copies of some additional letters. Just for fun, here's the letter that was published in the Columbia Daily Tribune as a response to the letter by Mizzou College Democrats President Mark Buhrmester:

In “Opposed groups agree diversity act a bad idea” Mizzou College Republican Chairman Nick Haynes recorded his opposition to HB 213.

Missouri College Republican (MOCR) chapters, such as Mizzou, are sovereign and thus free to take policy stances on particular issues. Accordingly, Chairman Haynes was free to take a position on HB 213, however misguided that position may be.

My purpose is to clarify and reinforce the fact that Missouri College Republican students overwhelmingly support HB 213 for the following reasons, despite what Mr. Haynes has said.

First, universities should be centers of learning, not indoctrination, yet many students are afraid to openly speak their minds when a professor politically or religiously proselytizes. A recent opinion poll of Missouri students found that 51% felt they had to agree with their professors’ political views to get a good grade.

Second, the deficiency of intellectual diversity damages the traditional mission of universities. Public universities receive taxpayer money for a specific purpose: to educate future leaders. Universities fail in their missions when professors create classroom environments that discourage open discussion.

Third, HB 213 requires universities to take action. Many of Missouri’s universities pay lip service to intellectual diversity, yet few follow through on those promises. Legislative action is needed to prevent further abuse by faculty who are otherwise largely immune from student and taxpayer criticisms.

This legislation is simple, but will prove effective in fostering intellectual diversity for all viewpoints. In the end, HB 213 is a step in the right direction for Missouri students.

Jeremy Hagen

Executive Director,

Missouri College Republicans

Missouri State University Student studying Political Science