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Club of the Week The Green Party of CWU- More Than Tree Hugging by Sarah Freeman The Central Washington University Green Party is a group of six concerned students and community members who’s main objective is to raise political awareness on campus. The club meets every Monday evening at 7pm in the SUB. Founded by two former students, and now headed by Central freshman, Vincent Rasulo, this party has made many attempts to recruit new members around school by posting flyers, holding a political film series in the SUB and placing weekly ads in the Ellensburg Daily Record. The Green Party holds a liberal ideology based on ten key values, including: respect for diversity, feminism, social justice, grassroots democracy, community-based economics, decentralization, ecological wisdom, nonviolence, personal and global responsibility, and a future focus. On May 4th a Green Party state political convention is being held at the Hal Holmes Center, with an estimated turnout of 200-300 party members. At this meeting the state Green Party state board will nominate and elect new representatives. This is an opportunity for the party to gain local publicity. Ever since last year’s presidential election, members of this party have had difficulty finding much political awareness on campus. “I first became really interested in politics when I was 16 in high school, its really sad that people here are so apathetic when it comes to being involved,” noted sophomore Bryan Holm. Sadly, only half the CWU Green Party members are actual students here at Central. Furthermore, a key value within the Green party is feminism, yet; only one of the six members is a woman. The group takes into consideration why is there a lack of female political activism on campus. “Most women tend to be apolitical,” according to group member Ryan Clark. Surprisingly, more women belong to the college republicans, a party that tends to be conservative regarding social issues such as a woman’s right to choose and sexual politics. The group feels this might be due to lack of understanding of the core values that these political ideologies embrace. The group wants to attract a wider range of potential members by establishing a Kittitas County branch of the Green Party. This would bring in funding from the state, allowing more spending lenience. Also, the recent establishment of a campus ACLU faction may bring attention to the party because of their stance on civil rights policies. Above all, the CWU Green Party wants to encourage others to become active in politics, and not be afraid to voice their opinions. As group member Brain Holm states, “There are so many resources available, people just need to take advantage of them.”
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