“Should we ban OnlyFans?”
“Do women belong in politics?”
“Should women be jailed for abortion?”
Throughout the semester, the College Republicans club has tabled on Pedestrian Walkway, often with polls prompting reactions from the students walking by.
Most recently, they tabled on Wednesday, April 22.
All College Republicans members who were present declined repeated requests for comment from The Daily Beacon.
The College Democrats have responded by taking part in a similar polling approach.
“We also want to take the pulse of campus to see where our peers stand on hot-topic issues,” Will Bricker, a junior economics major and College Democrats president, said.
Their prompt on Wednesday, April 22, read, “Trump robs Americans for the Epstein class, agree or disagree?”
“People have wanted to stop by and get into detailed policy, and I think it’s very refreshing to see actual engagement on the issues rather than these bland, vague, cultural-war topics,” Bricker said.
A group of students who engaged with the College Republicans’ latest poll described their responses as “mean,” “hateful” and “misogynistic.”
One of these students, Mari Cate Macdonald, a sophomore marketing major, called the conversation “really unproductive.”
“They honestly just booed us,” Macdonald said.
Garrett Wright, a first-year economics major, said that he engages in discourse with the College Republicans approximately twice a week.
“I disagree with them on nearly everything, but I don’t know. I think there’s nothing wrong with them coming out here and doing it,” Wright said.
The club members tabling behind the polls welcome conversation about the topics, often stimulating debate and disagreement.
Wright elaborated on his criticism of the most recent poll, “Should we ban OnlyFans?”
“I think that it would be a violation of the First Amendment, of freedom of expression, freedom of speech, and I don’t think that we should ban OnlyFans,” Wright said.
Macdonald also commented, calling the question “disrespectful.”
“People should be able to do what they want with their lives as they’re an adult,” Macdonald said. “I get why they’re doing it, but I don’t think it’s right for a man to judge what a woman’s doing when I bet a bunch of them consume that stuff anyway.”
These polls are normally posted to the College Republicans’ Instagram account, continuing the discourse between them and their challengers in the comments section.
While the club continues to debate students on Pedestrian Walkway and in Instagram comments, there has been no recent formal debate against College Democrats.
“I would just like to add that, if Turning Point USA UTK or College Republicans ever want to engage in public debate with our organization, I would love to see it,” Bricker said.
