The College Republicans at Western Carolina University will have their inaugural meeting at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 3 in the University Center Dogwood Room.
Tristin Goode, the leader of the group, wants them to bring Republican candidates to talk about politics and climate change. The College Republicans club was revived in 2025, and Goode is hoping to continue the dialogue with other student groups and finding common ground. Cleaning up the campus for him is a way to make people snap out of apathy and get engaged.
“I have an idea of getting everybody on campus, meeting at the Catafount and let’s just take some trash bags and just clean up the whole thing,” Goode said. “I mean, I think it’s a great idea to just get people active, trying to, you know, really see what’s around them, you know, ‘cause we’re also consumed with our phones. We don’t see the trash. We don’t care about our campus. We’ve kind of become very apathetic, I think. Not only with campus, but also with politics.”
Goode is a political science major and worked with College Democrats and Student Democracy Coalition earlier in the summer on a joint statement for the need to have a voting place on campus for this midterm elections.
The members in the group hope to bring on campus Republican candidates running for NC 11, Jennifer Balkcom; incumbent North Carolina senator from District 50, Kevin Corbin, and the congresswoman Anna Ferguson representative of District 119, who took the office in the spring after passing of Rep. Mike Clampitt.
Goode says he is trying to get them all at the same time on campus to meet with students and talk about what they will do and their opinions. The members hope to bring former South Carolina Rep. Bob Inglis, known advocate of environment and climate change, to campus as well.
The club wants to help reduce the stigma around politics by being involved with different political groups and people around WCU by setting up polls that will help people with different political views talk to each other.
“I want to work with Democrats, I want to work with independents because Democrat, Republican, they’re just words,” Goode said. “At the end of the day, we’re all Americans.”
Those interested can follow the club on Instagram @repwcu.
