College Republicans, PRIDE not at odds

Though Morals Week, the annual UNCG College Republicans (CR) event, was originally established as a response to PRIDE! Week in 2004, the group has moved away from centering the event on those grounds. This year both PRIDE! Week and Morals Week were held during the same week, however this was a coincidence according to CR President Daryn Iwicki.

"There's been a movement within the group that Morals week is still a College Republican event but it doesn't have the same premise," CR Secretary Natasha Sell said.

Both Iwicki and PRIDE! President Amanda Miller said that there was no competition or animosity between the groups.

Miller told The Carolinian two weeks ago that the CRs had the right to be republican just as PRIDE! members had the right to be gay. Iwicki echoed a similar sentiment.

"We have our stance on their issue and they have their stance on our issue," he said. "A lot of us agree on a lot of political topics."

He said that it was a misconception that the groups were against one another.

Last year, PRIDE! and CRs went bowling together. Melissa Westmoreland, a UNCG alumna and former conservative columnist for The Carolinian was president of the CRs at the time.

"We made a point to never hold Morals Week during PRIDE! week," said Westmoreland, who said she thought it would be disrespectful for her group to do so.

"We just kind of left each other alone," Westmoreland said of relations between PRIDE! and the College Republicans during her presidency.

When PRIDE! Week and Morals Week fliers were torn down the week of the Monday, March 19, both groups thought that the other was responsible. However, that evening, when some PRIDE! members coincidentally met Iwicki and CR Vice-President Ryan Radford at the University Police Station, it became clear other parties were responsible.

Iwicki and Radford were reporting the vandalism of CR fliers they had just witnessed, while several PRIDE! members were reporting a CR flier that had been defaced with the message "kill fags." PRIDE! and the CRs discussed the matter and have resolved any misunderstandings about the flier issue.

Last week's CR Morals Week were frequently faced with some form of protest, however, PRIDE! was not officially involved in any form during the Morals Week events.

"We tried to stay clear of most of their events so that people wouldn't try to implicate PRIDE! as being involved in the protest," Miller said of Morals Week. Miller said that earlier in the week, she and PRIDE! members handed out fliers to both sides.

On March 22, Miller posted a statement on PRIDE!'s Myspace page about PRIDE!'s stance on Straight Pride Day to respond to some general body members and individuals outside the group who wanted PRIDE! to get involved in protesting the CR event.

During Straight Pride Day, one of five days comprising this year's Morals Week events, the CRs were scheduled to pass out "literature on traditional family values in front of Jackson Library," according to UNCG CR's blog. However, the group did not hold Wednesday's Straight Pride event because of scheduling conflicts.

"They have the right to celebrate their sexuality as we do ours," Miller said, adding that last Wednesday she went out to show her support for the CRs during Straight Pride day.

Miller said that PRIDE! Week was going well, despite the fact that many of their fliers had been torn down the week before.

"The entire campus has pretty much supported us through the entire week," Miller said. She also mentioned that she didn't know if this support stemmed from the common dissent against Morals Week or not.