☆ Conservative college group: “Definitely a hunger” for non-Woke spaces of inquiry
UC Berkeley College Republicans (BCR) club representative Utkarsh Jain shines a light on a weak spot of the local Right: engaging young people. Really, says Jain, it all comes down to creating communities where unique individuals belong, and getting them impassioned, bold, and actionable about their politics. An Opp Now exclusive.
Opportunity Now: When it comes to effectively engaging young people, the Berkeley College Republicans org comes to mind. It's a high-radar, very active conservative club at, perhaps ironically, the “country’s most liberal college.” We're already scratching our heads. Does the high level of student engagement—at UC Berkeley of all places—surprise you?
Utkarsh Jain: I began studying at Berkeley in 2021 and spent a year rebuilding BCR with my friend. Though Covid slowed things down temporarily, the club has over 300 members now, and every meeting is packed with attendees (sometimes in the hundreds). For instance, we hosted the Daily Wire's Matt Walsh last year, and over 600 people came to hear him speak and ask him questions.
There's definitely a hunger for communities like BCR. Students are looking for a club that will allow them to express themselves: their values and opinions on politics and other important topics. So one of our ultimate goals is for people to not feel alone as conservatives. After all, conservatives tend to be unicorns at places like Berkeley; so it's crucial, and fulfilling, for us to connect with one another (via speaker events, debates, team-building retreats, etc.) and realize that others share our thought processes.
ON: So young people, particularly those with stigmatized political views, just want to belong. Any student used to self-censoring their beliefs (cough: any non-Leftist at any public college) would relate to this. And at BCR, you've tapped into this need and created a community of learning, transformation, and action.
UJ: Our outreach efforts help spread the word to Berkeley students about BCR. Of course, our events draw people out, and we also advertise the club everywhere on campus, through social media, and via regular tabling. Tabling is unique in that you meet potential members 1–1 and have conversations, sometimes even debates; we've found that these interactions encourage people to try out BCR.
It's interesting because I don't see the progressive groups at Berkeley doing much beyond signing up new members, advocating for election participation, and—honestly—doing protests. This is especially surprising given that BCR has fewer members and resources than these Leftist organizations. We are doing much more. That is thrilling to know. It truly inspires our students that they are beating the Left and influencing Berkeley's culture at a rapid pace.
ON: What kinds of roadblocks does your org run into at Berkeley?
UJ: Being conservative is tough. We're surrounded by thousands of Leftists at Berkeley. People regularly challenge us when tabling and have flipped tables over.
From our own side, it's difficult to get people involved. Being students, members are often too busy to do more with BCR; and even if they aren't, they might not want to be associated with College Republicans because they'll lose friends or be treated differently. Many people don't even want to sign up for the org in public; instead, they slip us a piece of paper with their contact information on it. That's how dangerous they feel it is.
ON: Well, if that isn't strangely Orwellian (just change a name and phone number to Julia's scrawled “I love you”), we don't know what is. So how do you measure success for BCR's engagement efforts?
UJ: Seeing excitement about the club and our mission. We're doing something right when we're holding our regular Thursday meeting and there's a completely packed room. The first time this happened, it blew my mind; we even needed more chairs to accommodate everyone who wanted to be there.
And when students are invested in BCR and what we're doing, we hope to get them more involved in our Party. Democrats do a great job engaging the youth; that's why a vast majority of young people vote on the Left. So BCR aims to bridge the gap between CA GOP and college students by helping them express their politics with confidence and without fear of retaliation. We also work to get them connected with various campaigns, Republican leaders, and even into positions of power (for instance, my friend and I are elected officials and became, respectively, the youngest ever chairman and treasurer of a county Party). BCR is a way to launch students should they have any political aspirations.
We need to play the game the Left plays with the youth to win. BCR is the starting point to make that happen. And I see that our ideas are resonating with young people as a whole. This is the key to changing our Party structure: continue to win elections with more youth support.
ON: And what about students who aren't conservative but are interested in what BCR does? What's their place in the equation?
UJ: We want these students to see that conservatives aren't evil. We aren't the crazy conspiracy theorists we're made out to be. And we want to discuss and debate and introduce new ideas to anyone willing to engage.
The Leftist presence is huge at Berkeley, but we like that. I wake up every morning excited because there's always opportunity on this campus. Berkeley as an institution carries special influence nationwide. So through our university, we can change the culture. We're fighting, and we'll keep fighting.
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