work
9 4
DUJOU R .COM
PARTY ANIMALS: Harvard’s young Republicans, clockwise from left, Emily Hall, Will Long, Emma Wheeler, Bella Gomez and Chanel Rion.
The Crimson Elephants
WHILE REPUBLIC AN HARVARD GR ADS SEEM TO BE STACKING THE U.S. SENATE, YOUNG CONSERVATIVES ON C AMPUS FIND THAT LIFE STILL REVOLVES AROUND A DIFFERENT T YPE OF PART Y WRIT TEN BY JOHN WOLFSON
O
PHOTOGR APHED BY ADAM DETOUR
n a frigid mid-F ebruary evening, a meeting of the H arvard College Anscombe Society is late getting started. Outside, the snow in Cambridge rises depressingly high, and the sidewalks are streaked with salty slush. The gloom extends inside room 107 of Robinson H all, where the Anscombe Society’s e ec ti e o ficers all three o the are holding o calling the meeting to order. It’s a lonely business being a conservative on what is often described as one of America’s most liberal campuses, and the Anscombe Society—motto: “Where traditional values meet H arvard”— hoped a recent recruitment effort involving V alentine’s candy distributed in dorms would draw potential members to tonight’s meeting. But now it’s past 7 P .m., and so far copresidents Bella G omez and Thayer Wade and treasurer Bryan Poellot are the only ones who’ve showed up. Still, the group isn’t ready to accept defeat.
H arvard’s Anscombe Society is one of several on campuses across the country named for G .E.M. Anscombe, the British academic who advocated for chastity, family and the right to li e. he ar ard society has abo t o ficial members, but only a handful are active. That put the society in a precarious position when its last president graduated in 2014 . “[ Because] the club is so small and not that many people are active, we didn’t have an election,” G omez recalls. “And then, when our president graduated, we were left without leadership.” G omez eventually agreed to take over, but given her commitments as a member of varsity crew, she asked Wade to serve as co-president. All things considered, a few new members would be a godsend. Wade glances at the time. “We’ll just give it a few more minutes,” he says. It s not hard to fig re o t why the nsco be ociety has trouble attracting new members. The society is concerned with social issues, like “sexual integrity,” which includes a