“We [The College Republicans] remain steadfast in our belief that Secretary Clinton’s actions are far worse than comments made over a decade ago… This election should be about policy, as it is policy that will guide our nation in the coming years, and on policy there is a clear distinction between the two candidates… Mr. Trump is not, and has not claimed to be perfect. However, throughout his campaign, Mr. Trump has been honest with the American people in articulating his intentions, policies and beliefs,” said Krysti Oschal ’17, president of College Republicans.

Seeing the College Republicans continue to endorse and support Donald Trump after watching the video of him bragging and laughing with Billy Bush about sexually assaulting women in the past caused feelings of incredible embarrassment, shame, and disgust, especially considering that some of their members are friends of mine. Previously, I felt that the best way to create dialogue about the stark difference between our two main candidates was to speak about their respective moral and social stances. My justification for this was that, for the most part, as educated students from Dickinson College, our moral and ethical compasses should point in the same general direction. It should have been easy to find common ground on why one candidate is more qualified and poised than every other candidate based on these shared moralities. With this thought, I realized that this thinking was flawed.  We live in a society where a large number of people have moral compasses that point in the opposite direction of mine, and I had been going about this the wrong way.

Since the College Republicans believe that Trump “has been honest with the American people in articulating his intentions, policies, and beliefs” and do not care about his moral compass, then how can we have a discussion about why Trump is unqualified?

We can’t. All we can do is demand answers. We can demand answers because their endorsement of Trump goes directly against the mission statement of Dickinson College. We can demand answers because a President’s prime responsibility is to represent the country, and Trump does not represent the country I know. To Krysti Oschal and the College Republicans, I have asked many questions over the past few weeks with no response, and your peers and the college alumni need answers. These questions are, but not limited to…

1. Are you fine with a presidential candidate who wants to infringe upon our first amendment rights by getting rid of libel laws so that he can sue news providers he doesn’t agree with?

2. Do you believe that Trump is a successful businessman due to the fact that he has shorted and exploited many small American business owners for the sake of his own personal gain?

3. Are you accepting that Trump has been accused of sexual assault? Despite his admitting these actions, do you believe that the women who have bravely stepped forward are lying about being sexually assaulted by Trump?

4. Do you agree and support how Trump racially and ethnically discriminates against a group of people as he has done with Muslims, Mexicans, and African-Americans? Or do you just think everybody who is discriminated against is over-reacting?

5. Are you fine with advocating for and demanding that our army commit war crimes like waterboarding and worse against innocent bystanders during military conflict for the sake of potential information? In other words, do you disagree with the Geneva Convention, and therefore are fine with putting our own prisoners of war into harms way, since Trump only likes soldiers who aren’t captured?

6. Do you agree with Trump’s disregard for the LGBT community and his running mates desire to fund “mental correction” facilities for people who identify as part of the community?

7. Lastly, do you agree and support Trump degrading individuals with mental illnesses throughout his campaign and are fine that he refuses to apologize for his words and actions?

I, and the rest of this prestigious community, need answers. I am confident that this will be a very dark part of the College Republican’s history. You have the ability right now to correct this and/or justify your actions. And if you are justifying your actions, you are standing by the fact that you support a racist, sexist, misogynistic, and homophobic candidate: a decision that will stay on your conscious for the rest of your life.