Viking_Yearbook_90

I! Republicans use Reagan for unusual recruiting tactic Republican PSU students were given the opportunity to hear former president Ronald Reagan, thanks to the Republican Party. To hear the speech, students had to show up at the PSU Republicans meeting on May 31, prove they were students and that they were Republi– cans. Anyone meeting those criteria was eligible to receive one of a limited number of tickets to hear Reagan speak at a Republican fundraiser the next day. The tickets were made available to the PSU Republicans by the Republican Party. The location of the speech was revealed only to those who were given tickets. Organizers said this was prompted by the recent protests at speeches given by President George Bush and Vice President Dan Quale. Students who showed up at the speech without voter registration cards to prove they were Republicans were asked to fill out new voter reig– stration cards as Republicans before attending the speech. The selectivity met with resistance from some students and criticism from others including the Vanguard, PSU's student newspaper. "What with Oregon Republicans being subject to abuse these days, this seems like a wise move" said an editorial in the May 25 issue. "Repub– licans, for obvious reasons, don't want to have to run another gauntlet of demonstrators like those outside George Bush 's fundraising event for Dave Frohnmayer. Republicans that day endured bombardment with eggs, fruit and spittle to hear Bush- the real live president- praise Frohnmayer over breakfast. Justifiably, they don't look forward to suffering a similar indig– nity to hear a has-been former president who can make only a tenuous - at best- claim to being a real-lif~ anything."