Not bad for a college with a fairly liberal reputation. Then again, maybe that’s what drives the Macalester College Republicans or MacGOP as they’re known on campus, to succeed. Congratulations folks!

Paul Lee of The Mac Weekly reports.

MacGOP wins MN College Republicans chapter of the year

Macalester has a strong reputation for being dominated by liberal leaning stu­dents, many of whom support the Demo­cratic Party. The faculty recently voted to take a stance against the proposed Marriage and Voter ID Amendments in the state and most professors may be said to be liberal in their personal political views.

But Macalester is also home to a small but highly active group of conservative activists. The Macalester College Repub­licans organization, better known as Mac­GOP, was awarded Chapter of the Year by the Minnesota College Republicans for the 2012-2013 academic year, a feat that can be attributed to a year of hard work and visible political activism.

The title, which is awarded by the Ex­ecutive Council of the Minnesota College Republicans, is given to a College Repub­licans chapter across the state every year and is used to recognize an organization’s continued excellence or, for some organi­zations, a re-energized chapter.

“We bring a different dialogue, a breath of fresh air, difference perspectives and we bring something new,” said Mac­GOP co-chair Andrew Ojeda ’14.

MacGOP was granted the award for its activity on campus in a variety of ways, from inviting such as Hans Anderson, then the Republican candidate for Mayor of Bloomington, to organizing for various Republican campaigns ranging from local races to the Presidential election.

“We always had more people at events than other schools,” said Ryan Daly, co-chair of MacGOP.

One of MacGOP’s proudest campus events last year was when the org spon­sored a “Free Speech wall,” which was located between the library and Bateman Plaza, for Constitution Day.

The organization also had a “Re­distribution of Grades Protest,” which was inspired by a lecture from a profes­sor who compared the redistribution of wealth ideology to a redistribution of grades from the students with the highest grades to the students with lower grades. The argument was that the redistri­bution of wealth should be perceived as equally unfair as the redistribution of grades.