Maugeri breaks Republican mold

One might expect that the president of the College Republicans has been a dyed-in-the-red-wool party member since he was born. But newly-elected head Alex Maugeri '07 says he has only called himself a Republican since the war in Iraq began three years ago.

"The moment I realized I was definitely Republican was when we went to war against Iraq, and I took it upon myself to go down to the school office and make an announcement," Maugeri said in an interview. "I wrote up a paragraph where I basically said that I thought that everyone in the school should take a moment out of their school day and think about the men and women we were about to ship over to Iraq."

"From that moment," he said with a laugh, "I was called 'Mr. Republican.' "

Maugeri, who is also an associate editor at The Daily Princetonian, said that he has always been "conservative-leaning," but that he wasn't politically active in high school. He said his father, who was born in Italy and still spends much of the year there, doesn't really follow U.S. politics.

"My mom grew up in a household that was Democratic through and through," he said. "My older relatives still give me a hard time about being a Republican." Maugeri noted, however, that his mother now identifies as a Republican after becoming disillusioned with affirmative action policies.

Ephraim Chen '09, who worked under Maugeri on the school paper at Mahopac High School in Mahopac Falls, N.Y., described him as "not very outright and activist" in high school.

"But if you asked him," Chen added, "he would definitely say that he was more conservative."

As a freshman, Maugeri was invited by a friend to attend a College Republicans meeting, his first. He liked the welcoming environment it provided, and stayed in the group.

"The College Republicans are a really close-knit group of guys, and it feels like a family," he said. "We head to the Street together and see movies together. I'm the head of an organization of real friends. This isn't just a line on someone's resume."

But life as head of the College Republicans is not all bliss-filled moments of brotherhood and fiscal conservatism.

"It definitely hurts my prospects with some girls, I've noticed that," Maugeri admitted. "Some girls are not too happy when they hear I'm the president of the College Republicans."

Maugeri, who is half black, says his political affiliation also raises eyebrows among African-Americans. "I went to visit my cousin over Intersession at Rochester Institute of Technology," he said. "He's black, and he has a lot of black friends. One guy said to me, 'Wait, you're a Republican? I thought you were black!' I got that the other night at the Street, too."

For his part, Maugeri sees no tension between being black and Republican. "I'm kind of proud of the fact that I'm a black Republican," he said.

In the upcoming year, Maugeri hopes to connect all the conservative groups on campus, including the Anscombe Society, Princeton Pro-Life, the College Republicans and the Princeton Tory magazine.

"The heads of all these clubs should always have sit downs, and we're planning on it," he said. "It's about planning friendships and relationships. If there's something I can leave behind, I hope it's that."

Maugeri said he was also planning to foster a "collegial relationship" with president of the College Democrats Julia Brower '08.

"I spoke to some of her officers this weekend about starting a blog where the College Democrats and College Republicans would have spokesmen who routinely debated issues, and that would be terrific," Maugeri said. "I would look forward to cosponsoring events with liberal and conservative speakers on campus."

Maugeri is also interested in seeing more minorities in the College Republicans. "I was thinking I might send an email to the Black Student Union president and ask him to advertise our next meeting to their membership list," he said.

If Maugeri has his way, the absence of a presidential election will not make this year a quiet one for the College Republicans.

"This is a year to look inward, on campus," Maugeri said. "I'd like to show the campus our face more often. We've fallen into kind of a rut of being reactive. I'd like to see us start the dialogue on some issues and stage more events on campus so that kids can see what we're about. We're not just a party about abortion."

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