The University of Massachusetts Republican Club had their kickoff meeting last night to recruit new members amid some recent bad publicity.

Events held by UMRC throughout the year often draw attention to the club because of controversy that surrounds them much of the time.

This semester there are already several events planned, including hosting Dinesh D’Souza, conservative debater from the Hoover Institute at Stanford, as well as the republican nomination convention for district delegates. To introduce the club, DeFlumeri gave a short history of himself and the club, and then passed the podium to several other speakers, all wanting to recruit new members and create an interest in staying involved. Joe Saracco, the UMRC membership director and longest-serving member of the club, gave a short but passionate speech. “We all share one common interest: freedom,” said Saracco at the start of his speech. “This club is fighting the good fight.” Saracco went on to talk about club members having common goals, and the importance of being involved, although he still stressed that to be a member, it was not necessary to be involved. While DeFlumeri spends most of his time doing things for UMRC, he does not expect everyone to do the same.

“We just wanted to introduce people to the club,” said DeFlumeri. “It was mostly for transfer students to get interest stimulated in the club.”

DeFlumeri met his goal with transfer student Dmitriy Shapiro from Michigan. During his first meeting he went up to the podium to speak about his experiences at his previous university.

“It’s really interesting coming here because Michigan is 50-50 with democrats and republicans,” Shapiro said. He expected a campus with entirely liberal views. Joe Yiznitski, the Five College Representative for the club, is an example of how members come for one reason, and then stay on as part of the executive board. “I joined the club primarily to educate myself on political issues,” Yiznitski said. “It provided me with an opportunity.” Several students involved in the club came because their views aligned more with republicans, although they all have different views.

“We have a wide range of conservatives in our club,” said DeFlumeri.

Regardless of their views, the members are committed.

“The UMass Republican Club scares the daylights out of a lot of people because we actually believe in things,” said Ed Cutting, a post-graduate student and member of the chancellor search committee.

While the members of this club may seem like they are radical in their views, it is more the enthusiasm that they have in their beliefs that put them over the top.

“We joke about extremism, but we really aren’t that extreme,” said Cutting. After the meeting was over and most of the executive board had made speeches encouraging people to join, the group stayed to talk to each other and watch FOXNews.com for the latest results in the primary elections.

“In politics, you often have to get along with those whom you don’t like,” said Cutting.