By Kimberly Wolford

Political interest groups will play a larger role on campus this year as the ACU chapters of the College Democrats and Young Republicans combine to form a new group, the ACU Political Alliance.

“We decided in the spring that it would be better for the ACU community to work together as one group,” said Jared Perkins, sophomore environmental science major from Waco.

Perkins, current president of the College Democrats, said he and Aaron Escobedo, president of the Young Republicans, worked closely together in the spring to make their vision of tolerance and collaboration a reality.

“Because of a lot of partisan divisiveness at the national level, we thought it would be best to unite the campus community to influence people who care and want to make a difference,” Perkins said.

Perkins said the Alliance will be a chance for students who don’t want to “pick a party” to get involved in the political scene.

“We saw that over the last year, the two groups were not a force on campus,” said Escobedo, junior history education major from Lamesa. “So, we decided that if we could work together, people would realize who we are individually.”

Escobedo said there will be a few Young Republicans events scheduled, along with events sponsored by the Alliance. The group is bringing two retired congressmen to ACU for its “Congress to Campus” event in October, Escobedo said.

Perkins said the group is planning to coordinate with SALT to organize a Service Saturday for Alliance members.

“We just want to make our presence known and let everyone know we still want to make a difference,” Escobedo said.

The ACU Political Alliance will have an interest meeting in Room 219 of the Administration Building at 7 p.m. Sept. 24.Poasdfasdf