Students founded the Minor Party Alliance, a new political club coming after the formation of the Young Republicans Alliance and Dedicated Alliance of Democratic Students.

The club’s president senior, Jake Alvarez said, “I thought it was very fitting if we were to have another club for kids that were not necessarily comfortable in one place or the other.”

Alvarez described the club as a more inclusive space for people of opposing views to the two major party ideologies.

Co-Vice President Clayton Hurd, senior, said, “Those of us who helped start the Minor Party Alliance all saw that there was representation for both the major parties at Plant, and as all of us have some version of affiliation to a minor party of some variety, we wanted to give a forum for students for students to express opinions in support of those different parties — just as they have been given the option to with the Republican and Democrat parties.”

Reflecting on the recent presidential election, Alvarez said, “I think it was actually very appropriate timing for all three of these political party clubs to come out, now that we see a larger amount of youth involved in global politics,” then added, “the reason why I got into politics was because of this election and I’m sure many other students would feel the same way.”

Alvarez emphasized a focus on open-minded discussion.

“We’re going to try to make sure that it’s open to as many possible viewpoints that we can allot in our time, and its going to be open to anybody — republicans, democrats, libertarians, socialists, anyone who wants to talk about how they personally feel and know that they’re not going to be hounded at. They’re just going to be given a position to speak and a position to debate exactly how they see the government should work,” said Alvarez.

Hurd described plans for club organization and future subdivision.

“Ideally the club will be subdivided later on into sections that represent the various minor parties, the major ones – libertarian, green party, our president bull moose. The goal is to give all these students a time where they can meet with kids who agree with their opinions, and as a whole come together as a club and look at the various different minor party opinions as a whole and see where they agree, disagree, and just compare them all,” said Hurd.

Alvarez said, “I hope it allows for more students to understand the innerworkings of politics, understand that there are more aspects than just left versus right, understand that even if you’re not of voting age yet, even if you’re not elected into office, you can still make a difference, you can still have your voice heard, and that there’s a lot more to politics than just whatever it is that the news says. Everyday people are what make the difference, in every sense of the word.”

Co-Vice president Katrina Dobrov, senior, said their goal is to spread awareness and branch away from the two party system.

“It’s interesting to get a different perspective on what all the different parties stand for that aren’t just readily available in the news that we hear everyday,” said Dobrov.

Alvarez said meetings will be held every Monday from 2:10-3:10 p.m. in club sponsor, John DeOrio’s room 108.