Caffeinated political conversations brew at Mason

Both the Coffee and Tea party organizations on campus use Facebook as an important organizing tool.(Screen Shots) 

For most people on campus coffee and tea is something found at Starbucks or Jazzman’s. It’s what propels late night study sessions and what makes it possible to sit through an 8 a.m. class.

But for a few Mason students, coffee and tea represent political ideologies.

The Tea Party Patriots and the Coffee Party USA, both national movements, have emerging representation on the Mason campus, largely supported by social media.

Mason’s Tea Party started last spring as a result of President Obama visiting the Patriot Center to speak about health care in the hours before a congressional vote.

While the president spoke inside the Patriot Center, counter protestors gathered outside to voice their opposition to the proposed health care legislation. It was in that group that then Mason sophomore and government major Nicholas Brightwell got the idea of a Mason Tea Party chapter from another protestor.

Brightwell has led the Mason Tea Party group since that day and says most of what the small group does is based on Facebook.

“We’re doing it and that’s really as far as we’ve gotten,” Brightwell said about the group that he describes as largely a “one man operation.”

He said if the Mason Tea Party attracts more interested students it might start meetings and activities on campus. Brightwell said right now the group has more supporters than participants on campus and he’d like to start advertising about the group more.

Brightwell admits that many of the national Tea Partiers have a far-right conservative ideology, but on college campuses the ideology isn’t so far right. He said that makes it harder to have a strong Tea Party organization on campus.

The Tea Party supports limited government, according to Brightwell. He said government is too complex to fully understand and should be simplified.

On the other side of the drink menu, the Coffee Party USA also has a presence at Mason.

After joining the Coffee Party herself in April, Mason junior and government major Lily Bolourian decided to introduce a campus chapter in July. She said Mason’s proximity to Washington made a campus chapter all the more attractive.

So far about 30 people have shown interest in the Mason Coffee Party and much of the organization is done on Facebook. The group held an interest meeting earlier this semester and is currently in the process of deciding whether or not to become an officially recognized campus group.

Bolourian said the group is looking into possible campus advisors and officer positions and expects to make an official decision in a month.

The group wants to make sure there is sufficient interest on campus before becoming officially recognized. Bolourian said the Mason group is an example for future chapters of the Coffee Party on other campuses.

Bolourian said Democrats and Republicans are either on one side or another, but the Coffee Party welcomes everyone and wants to be more encompassing.

“We want to encourage everything,” Bolourian said. “ We want to be the mama of political groups.”

She described the organization as an “action group” that is concerned with all types of issues, including campus politics.