Republican and Democratic students are working to combine both parties' respective red and blue political ideals into a mutual understanding of one another; an understanding some of the groups' members said can be signified by the color purple.
Code Purple, a pen pal project developed by Andrew Avorn of the Columbia University College Democrats, is designed to allow free conversation among students from different universities who identify themselves as Republicans and Democrats, through e-mail.
"We want to create relationships between future political leaders with different beliefs," Avorn said. "I think this program can help reunite our country, starting with the kids."
After contacting Jason Fite, freshman history and political science major and communications director for the Texas A&M College Republicans, Avorn and Fite began communicating frequently to work out the details of the program.
Fite said that each Friday, the 50 sets of pen pals participating in the project will e-mail one another with five questions regarding various political matters. The recipients of the e-mails will have a week to formulate answers and reply.
Though Avorn and Fite said they realize that disagreements are likely to arise between individuals, they are working to avoid any initial conflict.
"We're going to begin by asking more biographical questions," Fite said. "This way the pen pals will be able to establish relationships. Beginning the program with questions about the war in Iraq just isn't the way to go."
Fite and Avorn said they have already seen a change in the ways they communicate, as the two have reached a level where they feel comfortable joking about their political differences.
When asked why Columbia chose Texas A&M for this specific project, Avorn said that it was a stroke of luck.
"A&M was the only school that responded to the e-mail I sent out," Avorn said. "I'm so glad they did, because the school is the perfect candidate for this program. We come from a predominantly liberal campus in a blue state and were looking for a conservative one in a red state. You don't get much redder than Texas."
Avorn and Fite both said Code Purple is a starting point to bridging the communication gap between both Republicans and Democrats.
"We're trying to communicate the idea that you don't have to hate the opponent," Fite said. "You don't have to agree, but you should at least know where they're coming from."
Meredith Clancy, a sophomore biomedical science major and vice president of the Texas Aggie Democrats, agrees that Code Purple holds tremendous potential for the future.
"Our biggest problem is that we don't know what the other side stands for," Clancy said. "Through more open communication between parties, we may actually realize that there's a lot of common ground."
