home news sports culture ideas up-to-date

You are viewing
Volume 38 Issue1
August 28, 2000

To return to the current issue please click here.

Mixing politics and religion
Former BYU Democrat recalls ’92 election, impact on students

BY J.W. WATSON
MESA LEGEND
Submitted August 28, 2000

MCC political science faculty member Brian Dille knows there are two issues which aren’t very popular at parties — religion and politics.

He also knows being a member of  the Mormon Church and being a Democrat is not the most popular way to gain friends at Brigham Young University, Dille’s alma mater where he gained his undergraduate degree in 1994.

"We had about 40 democrats at BYU compared to a considerably larger population of College Republicans," said Dille, BYU’s Young Democrats’ vice president from 1992 until he graduated. "I think while everyone was civil to us, most of them thought it was funny.

Jim Allen/MESA LEGEND

First-year faculty member Brian Dille remains active in politics as an instructor at MCC and he hopes to return to volunteer work after this year's election.

"We were almost like a freak show on campus." Dille, who is in his first year as a resident faculty member at MCC, said he’s used to be being the black sheep.

Conservatism runs in his family, a long line of Republican Mormons. Growing up in a small town in Idaho, seeing Republicans being the dominant, if not the only party, Dille said he built a strong underdog mentality.

"I’ve always been a big proponent of the loyal opposition."

Not too loyal, though. Before joining the Young Democrats, Dille went to work for local Idaho senator Steve Sims, a conservative Republican, as an intern in Washington, D.C.

"At that time, I wasn’t too young, or too poor, to sell out," Dille said. "He offered me more money than the Democrat in the area, so I had to jump at the chance. "It was good to keep an eye on the enemy, anyway."

Dille said it was a sense of "cronyism and that general good ol’ boy mentality" that had him yearning to get back home and involved with BYU’s Young Democrats.

He remembered Jan. 15, 1991, the day the Gulf War began, as the beginning of an interesting two years in politics for both BYU and himself.

"Some fraternity on campus decided they were going to have a ‘Kick Off the War Party,’" Dille recalled. "I thought it was absolutely disgusting. Some friends of mine stood outside the door of the frat, holding picket signs and passing out flyers, and we actually got some people to turn away and go somewhere else. We simply told them that you celebrate when a war ends, not when it begins."

Soon thereafter, Dille was writing political columns in the independent student newspaper and was elected vice-president of the Young Democrats.

The organization held forums, registered voters for what would result in the highest 18-25 age bracket turnout since 1968, and actually created a balanced discussion between the two major parties at a college which earlier in the ‘92 campaign was accused of endorsing Republican nominee George Bush.

"We may not have been any real competition for the College Republicans as far as their membership went, but we definitely earned their respect," Dille said.

All of his volunteering, which eventually helped to put President Bill Clinton in office for the next eight years, was done in little more than five-to-10 hours per week, said Dille, adding it was his strong and adamant position against powerful masses that helped him overcome the fact that not all his peers were as involved as he was.

"Historically, students have been the foot soldiers for any campaign. It’s that reason that the student vote is so well-respected," Dille said.

"Until students realize that, I think you’ll continue to see voter turnout of the 18-25 bracket remain stagnant."

Back to Top | Previous Page | Home