New WSU College Republicans leader: Group ‘disgusted’ by racism

The Washington State University College Republicans will begin the upcoming academic year under new leadership, after James Allsup, the club’s previous president, resigned his post Monday afternoon.

The former vice president, Amir Rezamand, has taken his place.

Rezamand, originally of Tehran, Iran, but more recently of Moscow and Pullman, said the club will be planning table events and guest speakers on campus this fall, but did not detail any changes in its goal.

“We will do our best to promote Libertarian and Republican views in the community,” Rezamand said.

He said the club is “very much disgusted by any racist ideology,” and noted Allsup did not engage in racial hate speech at the “Unite the Right” rally he attended Saturday in Charlottesville.

Allsup resigned after numerous media and social media outlets identified him through photos taken at the rally, resulting in public outcry on news organizations’ comment pages and various social media platforms.

A public statement by the College Republican National Committee renounced the racist viewpoints — and those who hold them.

“I condemn in the strongest way possible the vile, racist and cowardly acts committed by white supremacists in Charlottesville,” National Committee chair, Chandler Thornton, said Monday in a statement.

He then called for all College Republican leaders who share the racist views displayed in Charlottesville to “resign immediately.”

Allsup posted on his Facebook page, which has since been deleted, that he had been invited to speak at the rally, but told news organizations Monday he was surprised with requests to speak.

Later on Twitter, he denied speaking in Charlottesville at all.

Whether he spoke at the rally is uncertain.

Allsup denied racist views were the cause of his resignation, saying the change was already in the works, and he chose to expedite the process.

“This has been planned since before #UniteTheRight but the club’s VP has effectively assumed the presidency,” he said Monday on Twitter.

Allsup led the student group since 2015 and led the group through such efforts as last autumn’s Trump Wall event and the effort to schedule former Breitbart News editor Milo Yiannopoulos as a campus speaker.

Shanon Quinn can be reached at (208) 883-4636, or by email to squinn@dnews.com.