Thursday, December 8, 2011

Bernard Schoenburg: Bipartisanship in action

There must be something about the water out at the University of Illinois Springfield that makes people get along.

Back in the spring of 2010, I wrote a story about how the president of College Democrats at the time, MATT VAN VOSSEN, and the then-chairman of College Republicans, RYAN MELCHIN, were roommates in campus housing.

Well, it’s happening again.

SEAN MILLER, president of College Democrats, and ZACH WATKINS, chairman of College Republicans, are roommates this year. So are the secretaries of the organizations — MICHELLE TUMA of the Democats and ANDREA CARLSON of the Republicans.

“We get along fairly well,” said Miller, a senior from Dieterich in Effingham County, about him and Watkins, a native of Mossville, near Peoria. “We look at each other as people. … Most of the time we just try to put our politics aside.”

“We share a bathroom, so we kind of have to get along,” he said.

Carlson, a Plainfield native, and Tuma, of Elgin, met at freshman orientation. Both intended to double-major in legal studies and political science, so they decided to room together.

The roommates were featured in an December 8, 2011, article in The State Journal-Register.

Read the full article online