Professors will debate “The Trump Doctrine,” at an event sponsored by the College Republicans today at 7 p.m. in the Heritage Room. 

“Following the administration’s actions in Venezuela, we were curious as to what the Trump administration’s international strategy is,” sophomore and Vice President of the College Republicans Jordan Nelson said.

John Grant, associate professor of politics; Mark Moyar, director of the center for military history; Charles Steele, associate professor of economics; and Paul Rahe, professor of history, will speak at the event.

“These people all have some sort of expertise or vested interest in the topic of the event, and so that was important to us, to try to find people who not only were interested, but also could speak to various different aspects of it,” junior and club president Joseph Diprima said. 

Grant’s specialty is in international relations, Moyar is one of the world’s leading scholars on the Vietnam War, and Rahe learned from some of the greatest war and ancient history scholars, according to Nelson. 

“To diversify who we’re hearing from, we invited Dr. Charles Steele of the economics department,” Nelson said. “He’s a politically interested professor, as most of the econ professors are, but he is a very seasoned and respectable member of the faculty when it comes to political issues.”

The club hopes to hear the insight that faculty members will provide into why the Trump administration might be making these decisions and what could come in the future by giving context and a historical perspective. It also wants to gauge students’ interest in College Republicans with this event, according to Nelson.

“It’s always difficult to deal with hypotheticals, especially in politics, and that is something endemic to the Republican cause,” Nelson said. 

The new College Republicans board was elected in November. This is the first event it is sponsoring this semester. 

“Getting the opportunity to see what it’s like to work as a board together for the first time has been really fun, I think, and surprisingly efficient,” Diprima said. “We’ve been able to put this together with a little bit of a short notice.”

Diprima said they hope to grow College Republicans this year as they prepare for the midterm elections in 2026. College Republicans registered more than 500 people to vote in Michigan for the 2024 presidential election, according to Nelson. 

Diprima said one of his goals as incoming president was to emphasize the importance of midterms and local elections. 

“You are a part of this southern Michigan community, and by exercising your vote, you are saying, ‘This is how I want my new home to be run,’” Nelson said.