At 25, Orit Sklar is an up-and-coming conservative star.
While most her age are still discovering their political bearings, she has experience driving heated political debate and being the subject of headlines herself.
A few years ago, she and fellow student Ruth Malhotra filed a lawsuit against Georgia Tech, challenging Tech’s restrictions on speech, its student activity fee policy and the discussion of religious views in Safe Space, a support program for homosexuals.
Sklar and Malhotra said they believed Tech’s policies aimed at protecting students from intolerance ended up, instead, discriminating against conservative students who speak out in favor of traditional marriage and against liberal feminism.
Their suit resulted in the speech code being repealed and part of the Safe Space training manual eliminated.
Last year, Sklar was appointed executive director of the Fulton County Republican Party. More recently, she was named one of the “20 Hottest Conservative Women in New Media” by rightwingnews.com, along with Ann Coulter and Michelle Malkin.
With her own Alpharetta-based communications firm, Sklar, a native of Mount Vernon, N.Y., helps shape messages targeted to the under-40 crowd using new technology such as YouTube and Twitter.
Recently, she talked about her background and political mantra — “limited government, free enterprise and individual rights and liberty.”
Q: What’s the genesis of your name?
A: Orit [pronounced Or-eet] is a Hebrew name. It means “light.”
Q: Weren’t you kind of young to be executive director of the Fulton County Republican Party?
A: I think it’s less about age and more about experience. I’ve been working with Republican candidates and conservative organizations for many years. It really was a natural fit.
Q: You were there less than a year.
A: I get things done quickly.
Q: What did you get done?
A: Shawn [Hanley, party chairman] and I had a very specific vision. Now if you look at our Web site, it’s truly a grassroots empowered Web site. We brought in the best phone system in the country. It not only does your typical robo-call but also is able to be used as a phone-bank system. We placed over 7,000 phone calls for Scott Brown in the special election in Massachusetts.
Q: Do you see your future in politics, the blogosphere, Fox News?
A: I never claim to know where I’m going to be, because things in the political world, or in media, are so dynamic. I’m just looking to see what opportunities arise. Certainly, where I can be most helpful in the battle of ideas and the culture wars, that’s where I want to be.
Q: You were recently named one of the hottest conservative women. How do you feel about that?
A: I think it’s great. It’s something fun to smile about. Certainly, the women who are included on that list are giants in my world.
Q: What did you think when you heard it?
A: I was shocked. People thought it was a joke [laughing].
Q: What did your parents think?
A: My parents never knew what to make of me growing up. I went to Georgia Tech and I got a degree in civil engineering and I’m very passionate about that field. That’s one of the reasons I love the public policy debates we have over transportation and our water. We were a very politically knowledgeable family. Every dinner we talked about politics.
Q: Are your parents Republican or Democrat?
A: My Dad is a registered Conservative. My mom is pretty much a liberal. I don’t like to say that because I don’t want anyone to wear that with a badge of honor [laughing].
Q: You blogged recently that “College campuses have become the most intolerant environment for free speech over the last few decades, with conservative students ... in the crosshairs of hostile leftist professors.” Do you really believe that?
A: I experienced it! I’m Jewish, but [there is] anti-Israel sentiment on campus and ... selective enforcement of speech codes, and even plain old double standards when it comes to people of faith, mainly Christians. The tactics that they use are extremely toxic.
Q: You became persona non grata at your own school?
A: We were completely blacklisted. Professors would tell us, “We can’t meet with you.” Ruth couldn’t get one letter of recommendation. We served on some institute-wide committees, and after we filed the case it was like, “Don’t come any more. Don’t bother.”
Q: You went to graduation?
A: Yes, but we had death threats. Rape threats. Ruth had police escorts. She had to move off-campus because living in the sorority house was a liability for the other girls.
Q: I guess you haven’t been profiled in the alumni magazine yet?
A: No, but I showed up to the Georgia Tech president’s dinner, their biggest [fund-raising] dinner. You know what the reaction I got from people was? “What are you doing here?” Our lawsuit expedited change, but I’m fearful that there’s still a culture on campus of political correctness.
Q: You’re a birdwatcher. How did you get involved in that?
A: I have a great love of animals and nature. It’s something my mom and I can do together. I love scuba-diving. I’m a vegetarian.
Q: You’re not supposed to be vegetarian. You’re supposed to eat steak.
A: But it’s my choice to be.
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