While the number of college Republican organizations and members has increased over the past few years, the groups say they are being discriminated against on their own campuses.

"Money is a big thing for College Republicans because it's kind of hard to get on college campuses," Nathaniel Walton, the organization's state communications director, said Saturday. "Sometimes it can be challenging because the majority of professors and students are left-leaning."

The Republican-led Academic Bill of Rights is attempting to change that and was one focus of Saturday's events.

Several Maine College Republicans testified last month before the Legislature's Education Committee in favor of LD 1194, which would require state colleges and universities to publish an "academic bill of rights" to keep students and instructors from being penalized for expressing unpopular viewpoints both in and out of the classroom.

"It's rewarding, but sometimes challenging," Walton said of being a young Republican.

U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe spoke at the convention and encouraged students to keep up their enthusiasm and thanked them for their pivotal role during the 2004 elections.

"You're a force to be reckoned with," Snowe said. "Frankly, what you have done has been remarkable in and of itself."

The Maine organization was named the best College Republican Federation in the country in 2004.

"You went above and beyond to marshal the best-organized youth movement in our state's history," Snowe said.

In the coming year, the Maine College Republicans said they hope to continue to grow in numbers and already are preparing for the 2006 elections, Walton said.