Brittany Previte
Contributing Writer
Young Americans for Liberty (YAL), a new conservative-leaning organization, has been gaining increased attention on campus. Students may have observed them tabling at Lowry, handing out copies of the Constitution and pamphlets on libertarian ideology. YAL now enters the political scene at Wooster, hoping to provide a voice for those who were not previously represented on campus.
After the limited success of the revival of College Republicans last semester, a group of students seeking to bring alternative political views to campus assembled to discuss their options. They finally chose to affiliate with YAL because of its inclusive nature, said YAL chapter President Abigail Helvering ’16.
“Originally we knew that the conservative group on campus was very sparse,” she said. “We wanted a group that was all-encompassing because we have so much in common, and there are so few of us on campus.”
YAL is part of a national organization that stems from Students for Ron Paul, part of Ron Paul’s 2008 presidential campaign. It stresses the preservation of liberty and the limitation of government. According to www.yaliberty.org, its mission “is to identify, educate, train and mobilize youth activists committed to ‘winning on principle.’ [The] goal is to cast the leaders of tomorrow and reclaim the policies, candidates and direction of our government.”
YAL seeks to open dialogue between people across the political spectrum and give those who promote conservative and libertarian ideals an outlet on campus, said Helvering.
“We welcome any opinion,” she said. “YAL is a very broad organization. We’re fiscally conservative but socially liberal generally, but we have Republicans, we have moderate Democrats, [and] we have libertarians. We welcome anybody who’s willing to listen, [and] maybe put their two cents in.”
The group plans to become actively involved on campus, including hosting events with speakers, discussing political issues, visiting the First Amendment Debate House, distributing educational material and producing a publication with student editorials.
Support has come from many avenues, Helvering said, including outreach from Dr. Robert Wooster III and Dr. Kevin Marsh, who are now active advisers for YAL, as well as those in the College Democrats who welcome the prospect of new debates.
“[Debates and panels with the College Democrats] are in the works,” she said. “We have lots of friends in the College Dems that we are talking with who are really excited, [and] lots of the political science faculty are really excited to have bipartisan conversations here. I mean, that’s what we’re all about on this campus is learning.”
The inclusion of another political perspective could enhance the political climate on campus, said Daniel Cohen ’14, former president of the College of Wooster Democrats and communications director of the College Democrats of Ohio.
“It’s always important to have a multitude of voices, thoughts and opinions in the public sphere,” he said. “Robust political discourse and dialogue creates a richer learning experience and academic environment. My hope for [YAL] is that they work with the other political groups on campus to find commonalities and express differences while engaging the student body at large in the political process.”
Latrice Burks ’16, president of the Political Science Club, agreed that another viewpoint on campus could widen political conversations.
“I’m assuming that [the formation of YAL] will only make [the campus political climate] better,” she said. “Maybe they have some strategies to mobilize people…There are some events that the College Republicans and the College Democrats [usually] host together, and maybe [now] they can use YAL [to] really get more political involvement moving. It would be beneficial, even if I don’t really agree with libertarian ideology. Any type of political involvement would be beneficial to the school.”
Despite the excitement of some to see a wider variety of political opinion at Wooster, there has been some negative reception to the group, as well.
“There’s clearly a number of people who definitely want to be part of the group,” said Ian Murphy ’16, vice president of YAL. “We have probably had about 50 positive people come up to us, and who actually want to be actively involved. However, we also find many people who are downright aggressive against us; they are rude and actively trying to drive us away. [However], people will be people, and we know that we have a call on campus.”
According to Helvering, the negative reactions could partly stem from misinformation and stereotypes.
“I think we kind of started with a bad rep, with people assuming that we were just crazy Republicans, or crazy Libertarians or we just weren’t taken seriously,” she said. “I think that that might be starting to change.”
YAL is not trying to offend anyone or start controversy on campus, said Jennifer Pilat ’16, communications director for YAL.
“We’re not adversarial in nature,” Pilat said. “This isn’t any sort of statement against the College Dems or anything. We just want a forum for the other side. And I don’t think people should take it as an offense. We encounter a lot of people who are personally offended by our existence on campus, and that’s not our goal.”
YAL looks forward to becoming an integral part of the political scene at Wooster, Helvering said.
“We are really hoping to engage with the Wooster community,” she said. “We’re not trying to just create an exclusive club here; we want to widen the debate. We want to engage with all sides here. We want to learn and participate. Civic engagement, that’s what it’s all about.”
YAL meets every other Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. in Kauke 039. The next meeting is on Oct. 15.