March 1998

College-based Libertarians: Activity is on the upswing From Virginia to Arizona, Libertarianism on campus is enjoying a "major upsurge" By Dr. James W. Lark Are Generation Xers going Libertarian? Is Libertarianism the choice of a new generation? If Libertarian activity on college campuses is an accurate leading indicator, the answer to these questions may well be "yes." I have been involved with Libertarian campus organizing since 1984, and I am pleased to be witnessing a major upsurge of interest in Libertarianism on campus. In addition to such well-established groups -- such as Students for Individual Liberty (SIL) at the University of Virginia and the College Libertarians at the University of Michigan -- new groups are starting to get organized on campuses throughout the country. As a measure of this interest, since early 1997 I have been contacted by activists associated with more than 30 colleges and universities, including UCLA, Colorado, Yale, Chicago, Rutgers, and Washington State. In my home state of Virginia, there are groups at the University of Virginia (UVA), Washington & Lee University, James Madison University, and George Mason University. Some of them promote the Libertarian Party. Other groups are educationally oriented and have no partisan affiliation. In addition, I am working with people associated with Virginia Tech and Virginia Commonwealth University who wish to build groups at those institutions. As I discussed in my campus activism sessions during Success '97, a very useful tactic for campus Libertarians is to organize several Libertarian groups, each of which has a different purpose. In particular, I suggest that activists establish at least two groups: One group should be explicitly LP-oriented, the other should be an explicitly non-partisan, educational group. (For example, at UVA, we have nine Libertarian-run organizations, each established to address a specific need.) Stephen Jones, a Libertarian activist at George Mason University, followed the UVA model. He has founded three groups at G.M.U. during the past year: Students for Individual Liberty, University Libertarians, and Students for the Second Amendment (co-founded with Steven King). Substantial growth The substantial growth of the LP of Michigan over recent years is also visible on state college campuses. According to Martin Howrylak, co-chair of the College Libertarians at the University of Michigan (UM) in Ann Arbor, there are Libertarian student groups at Wayne State University, Western Michigan University, Michigan State University, Hillsdale College, Michigan Technological University, Andrews University, and Delta College. Howrylak notes that his group meets weekly during most of the school year, and sponsors numerous outreach events -- including a speaker series which has featured David Boaz, David Littman, Jon Coon, Richard Ebeling, and Mark Perry. In addition, UM Libertarians have formed the Liberty Party to run candidates for the Michigan Student Assembly, focusing on their opposition to mandatory student fees. One of the more active College Libertarian groups founded this year is at Michigan Technological University in Houghton, Michigan. Doug Hull, founder of the group, reports that the group publishes a newsletter and sponsors speaking events. One such event, on the topic of "Corrupted Campus: The Politics of Higher Education," landed the group on the front page of their campus newspaper. Some organizations have been successful in sponsoring debates about important issues of public policy. For example, John McCoy, president of the Libertarian Students at the University of Arizona, said the group has participated in debates with the Democrats and Republicans on topics as diverse as public schooling and immigration. The group also debated the Student Environmental Action Coalition on environmental solutions, and participated in a debate over the minimum wage with the Tucson Living Wage Committee. Major debates Libertarians at the University of Texas (UT) in Austin have been very active, sponsoring major debates over affirmative action, diversity, and free speech, thanks to the work of activists Mark Grohman and Marc Levin. Some of the newly-formed groups have capitalized on "hot topics" on their campuses. Andy Fitzgerald, who organized a Libertarian group at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, reports that the federal government policies toward Microsoft is a topic of great interest at Wake Forest -- and he has made sure the Libertarian perspective is part of the debate. Another exciting sign of progress: The formation of Libertarian Students of America. This group, founded by my UVA colleagues Byron Smith and Eric Stetson, seeks to link campus Libertarians throughout the country. For information, see the LSA webpage at www.libertarians.com/students/. The upsurge in campus Libertarianism, which began about three years ago, has not gone unnoticed in other quarters. For example, The Chronicle of Higher Education ran a story about the phenomenon in its September 15, 1995 issue. The story featured information about the Libertarian philosophy, its appeal to college students, and comments from campus activists. More recently, I was contacted by an individual from the publishing company W.W. Norton. The company is working on an introductory political science textbook, had heard of Students for Individual Liberty and wanted to obtain information about us and our leading members for inclusion in the textbook. In perspective However, we should keep our progress in perspective. Most college students are not Libertarian in orientation. College faculty members and administrators generally tend to be unsympathetic to Libertarian ideas. Furthermore, many of the new groups may have difficulty surviving upon the departure of their principal activists. However, it appears that the Libertarian perspective has gained a substantial following among many students -- and Libertarian positions appear to be gaining supporters, too. During the next several months, I will be working on several projects to keep this campus Libertarian momentum going -- including a campus organizing workshop at the LP national convention in July. Need help with or advice about college organizing? Contact Lark at: Students for Individual Liberty, Box 514, Newcomb Hall Station Charlottesville, VA 22904 Call: (804) 982-5016 E-mail: liberty@virginia.edu World Wide Web: http://scs.student.virginia.edu/~liberty About the author: Dr. Lark is a professor in the UVA Dept. of Systems Engineering. He has conducted workshops on campus organizing at several state and national LP conventions and at Success '97.

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