Students form campus Libertarian group

The group is a continuation of Students for Ron Paul, chapter president Stuart Hughes said.

By Allison Prang

Published March 22, 2011

Young Americans for Liberty, a student Libertarian organization, will soon join the MU Democrats and Mizzou College Republicans as an MU student political organization.

Young Americans for Liberty President Stuart Hughes said the group is somewhat of a continuation of Students for Ron Paul from 2008.

"The circumstances were right, and I think the attitude on campus is right for a group like this," Hughes said.

Hughes said he thinks Americans now feel very dissatisfied with the two main political parties. He said their group's goal is to promote awareness of liberty on campus.

According to the Young Americans for Liberty website, the national organization has more than 500 college and high school chapters across the nation.

"One of our strongest assets is we tend to pull in an extremely diverse group of people who feel disinherited from the two political parties," he said.

Hughes said he does not think the typical left-leaning stereotypes associated with college campuses will prove to be a problem, because he feels MU's campus can be politically apathetic.

"Libertarianism is very intellectually heterogeneous as far as political ideologies go," treasurer Abhi Sivasailam said in an email. "I'm confident that a significant portion of moderates — and even of liberals and conservatives — have philosophical views that fall under the libertarian spectrum."

The MU chapter of Young Americans for Liberty is currently still in the process of becoming a certified student organization, but plans to sponsor a free speech canvas in Speakers Circle following spring break, where students can come and write whatever they want on the canvas. Young Americans for Liberty also plans to host another event, Inflate Away Our Student Loans, which will aim to raise awareness about debt issues.

Megan Roberts, former Mizzou College Republicans co-chairperson and vice president of the Young Americans for Liberty, said she and Sivasailam had been friends for a while and would always talk politics, which transcended into them forming the group.

"The core principles of being fiscally conservative, socially liberal and committed to enhancing liberty are principles that I feel will resonate well with the current college psyche," Savasailam said.