Right now, only a small facebook group but the idea is:
Steering committee for a proposed new effort to create professional libertarian college field outreach. Once the group is created, we will raise funds and hire field organizers to travel, create and expand campus networks.
So can anyone set up a bank account and/or paypal account people can donate to?
Tax-exempt (501c3, c4 and/or foundation) status would be good if/when we have someone with the time, knowledge and inclination to set that up, but the most basic thing we need is an account, after that we can begin asking people for money.
I’ll write more later. Gotta go make money, and it’s past checkout time at the motel.
Less
aynrkey
bostonteapartygoer
Kenn Jacobine
mattdharris
Mike Seebeck
Miche
paulie
Jim Davidson
ponggod
Stuart Richards
Todd Andrew Barnett
This effort has my full support.
Students have fewer vested interests and are more inclined to be open minded. Moreover, when you discover/recruit an activist, you have somebody with many years of activism ahead of them.
Have you been in touch with Jim Lark? Let me know when you’re up and running.
The last thing I did of any significance before I quit the State Central Committee of the LPVA out of disgust was to get the LPVA to create a membership status for students. I thought the membership dues should be zero but settled for a compromise of 5 bucks.
There is no reason why all state LP organizations couldn’t do this (and the NLP too) – that is if they want to increase membership.
My experience in Richmond trying to organize an LP group at VCU, a large urban college, was that the LP was a hard sell. The perception was that the LP was a far right bunch of kooks – thanks to the cranks the media trots out as “libertarians”.
We did get Badnarik to VCU and got a fair turnout, but it is difficult to keep a group together as student turnover is high. But, it is essential that young people get involved in the libertarian movement.
Students need literature and party memberships. These are things that local and state LP organizations can provide if they make the commitment.
Like Joseph says, get in touch with Jim Lark. There is no need to engage in duplicate efforts – assuming the NLP is still reaching out to students.
I know how to set up foundations, but I don’t want to be responsible for handling other people’s money.
“My experience in Richmond trying to organize an LP group at VCU, a large urban college, was that the LP was a hard sell. The perception was that the LP was a far right bunch of kooks – thanks to the cranks the media trots out as ‘libertarians’.”
I always get decent responses for the Libertarian Party on college campuses.
In any organized form, this can’t be a bad thing. Young people are so fed up with “the old farts” controlling their lives and futures they’re probably hungry for libertarianism. They just need to be told it exists. That was the case for me.
Andy, like I said, Badnarik got a fair turnout at VCU. Other colleges in Virginia (suburban/rural campuses) seem to do better at maintaining an ongoing LP organization. But, at VCU we couldn’t even get a professor to sponsor an LP group which was required to be officially recognized and get bulletin board space and meeting space.
Unfortunately, despite the decent responses you may get from students, there is not much of what could be called a widespread “movement” among the student population, hence the need for some sort of organizing committee that Paul is proposing.
My observation is that as libertarian ideas become more relevant, the LP itself becomes less and less relevant for a number of reasons. The membership is generally white, middle-aged, middle-class, male, and conservative leaning. The LP will not survive if it can’t attract a broader spectrum of people. The pool of potential libertarians is not going to come from Republican or Democrat activists, but from young people and people who are non-voters and alienated by the current political landscape.
I know that I rankle many LP partisans, but from my perspective it is far more important in the long term to keep libertarian ideas alive than to hustle for the LP which has done a piss-poor job of advancing libertarian principles in recent years. The recent polls showing overwhelming support for a Republican candidate by LP members is an indication of what I am talking about.
I’ve talked to Dr. Lark.
He wants a group directly under LNC control and he does not think there is any need for people to travel directly to colleges to organize. Rather, he wants to have a website which updates contact information, links student to resources and a speakers bureau, etc., so if anything this would be a parallel effort.
I want a group that does on the ground organizing and is independent of the LNC.
I don’t know what role I would play in it. I’m willing to be a contractor, but then I should not be a board member. It’s possible that we can find a better contractor than me. For example, I don’t have a car or drivers license. I do manage to get around the country, though. If we find someone else who is better as a contractor, then I may be able to be a board member.
So,
1) Is anyone reading willing to serve as a board member?
2) Is anyone interested in being a contractor, once we have raised money?
3) Anyone interested in being a fundraiser?
BTW Tom Blanton is absolutely correct.
I respect Jim a bunch – nobody has as much experience in campus organizing except possibly me. But I disagree with him about bodies in the field. Please continue your efforts.
I am not in a position to travel and wouldn’t want to do the field work again – it’s very demanding when done right. But I will contribute some expertise.
Two points up front:
(1) The biggest problem is student turnover. The most active club in the country one semester can vanish the next. One solution, have officer elections in the late Spring for the following year – at least you have somebody responsible for setting up the first meeting and doing a table during registration.
(2) While campus groups need the support of the community LP, don’t tie them so closely to it that they can’t do their own thing on campus. The issues they will want to focus on will likely be different than the issues the community group focuses on. Likewise with type of activities.
And BTW, one of the reasons I support Christine Smith is because I think her act would play well on campus. (But then again, so would Kubby’s.)
As a Libertarian I think competition is good. If the LNC wants to try this plan that is fine.
I like this idea.
Yes, but George Phillies could do physics homework for votes.
The Greens, Socialist and what have you are very effective at campus organization. One of the first things I would suggest is if someone sets up a website directly as in libertarian students. org I would make sure that regular news releases are sent out specifically to colleges and university newspapers. And I cannot emphasize the need to make sure release are sent out regularly, as in weekly. Secondly ads in campus newspapers targeted to specific issues the students are concerned with might be helpful, but expensive. But I would definately go with the news releases first. Third thing to do is to distribute a newspaper, like the Libertarian Viewpoint, to campus libraries. To bad the LP dropped that paper.
So here is a question. Does anyone know how a company sets up a large email adress book? I assume there is specific software for doing so, but being a computer dummy I thought I might ask. And just for the record I did have a list of some 100 plus media outlets that I forwarded news releases for the Badnarik campaign to, but that list is out of date.
MHW
When Kevin Litten ran for governor of Iowa last year, he purchased Facebook flyers for the campaign. They are a very cheap and effective way of reaching college students.
I believe there is computer software, but I just use Microsoft Excel for contact information. I use Dada Mail for an e-mail list to supporters and Drupal for websites because it is very easy to update.
I agree. I don’t see it as a reason to scrap my plan. Just the opposite! I hope we cooperate with them, but we have a different mission.
So you’re free to travel around the country?
Now, I am only free to travel in the Missouri/Iowa area, but next May I should be able to travel around the country.
I’m hoping to get started for fall semester, but if it takes us a year to get going that might work out, or we might add or replace contractor(s) by then.
But first things first, we need a bank account and a board.
Anyone interested in helping us get set up?
“Tom Blanton Says:
August 4th, 2007 at 6:37 am
Andy, like I said, Badnarik got a fair turnout at VCU. Other colleges in Virginia (suburban/rural campuses) seem to do better at maintaining an ongoing LP organization. But, at VCU we couldn’t even get a professor to sponsor an LP group which was required to be officially recognized and get bulletin board space and meeting space.”
I’m not suprised that it is hard to find professors to sponsor a Libertarian Club because most professors are big government statist. This is a big part of the problem.
“Unfortunately, despite the decent responses you may get from students, there is not much of what could be called a widespread ‘movement’ among the student population, hence the need for some sort of organizing committee that Paul is proposing.”
I think that you misinterpeted what I said. I totally agree with the concept of a professional outreach staff for college campus organizing (and other things for that matter) and I’ve suggested such a concept to others in the party for several years. I was just pointing out that there is already interest in the product that we are selling – libertarianism. However, just because there are “interested buyers” for the product it does not mean that we don’t need an effective sales team, because we do. There are a lot of good products and services on the market but the producers of those goods & services still hire sales people and still do lots of advertising. It is far more effective to be pro-active rather than just sitting back and hoping a product will sell itself, especially when a lot of people don’t know that the product exsists.
Jake thanks for the info on email.
MHW
I’ve talked to Dr. Lark.
He wants a group directly under LNC control and he does not think there is any need for people to travel directly to colleges to organize. Rather, he wants to have a website which updates contact information, links student to resources and a speakers bureau, etc., so if anything this would be a parallel effort.
I was the intermediary in this conversation… I talked to Dr. Lark at the Pittsburgh LNC meeting, then I spoke with Paulie about that conversation.
I think Dr. Lark’s view has been accidentally misrepresented through a whisper down the lane (either in the communication between myself and Paulie or in the recording of Paulie’s understanding in that comment).
In actuality, Dr. Lark hasn’t decided what the best way of organizing such a committee would be. He is not opposed to a an LNC focused effort, a more general non-partisan effort, or a combination of the two. He has no problem with traveling field organizers, but has a lot of questions about exactly how it should be done: e.g., a field organizer in a state for a month doing several campuses, a “circuit rider” tour, or perhaps something else. His main concern is that we do it right the first time and that we don’t waste donor money.
Both of us (myself and Dr. Lark) appreciate Paulie’s enthusiasm and hard work and will do nothing to stand in his way if he goes forward with his own plans.
Chuck is correct, I actually talked to him right after he talked to Jim Lark.
Apparently, given what I have been told today by both of them, things are not as set in stone as I understood after Pittsburgh.
As I think I said before: I’d love to cooperate with whatever Dr. Lark and/or the LNC do, whether it’s the same group or a parallel effort, and I’d like to help get this group off the ground as best I can – whatever my role in it will be, and regardless of the degree of cooperation that takes place.
Actually, as I recall, one of Dr. Jim’s techniques is to encourage at least TWO libertarian groups on campus: a LP affiliate to be overtly political and a 501(c)3 “Students for Individual Liberty” to do outreach. He has MULTIPLE groups going on his home campus.
I’ll write up some more on some of my techniques to share at a later date on a newer thread.
Why not this thread? As of right now, only two posts above this one.
“Joseph Knight Says:
August 4th, 2007 at 8:30 am
I respect Jim a bunch – nobody has as much experience in campus organizing except possibly me. But I disagree with him about bodies in the field. Please continue your efforts.”
I haven’t really done any “organizing” per say, but I have collected petition signatures on 40 college campuses. I’ve also handed out an ass load of Libertarian Party flyers & pamplets and registered a bunch of students as Libertarians on college campuses.
What is the possibility of getting a website setup and monitored specifically for this?
MHW
Pretty good.
Paul if pretty good refers to this project and is an answer to my question then GREAT!
Im cleaning up some of my email address book files and will start getting the email addresses for some of the colleges and universities in the Northwest together so that I can at least forward news releases to them if needed. Otherwise I’ll have some up tp date email addresses for another purpose.
MHW