Columbia College Chicago Recruiting

On Thursday, September 14, we recruited on Columbia College Chicago’s campus for a new chapter starting up. After about one hour, we were able to gather a total of seven signatures and are expecting several more soon. Being the most liberal school in Illinois, many Columbia students appeared rather suspicious of us, frequently asking what our political affiliation was. I described YAL as a nonpartisan organization that has young Americans of many differently political ideologies—everyone from supporters of Bernie Sanders to supporters of Donald Trump. When I asked a certain student if he wanted to sign his name after introducing the organization, he said, “sounds Republican” but thankfully signed. Sometimes, handing out the “How to deal with police” cards helped a lot since those on the left have been critical of police brutality. 

If this chapter succeeds, I would be very open to having members opposed to, for example, Ron Paul, who this organization is fond of, but I hope members are also open to differing viewpoints. Although Columbia is a very left-wing university, I am not sure if students are as hostile as other universities like UC Berkeley, among others. As far as I know, there is no “free speech zones” on this campus or safe spaces, but I frequently say that the whole campus is a safe space. Personally, I am a libertarian/conservative and a supporter of President Trump. It would be in this chapter’s best interests if a majority of our members value individual liberty and limited government as the organization represents, but a swarm of socialists and social justice warriors who somewhat like the idea of “liberty” would probably be nonproductive once they realize YAL is not exactly dominated by those political views. 

Overall, I look forward to a successful chapter at Columbia College Chicago this year. The leftist narrative must be countered on this campus.