The Young Americans for Liberty held their first meeting on Jan. 30 in the Ole Miss Student Union, welcoming a crowd of over 15 people.
Headquartered in Austin, YAL is a national organization that is active on around 400 college campuses. The mission of YAL is to identify, educate, train and mobilize youth activists for libertarian beliefs in the protection of civil rights, the first amendment and minimal government intervention.
Though not a registered student organization, they are hosting events and tabling to get students interested in helping start a UM chapter.
Deputy regional director for the southwest YAL chapters, Collin O’Mealy, said libertarianism is the middle ground in an increasingly polarized political landscape.
“(Libertarianism) cuts the bad ends from both main parties and sticks the good ends together,” O’Mealy said.
O’Mealy talked about why he thinks people are drawn to the organization.
“One of the reasons that a lot of people are coming to it is because we’ve seen what the federal government does from both sides of the aisle, and people are just kind of tired of it,” O’Mealy said. “Our biggest philosophy is don’t hurt people and don’t take their stuff.”
Having worked with YAL for over two years now, O’Mealy said he enjoys building relationships with the students. O’Mealy said people stayed at their first meeting until 10 p.m. to discuss their political beliefs.
“Some of the people who are interested in our chapter, they’re not just libertarians. We really try to have conversations (where) people can just kind of sit down and talk,” O’Mealy said. “It’s a grassroots type thing, and it’s really cool to see.”
One of YAL’s main goals is to work with student governments to change school policies.
“It could range anywhere from changing meal plans to allow students to choose to pick a meal plan if they want to; if they’re freshmen, if they can’t afford a meal plan, you know, that way they don’t have to be put in this box,” O’Mealy said. “We’ve also helped change policies on allowing people to carry pepper spray or tasers.”
O’Mealy says that the organization is working to become an RSO so they can get funding to support their members.
“We have chapters all over the country, but becoming an RSO really helps with funding if students want to have events on campus, if our guys want to bring speakers on, that’s a huge part,” O’Mealy said.
Libby Sliwa, a freshman biology major from Fishers, Ind., said that the organization could encourage thoughtful political discussions.
“I think it’s good that everyone respects everyone’s opinion, especially right now. The political climate, everyone kind of doesn’t respect a lot of people, so I think it’s good for awareness,” Sliwa said.
