0 Shares

Young Americans for Liberty (YAL), a Libertarian organization, is set to launch a chapter on campus Friday to raise awareness about the party’s platform, which aims to educate students about Libertarian values, including a reduced government role and free markets.

According to public outreach coordinator junior Phil Futuyma, YAL also tries to emphasize the role of the Constitution and liberty within the American government.

YAL is part of a nationwide organization with over 300 chapters at different colleges.

The nationwide organization began after the launch of Ron Paul’s 2008 campaign. Since its inception, the organization has hosted massive student protests of the war in Iraq, the national debt and the Transportational Security Agency.

“People should be free and able to live the lives that they choose,” said Futuyma. “We want to use DU as platform to identify, train and mobilize youth activists.”

The group, which began forming on campus in February, was started by now-chapter president, junior Daniel Gerstel. Approximately 15 student members joined since Gerstel began forming the organization.

Although YAL will not be an official campus organization until its review on May 5, the group has hosted and planned a series of events to capture the attention of the student population, including a Transportation Security Agency (TSA) booth set up on Driscoll Bridge early April.

Futuyma said the TSA Awareness booth was aimed to raise awareness and anger from students over TSA safety check policies in airports. They especially wanted to point out body searches and overuse of scanners.

“We want to educate students on the unconstitutionality of TSA and the moral incorrectness of their groping innocent people,” he said

The group also hosted “Occupy the GPA,” an event where they set up tents and sleeping bags on campus similar to the Occupy Wall Street encampments in Denver and throughout the nation. This was done to express YAL’s disagreements with Occupy’s message.

Futuyma said students who stopped by their events seemed interested and responsive to their message.

“We are against corporatism, not free markets,” said Futuyma, addressing Occupy’s advertised desire for a redistribution of wealth, salary caps for businesses and an increase in available jobs.

The group protested the redistribution of GPA points, meant as a satirical representation of Occupy’s protests for redistribution of the wealth.

They created the purposely sardonic catch line “4.0 is a human right.”

After the group gains official recognition on campus, Futuyama said they will hold more events, including booths and a presence at the DU May Days events, and possibly some discussion panels.

“We are open to anyone’s involvement,” said Futuyma. “We are made up by many people with many different philosophies.”

Gerstel said ultimately he wants to provide students with a way to express their dissatisfaction with government control.

“If you’re a student tired of debt, endless undeclared wars or politicians saying one thing and doing another, then you should really look into Young Americans for Liberty,” said Gerstel.

0 Shares