Young Republicans and College Democrats have been active student groups at ACU for years, but a new group of students thinks more than two political parties should be represented on campus. The College Libertarians are taking the first steps toward building a new on-campus club, and they want to know what students are thinking.
“It was just a group that decided to meet, kind of off-the-record to begin with, but more of an educational group, just to see and come and talk shop, a lot of economics jargon,” said Colin Barnard, senior political science major from Abilene. “And I went, then we met a few more times and a lot of kids came. The first meeting we had about 15 or 20 students.”
“It was cool to meet some new people and to give people a place to go to get a conversation going. I feel like the Optimist only discussed two candidates running for governor of Texas when really there were more candidates anyone could have voted for, so we talked a lot about that,” Barnard said.
The group agrees that its intention is not to push the Libertarian party on anyone, but to be available as another option for political discussion.
“Mostly we just want to be there if anyone’s ever interested in becoming a Libertarian, we just want to be available,” said Mackenzie North, junior history major from Bedford. “We just want to discuss our similar interests.”
Barnard said the group does not necessarily want to be just another group like College Democrats or College Republicans.
“We don’t really want to endorse the Libertarian party necessarily,” Barnard said. “We just want to promote a place where people can come and have conversation and discuss the sides and issues. We feel that’s more important than having any yelling battle.”
“We’re considered to be classical Liberals, so in that sense, I guess that would lean more to the right than the left – the group that believes in smaller government – but your personal life and beliefs are totally your own, to us,” North said.
Charles Brazell, senior history major from Tyler and the group’s president, said College Libertarians does not exist just to promote the Liberal party.
“Our purpose is really to serve as a forum to discuss libertarian ideals and concepts, so we are kind of shying away from anything that denotes a certain political party or agenda or platform,” Brazell said. “We’re not promoting a political party so much as just educating the student body on certain ideas. We are not on a team against the college Republicans or Democrats. We’re not any sort of activists or seeking anything.”
Brazell said he can be contacted at cfb08a@acu.edu.
The College Libertarians are anticipating official status as an on-campus club beginning next semester. More information on the group and meeting times can be found on the ACU Libertarians Facebook page.
