Student Government voted on and passed the Young Americans for Liberty Organization for recognition at their meeting on Wednesday, March 20. The club presented to the Governmental Affairs Committee three times, and was just passed on the Sunday before spring break. GA previously rejected YALO because they saw weakness with the former leadership. This issue has since been resolved with the new leadership.
The mission statement of YALO is to “train, educate and mobilize youth activists committed to winning on principle. Our goal is to cast leaders of tomorrow and reclaim the policies, candidates and direction of our government.” They said they plan to organize and host forums, lectures, films, conferences, debates, rallies, protests and other events.
“We rely on our belief of the Constitution … we want to provide a third point of view politically than what we have currently, which is Democratic and Republican,” a representative from YALO said.
During the meeting, concerns were raised about the similarities YALO has to the Student Liberty Front, another student organization on campus. The representative from YALO assured SG that the two groups differ, in that YALO is an active group, whereas the SLF are not advocates.
“They practice what they believe in theory. They don’t necessarily advocate. And our mission in YALO is to be a presence on campus in terms of activism and advocacy politically,” the representative said.
When SG moved to debate, it was suggested that the two student organizations merge together to form one group.
Devin Dimmig, vice president of Governmental Affairs, explained that when two clubs are similar, they are asked to meet and discuss the possibility of collaboration. She stated that in this case, it was reported that collaboration was not possible, because SLF did not want to move in an advocacy direction.
Despite some naysayers, the club passed with 53 charter members.
The Student Services Committee is planning an Eickhoff theme dinner, All Across America, where they will feature dishes from various regions of the country.
In addition to Senator of the Month, the Community Relations Committee developed Program of the Month, and recognized the Healthy Heart Awareness Week hosted by Student Services.
