Campus Group Types
What do you want your group to do?
If you are interested in starting a classical liberal organization on campus, your vision likely falls under one of three general models: discussion/debate group, political activism group, or study group. Thinking about your group in terms of these models can help you anticipate issues and avoid reinventing the wheel. In practice many groups are multi-faceted, sharing components of two or even all three types. So even if your plans don't fall neatly into one of these categories, learning about them is still a useful exercise.
Discussion/Debate Group
Best for:
- Students with wide variety of interests, who want to discuss their views in a public forum.
Internal participation:
- It takes about four committed individuals to run an organization with a large presence on campus.
- Core members should be organized and diplomatic so that guest participants feel comfortable agreeing to be a part of the forum.
External participation:
- Casual participation can wax and wane without much impact on the core group.
Collaboration:
- Classical liberal ideas offer an interesting perspective on most popular campus issues, so finding other groups to debate tends to be easy.
Resources
- Student Union. Activity Center. Facebook. Consult these resources to find the political groups at your college with the most members. Decide on a topic that is likely to produce fruitful debate, and approach the leaders of those organizations.
- Campusprogress.org. A great article called "The Care and Feeding of Campus Libertarians" describes how to approach and work with groups that espouse different philosophies.
- The Leadership Institute: A great resource all around-you may find the article "How to Present a Public Program" particularly useful.
- IHS can offer ideas on how to tap into its network of professors and professionals.
Political Activism Group:
Best for:
- Strong personalities who are comfortable with the clash ideas-sometimes in confrontational situations.
Internal participation:
- Around four strongly committed individuals are required to run an organization with a large presence on campus.
- Core members need to be innovative in approaching ways to get the word out on "hot button" issues.
External participation:
- Casual participation can wax and wane without much impact on the core group.
Collaboration:
- Classical liberal ideas offer an interesting perspective on most popular campus issues, so coordinating events with other groups tends to be easy.
Resources
- Bureaucrash: From their website: "Bureaucrash is dedicated to fighting the increase of government control over our lives. Our international network of pro-freedom activists works to change the political ideology of our generation through creative activism. While most youth politics supports the growth of the already bloated government we fight for freedom"
- Sam Adams Alliance: From their website: "The Sam Adams Alliance connects and supports citizen leaders who are working to defend liberty, hold the government accountable, and make real political change at the local level. We serve as a national network for citizens who are ready to take action and take back politics in their own communities." Particularly look at their "Action Toolkit."
- Campusactivism.org, Moveon.org, and others: Do not be put off by groups that do not completely align with all the political beliefs of your organization. There are many good resources and ideas on their sites. If nothing else, these sites provide an opportunity to learn how established and effective organizations manage their efforts.
Study Group:
Best for:
- Those who are interested in exploring the foundations of liberty, economics, and other topics.
Internal participation:
- It takes between five and 15 intellectually curious, committed, thoughtful individuals to sustain an active study group-any larger and some participants will begin to feel like they are not involved.
External participation:
- Study groups work best when there is continuity within the group-understanding builds over time.
Collaboration:
- Because of their focused nature, study groups tend not to offer much opportunity for collaboration with other groups.
Resources:
- Polycentric Teaching: This organization offers many wonderful resources on dialogue and conversation, particularly the page entitled "Generating Ground Rules for Dialogue."
- The Library of Economics and Liberty: This extensive site features full-text copies of books and essays from the public domain that you can search and print.
