Skip to Content, Navigation, or Footer.
A spirit that is not afraid

College libertarians open doors on issues

The College libertarians pictured with Ron Paul. (Courtesy of Michael Nathan Magan)
The College libertarians pictured with Ron Paul. (Courtesy of Michael Nathan Magan)

Don't tread on them. Although that is not part of its official slogan, College libertarians, with a lowercase "l", provide resources and opportunities for students to learn about the issues affecting their lives now.

"When we spell our name we spell it with a little "l" because the big "L" implies party affiliation," said Michael Magan, organization president and junior in economics.

College libertarians was restarted after being replaced by the Young Americans for Liberty.

"It used to be the only libertarian organization on campus and then YAL formed and took a lot of people out of it," Magan said. "A few friends and I decided to start it up again because we thought it was a great opportunity to do things that YAL couldn't."

Unlike College libertarians, YAL is not allowed to endorse candidates because it is affiliated with the national organization, Magan said.

"Since College libertarians have no funding, we can essentially do whatever we want," Magan said.

The organization is not about favoring candidates for elections anyway, Magan said.

"We're trying to focus less on the voting and more on educating the students," Magan said. "Technically we can endorse candidates; I just would rather not. If you want to know more about the candidates and the issues they will tell you about them, but I'm not going to tell someone to vote for this candidate simply because I like him."

College libertarians take trips to conferences and have liberty-minded speakers attend their meetings.

"We'll also bring people to professor debates through UPC, " Magan said. "We're bringing a group of 10 people to the Supporters Summit where there are speakers such as Ron Paul, Tom Woods and Judge Andrew P. Napolitano."

Magan said that the Ludwig von Mises Institute in Auburn, an organization supporting the Austrian School of economics, is a great resource of knowledge for all students, not just Libertarians, at Auburn.

"The organization does a lot of things through them," Magan said. "Supporter Summit is what they put on as a fundraiser, and they give out a lot of scholarships as well."

The two-party system does not appeal to Magan.

"I think there's way too much of allegiance to it," Magan said.

Organization member Kevin Romaine, freshman in economics, agrees with Magan.

"Their differences in beliefs are limited to the least important issues and even still will become functionally non-existent in office," Romaine said.

Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Auburn Plainsman delivered to your inbox

Share and discuss “College libertarians open doors on issues” on social media.