Political clubs encourage discussion amid election
Founding Chairman Joshua Wright and Vice Chairman Daniel Toombs of Young Americans for Freedom. All photos by Rhianna Barrow.
As Americans await the results of Election Day, several on-campus organizations are encouraging fellow students to discuss the election results and the political process.
Two clubs have already hosted events to view the presidential debates this semester. Young Americans for Liberty hosted a viewing party for the first Presidential debate, while Young Americans for Freedom hosted an event for the final debate.
Sophomore political science major Brent Craig is president of the Lee University chapter of YAL, a libertarian youth organization.
“We’re mainly a nonparty-affiliated club. We don’t support either party,” Craig said. “Our whole goal is to get candidates that we think support the cause of liberty.”
Craig clarified that much of YAL’s core values focus on the freedoms guaranteed by the American Bill of Rights, specifically those granted in the First Amendment.
YAL Chapter President Brent Craig.
Sophomore history major Josh Wright is the Chairman of Lee’s chapter of YAF, a traditionally conservative youth organization.
“I think we would want to add that the goal for our club is that we want to give a voice to conservative students,” Wright said. “In a weird way, they’re often marginalized [at] universities … We just want to give a voice to conservative students who often don’t have one.”
Sophomore business finance major Daniel Toombs is the vice chairman of the Lee chapter of YAF and stated that while YAF leans toward the right end of the political spectrum, people of any political ideology are welcome to attend events put on by YAF.
“So far, what we’ve been doing is bringing together people — mainly conservatives, but I feel like we’ve seen a few people with different opinions,” Toombs said. “Whether it’s watching a livestream, or the debate or just talking, we’re just bringing people together.”
Like most on-campus clubs, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused setbacks for event planning in both YAL and YAF, though both clubs succeeded in hosting events where attendees could view the presidential debates this semester.
Craig said viewing political debates allows viewers to weigh the truthfulness of candidates’ commitment to their platforms. A candidate’s truthfulness is determined by whether they contradict their past statements on the debate stage.
“When it comes to watching the debates, you have to be able to understand what each candidate supports,” Craig said, explaining his rationale for hosting the debate viewing event.
YAL plans to host a Free Speech Bowl soon and hopes to host a speaker on campus sometime next semester. Likewise, YAF hopes to bring a speaker on campus next semester.
On Election Night, Nov. 3, Lee’s Society of Collegiate Journalists club partnered with the Political Science Honor Club to view results as the ballots were counted.
The Lee chapters of YAL and YAF can be contacted by their Instagram accounts, where they post updates on upcoming events.
To learn more about Lee’s chapter for Society of Collegiate Journalists, email Shannon Clark at sclark03@leeu.edu. For more information on the Political Science Honor Club, email President Katherine Philyaw at kphily00@leeu.edu.
