Missouri Campus LP Organization Approach Changes

By Gary Stocker

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The 2002-2003 college school year will bring about a slightly different approach to organizing libertarian college groups in Missouri.

In St. Louis, we will be developing a Metro College Libertarian group. This approach will enable us to continue to focus on developing single college/university groups. It has the added advantage letting us develop a more effective model that we can use to expand college campus organizing efforts in the future.

Our early plan is to focus on active, metropolitan Libertarian Party campuses – like Washington University and Webster University with on-campus groups. We will work to identify issues and organizing practices that will help grow the campus LP groups. We will then try to duplicate those efforts in out state campuses.

Kansas City, Columbia, and Springfield will also be metropolitan areas with multiple college campuses that would be attractive communities to focus broad-based campus organizing. Activists interested in helping develop and grow college campus Libertarian groups can contact Gary Stocker at gdstocker@aol.com.

The student group at Washington University has been very aggressive and successful in setting up Operation Politically Homeless (OPH) events on campus. They are providing a good example of using an innovative tool to attract politically homeless students. The Missouri Libertarian Party provided the initial OPH kit and a volunteer to help get it started.

The initial 2002 –2003 meeting on Washington University’s campus was an example of what an active college group can do. Over 20 students showed up on a Wednesday evening at Lien Library. As part of the meeting, campus President Kevin Vallier, had each attendee offer a brief anecdote of how they came to the Libertarian philosophy.

The stories were both endearing and informative. Most had a reading or meeting experience with libertarian thought. Some expressed a chronic dissatisfaction with government; and some were intrigued by the OPH test and wanted more information.

Efforts will continue to organize campus groups as efficiently and effectively as possible. Send suggestions and ideas to Gary Stocker at gdstocker@aol.com