Word: yaf
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...outside the radical pocket of that department, the Ithaca College Republicans--with YAF help--have begun to change the campus in the four years since Roger Custer founded the G.O.P. organization. "They are the most visible group on campus now," says Braeden Sullivan, a former co-president of one of the college's gay groups, BIGAYLA. "They don't have the biggest group of people"--in fact, only about 15 students regularly go to Ithaca College Republican meetings--"but they are definitely the most visible group, and that's a big change from a couple years...
Custer, a blond, round-faced Californian, first attended a YAF conference in 1999, when he was still in high school. Afterward, he followed the organization's playbook to the letter. During black-history month his freshman year, for instance, he brought black libertarian Reggie Jones to campus. Barlas perfectly played her role by refusing to help fund the hip-hip promoter's speech, even though her department was paying for other black-history-month speakers. Her reasoning was that Jones "does not, from all appearances, support ... the vision that gives this month its political meanings." Custer was then able...
...following year, Custer used a churlish ad from his sheaf of YAF samples to help create a crude flyer for a Bay Buchanan speech, also partly funded by YAF. "Feminazis Beware," the ad blared. "Your Nuremburg is coming." The campus erupted as only campuses can. Protests were held; tears were shed; one kid left the board of the Ithaca College Republicans in protest...
...college better off because of YAF's infusion of ideas and money? YAF has surely helped enliven the campus dialogue. But it has also helped embitter it. Custer is described even by political opponents, including Facente, as a considerate, smart kid who listens to all sides. "My goal is to get more conservatives, and I have found the best way to do that is by working with people rather than against them," he says. But did the "Feminazis" flyer accomplish that goal? "Well, no, that specific flyer did not," he admits. "But on the other hand, because of the controversy...
...YAF and the other student-right groups fight their battle for the soul of the campus--and as liberal students respond--that balance gets harder to strike. But the next time you think your kid is leaving home to get a liberal education, think again...