Young Americans for Liberty is a libertarian student activism organization headquartered in Austin, Texas. Formed in 2008 in the aftermath of the Ron Paul 2008 presidential campaign, YAL establishes chapters on high school and college campuses across the United States, for the purpose of "advancing liberty on campus and in American electoral politics."
History
YAL was founded in 2008 at the end of Congressman Ron Paul's first presidential campaign. Paul's candidacy inspired students to organize on-campus under the banner of Students for Ron Paul. After the 2008 presidential election in November, the movement continued, soon becoming Young Americans for Liberty. On May 23, 2019, YAL announced it would be moving its headquarters to Austin from Arlington, Virginia, saying that the group "doesn't belong" in Washington, D.C. due to its "toxic environment," and that it was a "rapidly growing organization" that needed more space in its headquarters.
Activities
In March 2011, 78 YAL chapters across 32 states organized a student protest of the national debt. Each chapter constructed a 40-foot debt clock and placed it in the middle of their campus. In April 2014, two YAL students at the University of Hawaii filed a federal lawsuit after they were prevented from handing out copies of the US constitution. On March 1, 2019, YAL announced the launch of the Hazlitt Coalition "to provide YAL's elected officials with modern legislation, facts, and strategies to give them the extra muscle they need to be effective liberty legislators." The name is from Henry Hazlitt, author of Economics in One Lesson. Beginning in 2009, YAL hosted annual National Conventions in Arlington, Virginia. More than 300 students attended the 2014 convention. Speakers included U.S Senator Rand Paul and former U.S. Representative Ron Paul, with a video address by Glenn Greenwald. Speakers at the 2016 convention included speakers Ron Paul and U.S. Representative Justin Amash, Judge Andrew Napolitano, and David Boaz of the Cato Institute.
More activities
In a Facebook post perceived by YAL chapter leaders as an official blacklisting of Breitbart News Tech Editor Milo Yiannopoulos in May 2016, YAL National Field Director Ty Hicks urged chapter leaders not to invite the conservative firebrand to speak at their events. This came as a result of the YAL chapter at the University of California, Santa Barbara defying a regional field director's instructions to prohibit Yiannopoulos from promoting presidential candidate Donald Trump when he spoke at the university - which she believed could jeopardize the national organization's 5013 non-profit status. The event proceeded with Yiannopoulos asking audience members to address a cardboard cutout of Trump, and chapter members wearing pro-Trump clothing as they hand-carried Yiannopoulos into the event. YAL president Cliff Maloney said Hicks' post did not represent an official YAL position and that "our relationship with Milo remains unchanged." The group’s association with Yiannopoulos and others caused Wichita State University to reject the formation of a YAL chapter on campus. In March 2019, the Iowa State YAL chapter invited controversial figure Nick Fuentes to speak on campus. The Des Moines Register reported that the speech provoked controversy, and the Iowa State Daily noted a protest took place on campus.In his speech, Fuentes "alluded to a 'white' America and tried to link people of color with Democratic cities economically struggling." Fuentes had previously been invited to speak by the YAL chapter at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in 2018. A few YAL members and chapter leaders have been involved in the American Identity Movement, formerly known as Identity Evropa. In June 2019, Right Wing Watch ran an article noting that university student Richard Golgart Jr. was an "officer" of the University of Nevada, Reno’s YAL chapter. An article later in the year by the school newspaper, The Nevada Sagebrush, confirmed the story. An expose by Sludge found that another Identity Evropa member, Derek Magill, served as president of the YAL chapter at the University of Michigan. The same report also revealed that Alex Witoslawski, another well-known white nationalist activist, "spent six months as the Illinois state chair of Young Americans for Liberty."
