Twenty-three years ago, in September 1987, Students for Individual Liberty at the University of Virginia held its first meeting.
One of the longest-lived student libertarian groups in the United States (contrast it, for instance, with the year-old Hoyas for Liberty at Georgetown University), SIL – part of a network of groups operating under the umbrella of the Liberty Coalition at UVA – is as active as ever, hosting lectures, debates, and social events that are open to UVA students and faculty as well as members of the Charlottesville community.
The new president of SIL, Chase Camuzzi, currently a student in the College of Arts and Sciences seeking to transfer into the School of Architecture, sat down with the Charlottesville Libertarian Examiner on September 29, moments before a SIL-sponsored lecture by Radley Balko of Reason magazine. She talked about the group’s past successes and future plans.
Reception varies
The reception SIL receives from other students at UVA “really varies highly,” Camuzzi said.
“A lot of people are really receptive when we focus on social issues,” she explained, noting that “last year on 4/20, Students for Individual Liberty handed out brownies in a pot with [a sign saying] ‘marijuana legalization/decriminalization’ next to it. That went over fantastically.”
On the other hand, when the group sponsors a “talk about more economic issues, some of the conservative groups will come to our side, but there’s a little more flak with that,” from other students, she said.
Plans for the coming year include events both on Grounds and off.
Debate with conservatives
“In late October, we’re going to be having a debate with the Burke Society on the moral and ethical basis of government involvement in social issues,” she noted, “and then we’ve got seven people registered to go to the Students for Liberty international conference in D.C. this February.”
The Students for Liberty conference attracts participants from the United States and around the globe.
“Last year they had over 300 people from several countries.” Camuzzi said. She stayed in a room on the campus hosting the conference and ended up “rooming with a girl from Azerbaijan. It’s big.”
As one would expect with an undergraduate student organization, leadership is subject to rapid turnover.
New leadership
“This year is actually a really interesting year because we’ve had a complete turnover of leaders,” Camuzzi explained. “Last year [the leaders were] all Fourth Years who have now graduated, so everyone’s getting on their feet, trying to figure out who are [our] contacts, where can we get involved in the Charlottesville area, and what can we do on Grounds” to advance the group’s aims.
Also under the Liberty Coalition, along with SIL, is the Classical Liberal Roundtable, which meets on Sunday afternoons to discuss current issues, and, Camuzzi reported, “There may be a chapter of Young Americans for Liberty about to form. Some people are looking into that.” YAL is affiliated with the Campaign for Liberty, an outgrowth of Congressman Ron Paul’s 2008 bid for the Republican party’s presidential nomination.
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