To ensure their event’s success, the chapter invested heavily into advertising: Flyering every corner of their campus, tabling for several hours each day leading up to their event, and personally inviting students to attend. “A personal invitation means a lot to people and motivates them to actually come to events,” Madison Habersetzer, the chair of WU YAF, explained. “At Whitworth, we primarily hear only left-leaning ideas on social issues, so we thought that bringing in a conservative to speak on such topics would allow for some actual diversity of thought.” Prior to the chapter’s involvement on campus, students at Whitworth were sheltered from conservative ideas by university faculty in an effort to maintain the liberal status quo—this lead leftist students to organize protests against the YAFers once they began advertising. The leftists argued that by bringing in a conservative speaker the YAFers would be “bringing hatred to campus.” Despite the protesters’ acts of intolerance, WU YAF sparked a new wave of interest in conservative ideas on campus with their event featuring Jason Mattera. Madison Habersetzer was amazed by the change in tune on campus. “I heard so many people talking not only about the event but about the social and cultural issues Mattera addressed… a lot of good, productive conversations between people of different ideologies began.” “I want you to know how much I enjoyed the lecture,” one student at Whitworth wrote in an email to the YAF chapter, “Last night was probably one of my favorite talks I’ve ever attended at Whitworth.” Another wrote, “I think speakers like [Mattera] are incredibly important… I think Young Americans for Freedom serves an important purpose in providing a counterbalance to a generally left-leaning popular culture.” Whitworth University Young Americans for Freedom successfully ignited the Conservative Movement on their campus—exposing their peers to ideas that they otherwise would never hear—and motivated others to get involved and join WU YAF. For this reason, we congratulate WU YAF on being selected as the December Chapter of the Month. The following members of WU YAF were also instrumental in the chapter’s success:
