Libertarian Party at Colorado State University

The LPCSU held its first outreach booth today at the Centertainment organizational fair at CSU. We spend about five hours in the August sun and talked to dozens of students about the Libertarian Party, and giving the World's Smallest Political Quiz. We also added about 20 names to our contact list. There are Libertarians all over the place at CSU! We're not as rare as you might think...

If you're just checking us out for the first time, come to our organizational meeting tomorrow (September 1) at 5 p.m. under Newton's Corner (That's the big metal sculpture near the Chemistry Building and Yates Hall). We plan on approving a draft constitution for the group and electing a couple of officers so that we can become official with the university -- and that will means a regular meeting room and time before long!

Some pictures from today's event:


Tony talking over the quiz with a student.


Samantha and Seth showing off the booth. (Materials thanks to the Larimer County LP.)

We had a successful first meeting of the year today; four CSU libertarians gathered under Newton's Corner and discussed our goals for the coming weeks as we organize into an official student organization and as we do real activism and politics here on campus this coming year.

Our big priorities are:

• Manning the LPCSU booth at next weeks' Centertainment organization fair. Even if you didn't make it to the meeting, you're still welcome to come out and help man the booth anytime between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.


• Officially registering as a student organization. This is particularly important so that we can reserve a regular meeting place and time. It requires, among other things (CSU likes restricting the free association of students):
  • four student members (check!)
  • a written constitution (currently being discussed on our mailing list)
  • and elected officers (one of the goals for next week's meeting).

So stop by our booth next week - Centertainment will be in the Lory Student Center plaza - and come to what will probably be our first official meeting - Thursday, September 1, at 5 p.m., undeneath Newton's Corner (the metal sculpture outside the Chemistry building, pictured right).

... is in jeopardy. The Fort Collins City Council will be discussing options for a new "unrelated persons" ordinance at this Tuesday's work session. The versions currently under consideration would make criminals out of thousands of students and community members simply for living in a rented house with three other people. This is discrimination against students, a violation of the property rights of landlords -- and punishing many because of the irresponsibility of a few makes no sense. On top of that, it won't do a thing about the percieved "problem" of irresponsible students. If anything, it'll send rental prices higher for students and mean that even more students will be going in search of rental housing.

It's a bad idea on many fronts, and the LPCSU is standing beside the ASCSU in their effort to get this new ordinance rejected.

But we don't have much time -- many of the discussions on this issue have been taking place over the summer while most students were out of town. One of our last opportunities to influence this process is this Tuesday, August 23, at 6:30 p.m. Come to City Hall (LaPorte and Howes Streets, 7 blocks north of the CSU Oval) wearing CSU gear or green and gold to show your support for rejecting "three unrelated."

This evening, we postered a decent section of the CSU central campus, from Clark over to the Oval. The flyer is also available for download (pdf) in case you want to cover anywhere that we've missed.

There are two opportunities coming up at the beginning of the semester to help spread the word about the LP at CSU:

First and foremost will be our booth at the Centertainment organizational fair on Wednesday, August 31 - that's the second week of classes. The event runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., but you can come out for just an hour in between classes, or for the whole day if you're free. Let us know when you can make it...

Even if you can't make that, there's also the New West Fest in downtown Fort Collins, on Saturday and Sunday, August 20 and 21. The Larimer County LP will be manning a booth and all volunteers are welcome. This is a great chance to get to know some non-campus local Libertarians. If you can volunteer for a 3-hour shift at 9, 12 or 3 on either day, let us know, too... (contact information is on the sidebar at the left).