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Campus Leftists and their acolytes will use every trick imaginable to oppose overt, active pro-freedom groups on campus. The latest instalment of the Young Britons’ Foundation bible ‘Every Monday Matters‘ has some tips for how, if all else fails, you can still form pro-freedom/conservative societies on your campus in all but name. Remember, you never fight alone – YBF is always available to offer activists help, support and legal advice – just ask!
1. If party political societies are banned, form a Hayek Society or a Friedman Society to discuss economics. If your university has an economics or politics department, so much the easier.
2. Set up a Freedom Association branch, a libertarian society or an Adam Smith club. It will not be party political. For while many of the principles of the Freedom Association, say, may be shared by the Conservative Party, the Freedom Association is only too happy to say where it believes our freedoms are being infringed – whichever party is in government!
3. Set up or take over a debating society. If universities are to be places of intellectual enquiry then debates are surely a pre-requisite.
4. Set up a Hansard Society, a political club or a Law Reform Society open to all those interested in political discourse. This is easier if you have a politics department or a law faculty.
5. Set up a sports or social club such as tiddlywinks, beer tasting, frisbee or yodelling – whatever it is, it doesn’t matter. At the end of the day your goal is to show up your illiberal students’ union or university as being ridiculous in its attempts to deny you the right of peaceful assembly. If the beer tasting society simply happens to be full of libertarians who act just as a libertarian society ordinarily would do then what a remarkable coincidence!
If you ever encounter difficulties at your university with the students’ union or your university authorities as a result of your political activities or beliefs, contact YBF at info@ybf.org.uk immediately.
With the end of the Lent Term and the arrival of the Easter holidays, some well-earned downtime is approaching. The Young Britons’ Foundation’s latest tip has some suggestions for how to make the most of the Easter break and steal a march on your campus rivals:
1. Plan for a Summer Ball or Party
2. Plan ahead for next academic year
3. Sort out your admin
4. Focus on the elections
5. Work on campaigns
YBF’s latest advise calls on students not to be afraid to hold their student organisations to account – ask questions, and demand answers.
Start with the National Union of Students. Ask how much your students’ union has paid to the NUS in the past decade, on what dates and when each year’s decision to pay that money was made and by whom.
Then look at Clubs & Societies, particularly political and cultural societies. Ask how much has been given in the way of grants to all political and cultural societies in the past decade. For example, has the local Hayek Society been unfairly treated in comparison to the campus Green Society even though the Hayek Society has 50 members and the Greens only a dozen? Does the Islamic Society get more or less than the Christian Union? Or the Palestinian Society more than the Israel Society?
Then move onto Sports Clubs, key allies of conservative activists on campus across the country and whose budgets are often cut in favour of left-wing hobby horses and pet projects. In the past decade have grants to the men’s and women’s rugby, cricket, hockey or football clubs been cut? Pledging to increase their funding is usually a sure fire way of ensuring their support in students’ union elections but as fiscal conservatives remember that you will need to make savings elsewhere in the budget.
Look at the Staff of your students’ union, some of whom will revel in Whitehall-style titles such as Permanent Secretary. They are normally your employees, not those of the university. They are accountable to you. If they fail to perform their tasks properly then, subject to the country’s onerous employment laws, they can be sacked. How much are they paid? What other perks – such as pensions, private healthcare, car and other expenses – do they get? Has the budget for their pay and perks increased in the past decade?
Another area that is full of waste is the Conferences budget. It’s the same in local government too. How many of your fellow students have attended external conferences such as the NUS Conference in the past decade? Who went and why? How much did it cost to send them to those conferences – including registration fees, travel, accommodation and subsistence?
At a time of recession, when millions are worried about losing their jobs and homes, conservatives everywhere need to follow the lead of the TaxPayers’ Alliance in exposing waste. With your help, the Young Britons’ Foundation can do this on your campus. Now get asking!
YBF’s latest tip turns on Morton Blackwell’s 22nd Law of the Public Policy Process: Never miss a political meeting if you think there’s the slightest chance you’ll wish you’d been there.
Politics is a bug. Once you catch the bug, it is rare a cure can be found. Even repeated electoral disasters cannot cure you of the disease (Ted Heath kept losing general elections but he was convinced he could have won in the late 1970s).
There will be times when you will wish you attended an event that you chose not to attend. Something else will have cropped up at work or in your personal life. You will have a diary clash, you won’t be able to afford to go or on a particular day you will decide you just cannot be bothered to go to whatever event it is.
And then you will discover that the event was truly memorable in some way and you will regret, sometimes to your dying day, that you didn’t go.
Continue reading the latest instalment – and apply for this year’s MUST ATTEND events – over at YBF.
In today’s hectic multimedia age, it is easy only to spend time reading blogs, websites or newspapers with whom you are in agreement. That is a very dangerous course for the conservative activist to take. It is imperative to be as well read as possible – not just so that you know what your opponents are up to but also to get you sufficiently angry and motivated that you remember why it is you do what you do.
That said, time is tight. I would therefore recommend the following ten online resources to bookmark and check either daily or at least once or twice a week. Just hold your nose as you read them..!
Head over to YBF for the reading list of enemy lies and propaganda.
In a past instalment YBF explained that the Education Act 1994 contains a number of provisions that too few universities and students’ unions uphold – and how to make sure yours are observing their duties under the Act.
In the latest instalment of Every Monday Matters YBF return to the same Act with further important highlights which your Union may be breaching – so hold them to account:
Section 22(2)(a) of the Act requires your students’ union to have a written constitution. Does yours? Have you obtained a copy? Have you (or a law student in your group) read it thoroughly to ensure you know what the standing orders are for meetings?
Section 22(2)(b) requires that that constitution has been approved by the university every five years. When was your students’ union constitution last approved by the university, if at all?
Students have the right not to be members of the students’ union thanks to section 22(2)(c) of the Act. Those of us involved at the time the Act was passed were disappointed that the law provided for an opt-out rather than an opt-in but this is a start. Were you told you could opt-out? Were you told that if you did you would not suffer adversely in terms of access to the students’ union’s services?
Your right to opt-out is required to be brought to your attention at least once a year by the university (section 22(5) of the Act). Was that right drawn to your attention or not?
Section 22(2)(m) of the Act provides that there should be a complaints procedure in place regarding your students’ union’s activities. Frequently students’ unions will act in ways that merit complaints being made. Have you obtained and read a copy of your students’ union’s complaints procedure?
The Act also provides for the publication of a code of practice to ensure compliance with the law (section 22(3)). That code of practice is required to be brought to students’ attention by the university at least once a year (section 22(4)). Has your university published its code of practice? Have you read it?
Asking these questions of your students’ union and university – by reference to the provisions in the Education Act 1994 – is a simple step to take in holding the students’ union and your university to account. You can make those requests for information in a firm and yet non-confrontational way. Not only can you but you must. For if you will not hold your students’ union and university to account, who will?
If you encounter any difficulties with your students’ union or university, you should immediately contact YBF Chief Executive Donal Blaney at donal@ybf.org.uk.
Be sure to read the whole of this instalment at YBF’s blog – today!
Much of the work done by conservative activists of all ages is far too inward-looking and parochial. As a result it is far from welcoming to potential new members.
When you are set to welcome new members at a recruitment stall or even a social, fundraising or speaker event, you must eschew the temptation to give vent to the many (perhaps justified) frustrations from which you may be suffering. It is a profoundly unattractive trait of conservatives (and, to be fair, the English in general!) to moan rather than to exhibit the welcoming and optimistic approach of Americans or Irish. It is only when considering the inherent truth of this that you realise the accuracy of Australians branding us as whinging poms!
When welcoming new members – or prospective new members – it is imperative that those individuals, whatever their age, are embraced into the conservative movement with enthusiasm. If people are made to feel welcome, they are more likely to get involved and to stay involved.
When I first joined the Conservative Party, I went to YC events. These were great fun. The booze flowed, debate took place, policies were discussed and your presence was welcomed. By contrast the senior constituency associations that I joined were thoroughly unwelcoming – and this is a problem that continues today in too many parts of the country. Is it any surprise that there are too few young activists if they are treated like slave labour?
This week why not give your activists a treat. On Wednesday 11 March, YBF is hosting a parliamentary rally from 2pm at the House of Commons. The rally is being addressed by, among others, Michael Gove, Ann Widdecombe, John Redwood, Greg Hands and a host of leaders of the wider conservative movement itself. The YBF rally, which is free of charge but where spaces are allocated on a first come, first served basis by emailing christian@ybf.org.uk, is a great event to reward your best activists and to showcase the spectrum of conservative views and talent to your newer members (many of whom may not have ever been to Parliament before).
Make events fun – that is the lesson for this week. What we are doing as conservative activists is of the utmost importance for the future of our nation. But we can do it with humour too!
The Leadership Institute, on whose work the Young Britons’ Foundation is based, has as the basis for its training workshops the principle that “being right is not enough”. There is no point being correct on the issues of the day (be it Europe, hunting, taxes, crime or whatever) if you cannot communicate your viewpoint effectively and persuade others to follow or agree with you.
Barry Goldwater was right in 1964 but he lost in the then largest ever landslide to President Johnson. By contrast Ronald Reagan demolished both Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale in 1980 and 1984. He had the same views as Barry Goldwater but, through his sunny demeanour and ability to communicate to Americans, he was able to win and to win well.
While it is rare for younger activists to get exposure to local and national broadcast media (although there are, of course, exceptions), it is much easier for young conservatives to spread the word in written form. Many do so by blogging. Some writes letters to the editor of their student, local or national newspapers. But often the best way to persuade is by writing considered pieces in, for example, the student newspaper. A feature on, for example, a conference or speech you recently attended or discussing a particularly newsworthy event or policy issue is a great way to persuade others. It is also very good practice.
It is likely that your student newspaper will not have a conservative viewpoint. Offer to write a piece. If the editorial team turns you down, write a letter to the editor for publication (which letter is, of course, essentially just a shortened version of an article in any event). If you still cannot get published, maybe it might be time to consider setting up your own campus publication – be it online or in print. Get writing!
See this latest edition of Every Monday Matters in full at YBF’s blog.
What is the point in being an activist if nobody knows what you are doing? There you are, slogging your guts out while earning a degree or keeping a roof over your head, to promote the cause of conservatism. Rarely do you receive any thanks from your colleagues or peers. All too often you waste hours of your time organising meetings, recruiting members, canvassing or delivering literature – and nobody even has the decency to say “thank you” – and to mean it.
Whose fault is that? Well, in part it is your fault. How come? Because you don’t tell enough people often enough quite what it is that you have done. You fail to blow your own trumpet.
To encourage activists to share what they are doing with fellow conservatives throughout the country, YBF launched its Grand Committee. This points-based reward scheme, based on the Young America’s Foundation Club 100, sees points awarded for particular pieces of activism such as securing press coverage, overturning a ban on the military on campus, organising a speaker event and so on. Your activism is then communicated to MPs, MEPs, Peers and the hundreds of supporters YBF has, thereby bringing your hard work to the attention of those who matter and who would otherwise not have the slightest idea what you are up to.
Come on now: don’t be shy!
This week’s Every Monday Matters guides the activist through all the steps necessary to hold a first-rate speaker event on your campus.
Introducing activists and students to the ideas of the conservative movement is one of the most important things you can do, so do it right and do it often!
The Young America’s Foundation has a superb panel of conservative speakers that it sends out to schools, colleges and universities across the United States. The Young Britons’ Foundation has a similarly sound group of speakers who are willing to speak on a variety of topics at educational establishments throughout the United Kingdom such as:
- Rt Hon David Davis MP – Freedom, Civil Liberties, ID Cards, CCTV, Europe, Law & Order, Conservatism;
- Matthew Elliott – Tax, Freedom, Government Waste, Europe;
- Guido Fawkes – Blogging, New Media, Freedom;
- Frederick Forsyth CBE – Europe, Military Covenant;
- Michael Gove MP – Education, Conservatism;
- Daniel Hannan MEP – Europe, Localism, Direct Democracy;
- Douglas Murray – Jihad, Islamism, Israel, War on Terror, Neo-Conservatism;
- Rt Hon John Redwood MP – Freedom, Tax, Europe;
- Antony Worrall Thompson – Freedom, Smoking, Choice;
- and many, many more…
All of these speakers are available to conservative students throughout the United Kingdom.
So how do you go about getting a great speaker to your campus? Here are 10 steps that a committed activist should follow in organising a great speaker event.
1. Book the speaker
2. Book a suitable room
3. Book security
4. Publicise your event
5. Engage the student media
6. Engage the local media
7. Record and upload the event
8. Hold a media-friendly stunt
9. Sign people up
10. Say thank you
This points are fully expanded upon in the full post over at YBF.
If you would like the Young Britons’ Foundation to help bring a conservative speaker to your school, college or university, please contact Christian May, YBF Director of Operations, at christian@ybf.org.uk or call (01732) 525922.
