1 minute read
New Student Clubs Aim to Take Action on Campus
By SERIAH SARGENTON Staff Writer
Advertisement
Two new student clubs have formed on the College of Saint Rose campus. With the political sphere in complete and utter chaos, the founders believe activism on campus is exactly what the student body needs.
As the era of President Trump begins, political activism has taken off on college campuses across the nation. The Saint Rose chapter of Young Americans for Liberty (YAL) as well as the Saint Rose College Democrats are the newest additions to the growing trend.
The YAL chapter was formally started on campus in September 2016 by seniors Matt Pietrykowski and Brian Tomek with sophomore Dan Sanchez, but the chapter was first created the previous June by Pietrykowski. He was contacted by northeast regional director John Goodnight through Facebook after Goodnight saw that Pietrykowski liked pro-libertarian pages such as Ron Paul, Gary Johnson and Rand Paul.
Pietrykowski was inspired by the Facebook arguments he witnessed between the Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton supporters, and the Ted Cruz and Donald Trump supporters. He saw that some people were making educated arguments while others were getting emotional over the topic. He wanted to make a change and bring another side to the story.
During his sophomore year at Arlington High School, Sanchez grew an interest in the idea of liberty so he researched former U.S Representative Ron Paul and his 2012 movement. Since then, Sanchez has felt that the ideology made sense, and decided that when he came to Saint Rose he would join the Young Americans for Liberty. Unfortunately, there was no YAL chapter on campus when he first arrived.
Once Tomek heard about an organization such as YAL, which spreads the message of individual liberty on college campuses, he jumped at the opportunity. Tomek hopes that different groups of people on campus with opposing viewpoints can find common ground and work together on activism projects which are important to both sides.
YAL is one of the largest, most active, and fastest grow-
