the liberal party // yale university // since 1934
The Libs are a
bunch of friends--mostly Yale undergraduates, but we welcome graduate students,
all members of the university community, New Haven residents, visitors,
whatever--who share a common interest in leftist political and social views.
However, we don't agree on everything: the Liberal Party represents all of the
ideological diversity of the left and thrives on the differences in opinion
among its members. The party is maintained by a group of six members called the
executive board that plans events and keeps things running (relatively)
smoothly. You can learn about the e-board at section two of this website.
What
do we do? First, the Liberal Party is a discussion group. We gather about once
a week to debate an issue that divides the left. Recent topics have included:
--> Capitalism oppresses the Third World.
--> John Kerry is a douche bag, but I'm voting for him anyway.
--> Money is free speech.
--> The environment is more important than the economy.
--> "Art for art's sake" isn't good enough.
Three
or four weeks a semester, however, we do not hold a debate and instead invite a
faculty member or other distinguished guest to dinner as part of the Jonathan
Brewster Bingham Forum. Named in honor of the party's first chairman, the JBB
strives to expose Libs to significant and often neglected issues, to raise
questions about the state of the world and the left's role in it, and to forge
new student-faculty relationships. Recent guests have been:
--> Lisa Barrett, Yale alum and Teach for America participant, on inequality
in public schools.
--> Seth Silberman, on queer theory.
--> David Graeber, on consensus government models in Madagascar.
The
Liberal Party is also (some say regrettably) a member of the Yale Political
Union, the undergraduate political debate society. You can read more about the
YPU in section five of this website.
Second,
the Libs act on their beliefs. Our community secretary (or, in fairly witty
shorthand, the commie sec) keeps the membership abreast of campus activism and
service opportunities; he works in tandem with Dwight Hall, Yale's community
service organization collective, and with associations in New Haven to get Libs
involved in the local community.
Finally--and
in some sense primarily--the Libs are a social organization. We eat dinner
together once a week, we visit New York once a semester, and we host the
ever-popular Liberal Party Parties. Party events are a great way to meet campus
activists and nifty people in general.
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last updated 18.12.2004