The right finds a niche on campus; campus conservatives are finding increasing success in spreading their message, thanks in large part to better funding and the support of student-outreach groups

0 Comments | Insight on the News, Sept 9, 2002 | by Daniel George

Are today's college students eager to shed the values and ways of life they've learned from parents they haven't listened to for years ... ever leftward leaning, sexually promiscuous and living the Playboy life in dorms shared by both sexes?

Not the average American college student, not by a long shot. Seated in a packed convention hall at George Washington University in the nation's capital this summer, 300 clean-cut and conservatively dressed young men and women talked politics, then went silent as all heads bowed in prayer before dining. During the week, this picture repeated itself as college students from around the country listened politely to prominent speakers who did not once blame the United States for the world's woes. Indeed, these speakers championed the virtues of Judeo-Christian heritage, urged conservative activism and spoke of the importance of public service.

This was the annual convention of Young America's Foundation (YAF), but it was no isolated event. Conservative students all across the country these days are more and more assertive in voicing their political convictions, drawn together in opposition to liberal campus orthodoxies that now seem as archaic as Trotskyism and the Flat Earth Society.

"There's definitely an active presence of conservative groups on campus. They are well-financed, vocal and finding creative ways to express their views," Scott Jaschik, an editor at the Chronicle of Higher Education, tells INSIGHT. "It's been going on for some time now."

The conventioneers quickly confirm Jaschik's observations.

As Washington sees such things, say professional organizers, a movement only is as strong as its coffers are full. While activists may debate what constitutes a "full" treasury--more funds always being useful--these campus conservatives have by many accounts become increasingly effective at spreading their message. And this effectiveness has in large part been made possible because of the backing of such conservative outreach groups as YAF, the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) and the Leadership Institute, to name but a few.

These conservative groups tell INSIGHT they have experienced record financial support during recent years, a trend that parallels an upsurge in private donations by political conservatives generally. In the case of YAF, total revenues and expenditures more than doubled during the five-year period from 1996-2001, according to its IRS filings.

The increased funding comes at a time when conservatives nationwide increasingly are emphasizing outreach to young people. Dinesh D'Souza, a conservative activist who is author of the best-selling new book What's So Great About America [see "How the West Became No. 1," Sept. 2], says, "There is an increased awareness among Republicans and conservatives about shaping the minds of young people at an early age."

D'Souza says he sees two reasons for increased funding for campus conservatives. One is a new awareness among donors on the right that their individual donations go further in student organizations and have greater long-term influence than do donations for party functions or elections.

But perhaps a more significant cause of the surge in interest about campus conservatism, says D'Souza, whose next book will be Letters to a Young Conservative, has been "the public critique of political correctness [PC] during the nineties."

That critique has made American conservatives very aware of the "horror stories of liberal academe," he says, and caused them to realize how important it is to encourage student and faculty conservatives at U.S. colleges and universities.

It wasn't just the excesses of the PC crowd in the 1990s, however. Older conservatives long have been concerned about the failure of many of the nation's colleges and universities to offer courses that deal with the ideas of limited government, free-market economics and the origin and nature of individual rights.

According to the Chronicle's Jaschik, this failure to teach courses of interest to conservatives--or even to make the debates and principles of the Federalist Papers and the Constitutional Convention a part of the college experience--also has played a big role in encouraging donations for campus-conservative activism.

Ron Robinson, YAF president, finds the growth in both support and activism a step in the right direction. "I'm encouraged by it," he tells INSIGHT.

YAF calls itself "the principal outreach organization of the conservative movement," and Robinson is quick to supply information that suggests this isn't an idle boast. According to its most recent IRS Form 990 filing, YAF's expenditures for 2000 exceeded $9.33 million, with close to 90 percent coming from donations. These figures represent nearly a three-fold increase in spending, and a four-fold increase in donations, since 1996. According to Robinson, YAF raised $50 million in the nineties and expects to raise more than $200 million this decade.

In 2000, YAF allotted roughly 84 percent of its operating budget for programs designed to reach young people. Such funds are used to defray student expenses for conferences, lectures, publications, press releases and internships--a broad array of conservative activities.