Image Credits: ABC News

College campuses are dominated by the voice of the left, and as a young conservative, you may never get the chance to hear a prominent conservative speak on your campus unless you take matters into your own hands.  If it was up to college administrators, the only voice heard on college campuses would be the voice that condemns free speech, glorifies abortion, and talks about an imaginary war on women waged by the right. If you’re tired of keynote speakers like Al Sharpton, Joe Biden, and Cecil Richards, then it is time to bring the conservative voice to campus. Here’s how you can make it happen.

Do not fret if you are not involved with the type of organization that seems the best fit to bring a conservative speaker to campus. Not every campus can have a YAF, YAL, TPUSA or CRs, but that doesn’t mean you can’t host speakers from the right side of the tracks. On most college campuses, every group is entitled to funding for your events, and those events can be whatever you make them. If you’re a pro-Israel group, host a prominent pro-Israel speaker like Michael Medved. If you’re a pro-life group, bring a big name pro-life speaker like Lila Rose. If you’re a 2nd amendment group, bring in gun loving speakers like Amanda Collins or SE Cupp. Don’t let anyone tell you that your group can’t bring a speaker just because that isn’t what you’re known for. Make it what you’re known for. If the women’s center can bring Cecil Richards, President of the nation’s leading killer of women, you can bring whomever you please.

Sure, you can bring someone who identifies as a conservative to campus, but how do you make sure your speaker event makes a splash? Well, the most obvious and clear cut answer is to bring a BIG name conservative speaker to campus. Yes, that means controversial. Speakers like Milo, Ann Coulter, and Dinesh D’Souza seem to bring the crowds with them. You can plan to have them talk on the most mundane topic, taxes, and people will still show up to protest simply because of who the speaker is. However, not every group can afford to have Ann Coulter come to campus. If you’re on a budget, you can bring a lesser known speaker to campus, but you have to market them with a controversial topic and get people to come out to the event. Events like gun control, immigration, and abortion are all hot-topic and will bring people out in droves no matter how prominent your speaker is.

I cannot stress the importance of publicizing your event and publicizing it well. The Left loves to shut down free speech, especially conservative speech, so don’t put it past them to tear down your posters or fail to advertise your event to their students and peers. Make sure that your posters are eye-catching. Black and white printing may cut costs, but it also cuts attendance. Know your campus and know that maybe Wednesday night’s at 9PM aren’t the best time to host a speaker. Pick a space that you can fill easily. No one wants to look up into a half-filled audience, a mostly empty auditorium.  Make sure your group members are prepared to ask questions to get the Q&A going and that they know how to handle it if some crazy liberal tries to steal the mic and go on a tirade.  Be sure to make a Facebook event and invite everyone you know, and some you don’t. Having a photographer and/or videographer on hand is a great chance to collect pictures for future advertisements and catch liberal idiocy on camera should it arise.

One of the biggest aspects of bringing a conservative voice to campus is the publicity, and backlash, your group is likely to get. Many administrators will try and silence your speaker, or play politics and try to stop the event through different backdoor tactics such as taking away your funding or requiring you to pay for a space of extra security. Know your rights and stand your ground. Have you attend other big name speaker events on your campus? Did they face the same kind of scrutiny your group did? Did they have to pay for their space? For extra security? Many schools and administrators will try and silence conservative speech, but you have every right to bring it to campus, so stand firm in your rights to hold the event, make sure you follow all outlined rules, but don’t let anyone walk all over you. As a student organization, even a conservative one, you have as much a right to bring a speaker as the women’s center or the Planned Parenthood Coalition or the Palestinian Protest Movement. Don’t let anyone tell you differently.

College campuses are supposed to be the place where people from all walks of life come together to learn with and from each other, but when you only hear one side of the story, it is hard to do that. Change the narrative and change your campus by bringing a conservative speaker to campus.

Aryssa D
FFL Cabinet Member