Students, faculty, and staff may have noticed students petitioning in the Academic Quad lately. These students are gathering signatures to encourage Ron Paul to come to West Chester University’s campus. Ron Paul is running for President as a Republican candidate in the 2012 Election. Youth for Ron Paul (YFP) is a student organization on-campus that aims to help organize, recruit, and mobilize young individuals to effectively support the presidential candidacy of Ron Paul. Many other schools around the United States have a Youth for Ron Paul organization. The University of Kansas is the largest with about 1,600 members. The goal is to have Ron Paul speak at WCU at the end of April.
Matthew Hissey, a fourth-year Political Science major with a Latin American studies minor, founded the Youth for Ron Paul group on campus. Hissey said that he learned about Youth for Ron Paul through Facebook in December, and tried to get a chapter started at WCU right away. Even though WCU’s chapter was founded just a few weeks ago, the organization is showing success. Hissey and other Ron Paul student supporters have spent two days in the Academic Quad diligently trying to get other students involved. Youth for Ron Paul students were stationed outside of Main Hall collecting signatures on both Feb. 8 and Feb. 15, for a total of about 10 hours. For only two days of petitioning, approximately 400 students at West Chester have already signed the petition. Hissey stated that their goal is 1,000 signatures, but no specific number is required to have Ron Paul speak at WCU.
“West Chester has the largest and most active Youth for Ron Paul group in the state, so it is very likely that he will come for a visit,” Hissey said, in response to their success.
At the table outside of Main Hall, Youth for Ron Paul provided students with informational pamphlets and even provided the opportunity for unregistered voters to register to vote in this year’s election. There were two different options at the table: students can either sign up to become a member of the Youth for Ron Paul group at WCU, or just sign the petition without becoming a member.
Interested students may visit the WCU Youth for Ron Paul Facebook group for more information. Students can also visit www.ronpaul2012.com for more information about his political campaign.
Hissey and others will continue to gain support for Youth for Ron Paul, and students may contact Matthew Hissey at MH650111@wcupa.edu for more details on how to get involved.
Samantha Schaule is a third-year student majoring in communication studies. She can be reached at SS687322@wcupa.edu.