Students for Liberty Award Winners

One of the highlights of the SFL International Conference was the awards presentation on Friday night. I was actually one of the students nominated for the “Student of the Year” award – in part because of LibertarianChristians.com – but I didn’t win. Nevertheless, just to be included in a group of students such as these was a great honor in and of itself. The other two awards were for “Student Group of the Year” and “Event of the Year.” Here are all the award winners this year with their descriptions from the SFL website. There is much we can learn from the passion of these students!

Student of the Year: Liya Pagashavili

Over the past year Liya has distinguished herself through her prolific writing and organizing on behalf of liberty.  Not only is she a strong leader of liberty, but a strong leader in her general university community as well, participating in her school’s debate team, honors society,  and resident advisor program.  She has been active on campus by hosting events and distributing pro-liberty materials as well as nationally by publishing op-eds and even joining Students For Liberty in a debate against Students for a Democratic Society. Some of her many accomplishments include publishing op-eds in a variety of outlets, interning at the Institute for Humane Studies, and helping lead the GMU Economics Society.

Liya is a wonderful person and I am proud to have had the opportunity to get to know her during the International Conference.

Group of the Year: Drexel University Student Liberty Front

The Drexel Student Liberty Front has taken over the political scene at their school.  Few other groups can match the quantity or quality of their events and activism for liberty.

In the past year the Drexel Student Liberty Front has hosted a wide array speaking events.  Last spring they held an event featuring both Cato Institute Vice President David Boaz and John Stossel.  This fall they held a number of events such as a Tenth Amendment Event featuring PA State Representative Sam Rohrer and economist Thomas Dilorenzo, a Police Militarization event featuring Reason’s Radly Balko, and a debate on “Minarchy v. Anarchy” featuring former LP Presidential Candidate Michael Badnarik and Freedomain Radio’s Stephan Molyneux.

The Student Liberty Front also hosted a number of entertainment events to promote liberty.  These included a SLF Barbecue, a “V for Vendetta” movie screening, and a “Free Philly” concert.

Perhaps their most defining characteristic is their activism.  To open the semester they hosted an event packed Students Rights Week which included: numerous tabling events where they passed out Cato Pocket Constitutions, speaker events with FIRE experts, and even brought in a Philadelphia Public Defenders Office representative.  But they do not limit their activism to their own campus, participating in many community activism events such as the Philadelphia End the Fed Rally.

These accomplishments themselves might be enough to qualify the Drexel SLF for a nomination for group of the year.  However, in a just over a 1 week span they held two events which make them truly stand out.  On October 28th the Drexel Student Liberty Front hosted a special student-focused edition of Judge Napolitano’s Freedom Watch.  The event was held in the lobby of the Main Building of Drexel University and featured special guests such as Stacy Litz and Pericles Niarchos of the Drexel Student Liberty Front, Aaron Moyer of the Philadelphia Forum for Freedom, Alexander McCobin of Student For Liberty, Jeff Frazee of Young Americans for Liberty, and Irena Schneider of the AU SFL.

Then, just over a week later, the Drexel SLF hosted the 2009 Mid-Atlantic Students For Liberty Conference, which claimed the largest attendance of any Regional Conference this fall.  It is truly impressive what they have been able to accomplish in the two years since their founding.

Event of the Year: Ron Paul at Wake Forest

Today’s Event of the Year profile is of Ron Paul’s first ever on campus Young Americans for Liberty Event.  On April 20th, 2009 the Wake Forest University Young Americans for Liberty filled Wait Chapel, the largest auditorium on campus, for the good doctor’s speech.  They did a fantastic job of promoting the event, using a creative flyer campaign and local media to get the word out.  They even slipped handouts under every dorm room door on campus.

The event was covered by local media outlets such as the Winston-Salem Journal and YES! Weekly.  Perhaps the most impressive fact is that they drew over 1300 attendees at a school of only 4400 students.  The line to get in wrapped all the way around the quad.  To top it off, the group made a video documentary of the whole process which tells the story much better than I can.

Congratulations from LibertarianChristians.com to all of these esteemed young men and women for their dedication to the cause of liberty!

UPDATE: The official SFL post is now live.

Norman Horn

Norman is the founder and editor of LibertarianChristians.com. He holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin and a Master of Arts in Theological Studies from the Austin Graduate School of Theology.

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