By VAUGHN COCKAYNE
BG Independent Correspondent
The BGSU Young Democratic Socialists of America is one of the newest political organizations on campus. The group’s founders, Nate Halm and Tynan Hubbell-Staeble, aim to create a new political community at BGSU.
“A big goal is to build a community for people to develop their leftist ideas. Both of us thought that in our first two years there really isn’t a place on campus for people to come and discuss political ideology,” Hubbell-Staeble, a third year philosophy major, said.
Hubbell-Staeble and Halm want the BGSU YDSA to be a new kind of student political organization, one that combines both political education and organizing.
“There are a lot of people who want to be doing the political education and the social work aspect that aren’t having that outlet met by the Republicans or Democrats,” said Halm, a third year major in politics, philosophy, economics and law.
“We’re not scary, we aren’t trying to take your rights away, that’s not what socialism is about.”
BGSU YDSA doesn’t want to limit their work to only the problems of students. The struggles of professors and faculty will also be addressed by the organization.
“We think it is important to support our professors and faculty and that they have a student voice that is looking out for them,” Halm said.
Since the left leaning policies of Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have become more popular on college campuses, so has socialism. Yet the misconceptions about socialism prove to be a problem for the YDSA.
“There’s a lot of stigma around socialism especially on college campuses where it’s seen as a taboo and controversial. But our goal is to educate people. Obviously we want different points of view but we don’t want people saying ‘oh you’re a socialist I don’t want to talk to you’,” Halm said.
One of the organizations that is politically opposed to the BGSU YDSA is Turning Point USA. A conservative non-profit that works to spread conservative messaging through college campuses. One of their most popular signs reads: “Socialism Sucks!”
“There’s a growing far right, Turning Point USA, movement as well. We wanted to create an organization to combat theirs, to create a stronger left force than there was on campus before,” Hubbell-Staeble said.
Despite this, the leaders of BGSU YDSA do not want to come across as difficult or unable to interact with opposing ideas.
“We don’t want to say: ‘Turning Point we are here to make sure you don’t exist anymore.’ That being said we are going to table next to them, we are going to want to interact with them because they are politically opposed to us. That doesn’t mean we can’t have a good discussion,” Halm said.
The meetings for BGSU YDSA are structured similarly to other political organizations on campus with discussion topics, and possibly a speaker, each week. Topics can range from Medicare to police brutality.
“We try to instill the spirit of democracy in almost every decision we make,” Halm said. “We really want to foster the spirit of disagreement and if you have one talk to us. We want there to be discussion.”
BGSU YDSA doesn’t see themselves as revolutionaries, but as just another piece of the political puzzle.
“We’re not radicals. We aren’t trying to abolish the state. We just want people to have healthcare and police that actually protect them,” Hubbell-Staeble said. “We just want people to feel safe and accepted in their community here in Bowling Green.”
