Campaign '04: The Right's New Wing

Custer, a blond, round-faced Californian, first attended a YAF conference in 1999, when he was still in high school. Afterward, he followed the organization's playbook to the letter. During black-history month his freshman year, for instance, he brought black libertarian Reggie Jones to campus. Barlas perfectly played her role by refusing to help fund the hip-hip promoter's speech, even though her department was paying for other black-history-month speakers. Her reasoning was that Jones "does not, from all appearances, support ... the vision that gives this month its political meanings." Custer was then able to accuse Barlas of trying to limit the scope of African-American dialogue. A campus debate was joined, and Jones (whose travel expenses were paid by YAF) drew 200 people.

The following year, Custer used a churlish ad from his sheaf of YAF samples to help create a crude flyer for a Bay Buchanan speech, also partly funded by YAF. "Feminazis Beware," the ad blared. "Your Nuremburg is coming." The campus erupted as only campuses can. Protests were held; tears were shed; one kid left the board of the Ithaca College Republicans in protest.

During Buchanan's speech, a co-president of a campus antihomophobia group became enraged when Buchanan told protesters, "You need to get a life. Get a sense of humor. Feminazi is a fun word." The student, Shelley Facente, tried to report the statement to a campus police officer as a "bias-related incident." The cop refused to take her report, citing free-speech protections, but her attempt to bring the statement before an administrative board became a national story. The college was savaged in the conservative media. Today the bias-related-incidents committee is all but defunct--"we're re-evaluating the committee," says college president Peggy Williams. The Ithaca College Republicans consider its demise one of their greatest achievements.

Is the college better off because of YAF's infusion of ideas and money? YAF has surely helped enliven the campus dialogue. But it has also helped embitter it. Custer is described even by political opponents, including Facente, as a considerate, smart kid who listens to all sides. "My goal is to get more conservatives, and I have found the best way to do that is by working with people rather than against them," he says. But did the "Feminazis" flyer accomplish that goal? "Well, no, that specific flyer did not," he admits. "But on the other hand, because of the controversy, there were 400 people there ... You try to find a balance between getting more conservatives through various discussions and just"--he pauses--"pissing people off."

As YAF and the other student-right groups fight their battle for the soul of the campus--and as liberal students respond--that balance gets harder to strike. But the next time you think your kid is leaving home to get a liberal education, think again.