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Young Americans for Liberty (YAL) said it is fighting “tyranny
and advancing the cause of liberty at schools where
constitutional rights are currently threatened.”
From circulating petitions to organizing protests, YAL said it
is determined to defend First and Second Amendment rights.
Students and faculty at U of I campuses in Champaign-Urbana,
Springfield and Chicago are required to receive the COVID-19
vaccine or submit to weekly testing, something YAL chief of
staff Sean Themea called unfair.
“They're an age demographic that is among the least likely to
have complications from getting sick, and yet they have had
their bodily autonomies stripped away with these vaccine
mandates and mask mandates,” Themea said.
The organization also plans student rights campaigns at the
University of Hartford for its vaccine mandate, Florida State
University in an effort to eliminate a pepper spray ban, and at
Southeast Missouri State University to end alcohol prohibition.
The group made headlines in 2021, when a video in support of
Kyle Rittenhouse was censored and then removed by TikTok before
ultimately being restored. According to YAL, no explanation was
given for the removal of the video beyond accusing it of
containing "illegal activities and regulated goods," likely
referring to the image of Rittenhouse carrying his gun during
civil unrest in Kenosha, Wis., in 2020.
The group is projected to represent over 5,000 student activists
at more than 500 colleges and universities around the country.
“YAL’s Student Rights Campaigns have already shown success in
their first year,” said JP Kirby, YAL’s director of Student
Rights. “We’ve got big plans for the program's second year of
action: More types of tyranny attacked, more methods to pressure
administrators, more effective activism from our students. I
feel sorry for the campus bureaucrats who are about to find
themselves facing pressure from these activists."
Kevin Bessler reports on statewide issues in
Illinois for the Center Square. He has over 30 years of
experience in radio news reporting throughout the Midwest.
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