☆ Opinion: Cultivating young common-sense activists doesn't have to be like chasing rainbows
Jean-Francois Millet: Garden Scene, 1854. Image by Wikimedia Commons
22-year-old Business major Jacob Spangler is SFSU's College Republicans club president; he also holds office with the SF Republican Party/Young Republicans. In this Opp Now exclusive, Spangler analyzes what's keeping young folks from meaningful political involvement, particularly at First Amendment-tentative institutions like San Francisco State—and how local orgs can shift gears accordingly.
Opportunity Now: People in pro-free market spaces would love to see more local youth involvement. But they often aren't sure how to go about it. What's your take?
Jacob Spangler: There's definitely a drive from the older generations to see young people more involved in the Party. I'm the youngest member of the SF GOP at 22 years old, and it's a joy to be surrounded by people primarily in their 50s and 60s who respect and treat me as an equal. Besides being the SF Republican Party's executive director, I'm also the SF Young Republicans' volunteer director and am part of the Log Cabin Republicans, SF Republican Club, and CRA (California Republican Assembly's Bay Area chapter). I was the Bay Area's regional vice chair for the CA College Republicans for two years, as well. When I do events with the Party, people see me, a younger adult, and often remark, “Wow, we need more of this.”
It's great, but here's the issue: Even most die-hard conservatives, and young people in general, don't want to get involved in politics. It's not that they don't see it as valuable; they just don't enjoy it. They're not interested in going to the Central Committee meeting every month and hearing people debate PAC codes, to spend their free time waving a sign or going to a fancy dinner (even if it is paid for). Generally, young people would rather socialize and have fun.
ON: Is there a way to capitalize on that—to use this knowledge that young people may prefer social connection to “doing activism”?
JS: We think so. I may be the type who takes pleasure in going to meetings, waving signs, doing politics, but we're not the majority—even among young conservatives.
What we're working on at our College Republicans chapter is creating a community for conservative students with events that aren't necessarily political. A group with whom you can gather for a house party, do networking, go to a bar and chill. Overall, spend time with others who share your conservative-aligned ideals, but nobody's asking you to do anything.
ON: And what about those young folks who want to get involved in politics? What barriers are they facing?
JS: There will always be young conservatives who don't want to volunteer because they can't risk it. This past year at the College Republicans club, my VP and treasurer were happy to help me run events and do fundraising, but they each told me, “I can't have my name on any of this. I can't publicly attend events.” So they stuck to logistics. My VP was a major frat guy from one of the biggest fraternities on campus. He said, “There's no way anyone can know I'm a part of this.”
And for me, too, I've been “canceled” by SF State. I can't really go to parties, and I get dirty looks around campus and even local shopping centers. Once, I joined a fraternity and was halfway through the pledging process, which is already a major hurdle, and then I got called into a meeting: Apparently, a sorority girl recognized me from being involved in politics, so my frat said, “We can't risk that.”
ON: Speaking of being canceled, we'd be remiss not to mention the Riley Gaines incident earlier this year at SFSU. This controversial speaker was not merely shouted down, but she was assaulted and held for ransom by upset students. And SFSU admin's response was disappointing, to say the least.
JS: San Francisco State brags about how key activism is on campus, and they like taking credit for massive student protests. But when it's the other side of the coin, when it's conservative students who want to protest, who want to engage in activism, who desire change, it's, “No, we can't have that.” I spoke to some of the individuals who helped set up the Riley Gaines event: They wanted to host additional speakers, but SFSU wouldn't allow them. The underlying issue is that SFSU doesn't seem to support right-wing activism like they do left-wing activism.
ON: It seems our institutions aren't going to make it any easier for young common-sense conservatives to get more involved in activism.
JS: That's why local orgs like the College Republicans are so crucial. We've found that it all comes down to money, so fundraising is key. The establishment GOP wants youth involved, but there's a price. For instance, incentives like paying for gas, buying a meal, funding dinner tickets for fancy events.
ON: Then, what are some effective fundraising strategies?
JS: Here's what we do: Raise enough money off small-time donations to host an event and charge about $20/ticket. Then, use the money earned to host a dinner with a speaker, which increases the profit. Ideally, you continue hosting events and slowly ramp up how much you charge for tickets, along with the quality of speakers. It's a cycle. Eventually, you can start hosting big ticket speakers, and this kickstarts an engine that keeps running for some time.
ON: At the end of the day, what are the indicators of successful youth engagement? How does an organization, or Party, know they're doing things right?
JS: Most people measure success by image, by the saying: “Pics or it didn't happen.” If the club hosts some amazing event, we need pictures to post on social media and share with our group chat; that's how we know, and show, we're active and successful. Really, a group can't brag that they have 300 members on their roster. It's different if they pull up a picture of 300 people at an event. Now, not everyone on the roster is going to get involved, so effective outreach means expanding the general pool from which we can pull volunteers.
Also, once you reach the baseline level of having an active (and well-funded) club, you can start getting into deeper actions to measure success—like taking back important institutions. UC Irvine's College Republicans took over their student government after running a majority conservative slate. That's a really big accomplishment. Of course, winning college-level student elections isn't big in terms of the grander scheme, but it's certainly a step in the right direction.
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