Thirty Hillsdale students attended the Young Americans for Freedom Regional Conference titled “A Time for Choosing” in Grand Rapids, Mich., last weekend. YAF President Nathan Brand said it helped that the conference was close to Hillsdale.
“This is the first time we’ve had one in Grand Rapids,” Brand said. “There was one last year in Columbus,
Ohio, that a few of us went to. It’s a regional one, so it just draws regionally. This was the most
Hillsdale students we’ve had go to one so far.”
Sophomore Christy Allen said the purpose of the YAF conferences is to show conservative students how to combat liberalism on college campuses.
“It was called ‘A Time for Choosing,’ so it was about choosing how you want to market the conservative message and how to go about spreading the conservative values,” Allen said.
Attendees heard from a lineup of conservative speakers, including Allen West, Annette Kirk, Ken Cuccinelli, and Father Sirico of the Acton Institute. Freshman McLain Driver, who also attended the conference, decided Father Sirico was his favorite speaker.
“Father Sirico was absolutely brilliant,” Driver said. “He’s like a Catholic Dr. Bauman. He talked about morality and law. It’s not something you often hear from politicians. It was quite refreshing to hear.”
