‘Crowd Favorite’ Leader To Give Speech At Conservative Student Conference
YAF is hosting its annual conservative college student convention soon, and just announced a keynote speaker sure to be a crowd pleaser.
Each year, the conservative youth organization, Young America’s Foundation (YAF) welcomes college students to its annual convention in Washington D.C. There, students are greeted by familiar leadership faces all serving the group’s mission of striving for individual freedom, a free-market economy, and more. While many of the annual conference’s guest speakers and surprises are still under wraps, the organization did make note of one “crowd favorite” speaker who attendees will be pleasantly surprised to hear from; former Vice President Mike Pence.
A spokesperson for YAF spoke exclusively with the Washington Examiner to break the news on this keynote speaker. Likewise, they noted the group will make a formal announcement regarding Mike Pence’s appearance with more details on Monday, June 13th. As a returning speaker and favorite among young conservatives, the organization is sure his presence will be warmly welcomed by the college students planning to attend.
This year marks the 44th annual national conservative convention for YAF in Washington, DC. The group has been promoting conservative values for young Americans on college campuses for over five decades. Formed in 1960, YAF grew and was eventually established by a group of conservative college students at Vanderbilt University in 1969. The group’s motto was to foster a welcoming and familiar atmosphere for students sharing similar beliefs on campuses, especially considering the perpetual growing rate at which colleges have been known to promote ideologies of liberals.
YAF’s mission statement is straightforward. They strive to make sure that America’s youth is given the means to possess knowledge and ideas of individual freedom, strong national defense, free enterprise, and traditional American values. The upcoming national conference will once again resonate with these values and traditions. Students will hear from various policy leaders, authors, and activists covering a wide exhibition of these values. Furthermore, a major purpose of the convention is to empower conservative students to feel that they can speak up for their ideologies on college campuses.
Free speech is a major point for possible Republican 2024 presidential candidate Mike Pence. In fact, he was nearly prohibited from giving a speech he had planned at Stanford University earlier this year when a group of liberal students in government at the prestigious school attempted to prevent the event from happening, refusing to release funding for the event. Mike Pence won’t be the only free speech and Republican value speaker that students can look forward to seeing this year at the YAF annual event. Former Secretary of Education and school choice advocate Betsy Devos will also be in attendance, as will Congressmen Dan Crenshaw, Chip Roy, and Mike Gallagher. Other names have been announced, and more are promised to be added.
Mike Pence’s keynote speech announcement for YAF couldn’t have come at a more needed time for young conservatives on campuses across America. A recent study found that more students than ever feel that free speech is being prohibited on college campuses throughout the nation. Additionally, there are more and more news publications depicting the growing sense that colleges are promoting liberal beliefs at a growing rate, and stifling conservative students from expressing their viewpoints.
