YCSU seeks speakers with corporate attack plan

In an attempt to increase Yale's prominence nationally and bring high-profile speakers to campus, Matthew Rothman, BR '00, and Marc Lindemann, SY '98, established the Yale College Student Union (YCSU) on
Wed., Jan 14.

JULIA TIERNAN/YH The new YCSU hopes its business-like approach will result in prominent guest speakers.

The YCSU joins a glut of other organizations--the Yale Political Union (YPU), the Yale Black Political Forum (YBPF), and the now-disbanded Yale Conservative Forum (YCF)--who in recent years have focused on bringing an increasing number of national figures to campus for lectures, talks, and forums. While the YPU enjoys relatively widespread name-recognition and strong alumni support, the YCSU must overcome the obstacles which sank the YCF--namely, a lack of student interest and an inability to secure sufficient funding to bring in high-profile speakers, many of whom demand equally high speaker's fees.

According to Rothman and Lindemann, the key to the YCSU's success will be a stable, corporate-style organizational stucture and a more business-like approach to attracting speakers than is currently displayed by its competitiors.

Fundamental to the YCSU's corporate-style operation is an executive board and a board of project directors, whose members will serve a full year in office. The term, longer than the one-semester terms used by the YPU, is designed to provide the continuity necessary in the long-term planning often required to bring busy leaders and scholars to campus. "Our officers have the incentive to meet the needs of the guests we want to bring to campus," Rothman said.

The YCSU also plans to involve faculty and alumni on a regular basis. The group has formed a board of governors which claims among its members Branford Master Steven Smith, D. Allan Bromley, dean of engineering, and Stephen Trachtenburg, LAW '62, president of George Washington University.

All of the organization the YCSU musters will be of little use if the group cannot leap the biggest hurdle facing a young undergraduate organization: funding. Organizations such as the YPU and the YCSU traditionally rely on membership dues, but the YCSU hopes to use an approach that will be familiar to parents in high school booster clubs across America. The group plans to sell advertising space to corporations and local businesses in handbills which will be distributed to the audience members at each event sponsored by the group. The leadership of the YCSU also hopes to attract corporate sponsors for events and is working to secure other sources of revenue. "We are not worried about getting the funds," Rothman said. In the meantime, Lindemann reported that the organization's officers have donated money to cover some of the cost of the first guest."

Despite the confidence of the YCSU's enthusiastic founders, the leadership of other, more established, organizations had sobering concerns about the viability of raising enough money to bring high-profile speakers to campus. "Oftentimes, we resort to our own minute funds [when funding is scarce]," James Perkins, ES '00, vice-president of the executive board of the YBPF said.

Laura Moranchek, PC '98, former speaker of the YPU was skeptical that the group could gather the monies needed to bring in top-bill speakers. "The odds of landing more prominent people [than currently come to campus] are slim.... That would require a huge endowment," she said. In addition to the challenges of leadership and fundraising, the YCSU may find itself in competition with other campus groups for a small number of available speakers.

"Smaller, younger organizations have a harder time than more established ones. Alumni play an incredible role, particularly in groups where the central focus is on getting speakers," David McMillan, JE '00, YBPF correspondence secretary, said. Veronica Tucci, SY '98, shared the same concern and wondered how the increased competition would impact Yale's oldest such forum, the YPU. "The nature of the YCSU would be competition... [although] the stated intent is not to undermine the PU."

Despite the numerous challeneges, Rothman believes the YCSU will be more than able to hold its own. "The bottom line is that high-profile speakers require 12 to 18 months to schedule themselves and our organization shall accomodate their needs," he said. To this end, the YCSU is currently drafting letters to over 90 potential speakers for next fall and the following spring. According to Rothman, the recipients of the letters range from political leaders, to academics, to sports figures.

"We will not compromise on the prominence of our guests," Rothman said. "Our product will sell itself."

Robert Huelin contributed to this story.

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