The program also has followed the principle of cooperating with other conservative campus groups. An early CLP focus is incorporating campus units as Sect. This gives our new groups a permanent structure and the opportunity immediately to attract local donations, says Alex Kauffman, a national CLP coordinator. The nonprofit status also ensures that any new chapter will stay nonpartisan. It won t make endorsements of national or local candidates but will stay focused on campus issues.
Incorporation usually is followed by formation of a conservative campus newspaper.
It also gives practical training in newspaper publishing and writing to would-be campus journalists. Without the CLP s training and financial support, we could never have gotten off the ground at Villanova, says Chris Lilik, a junior who started the first conservative paper at the Philadelphia university a year ago. The CLP s success in establishing new campus groups suggests Blackwell s plan is succeeding. We ve been at it just four years, Labert says. In that time, we have created 204 campus groups in 37 states.