University of Kentucky Young Democratic Socialists

University of Kentucky Young Democratic Socialists s a Kentucky affiliate of Young Democratic Socialists of America.

Re-founding

In 2021, new political group has made its way to the University of Kentucky. The Young Democratic Socialists of America , has been organized by several UK students.

DSA already has a chapter in Lexington, but this is the first time a YDSA chapter has successfully formed at the University of Kentucky.

“There is no left-wing voice on campus, whatsoever” said YDSA co-founder and sophomore at UK, Luke Ison.

The initial group at UK consisted of sixteen dues-paying members with around 50-65 affiliates and persons interested, with those numbers steadily growing. The group is being promoted in a variety of ways on campus and online through flyers, word-of-mouth and social media.

“We want to give people a little direction and say ‘you are valued in ways that society doesn’t tell you’” Thomas Priest said, who is a YDSA member and junior at UK.

Their early stages included forming a constitution and being recognized by the national YDSA as an official chapter. They had a few interest meetings for dues-paying members before scheduling the first official meeting for everyone.

“Our goal is not to be a leftist book club or a generic service organization” Logan Kuegel, YDSA co-founder and UK sophomore continued. “We want to be actively socialist and empower the community.”

YDSA held their officer elections a few weeks ago, after dissolving the organizing committee, which includes two co-chairs, a vice chair, secretary and treasurer. Committees in the group focus on issues such as political education, labor and housing.

The group has already been involved in a number of projects around Lexington with several other leftist organizations, such as the Lexington Housing & Justice Collective. The Lexington Tenants Union is one group that YDSA works closely with to help all home renters, including students, receive fair treatment around the city.

Other missions of the group include opening a conversation with the UK Black Student Union to discuss issues such as police brutality and inequality in the United States. This also includes dialogue and organizing protests with the UK United Campus Workers (UCW).^[1]