Aubrey Kenderdine
Massachusetts
SFL SUCCESS STORY:
Aubrey Kenderdine
SFL North America
Student leader removes the pepper spray ban on her campus
Aubrey (left) engaged in some free speech activism on her campus
Aubrey Kenderdine, one of our student leaders in Massachusetts, has been successful in removing the pepper spray ban on her campus, allowing students to have a means to self-defense on the campus of Northeastern University.
She says she was raised in a conservative family and always had an interest in the Constitutional vision for government. After meeting other libertarians in college, she found that ‘libertarian’ was the closest term to describing her beliefs. Aubrey discovered Students For Liberty when she attended an event while living at a co-op in New York. She says she went because, “I missed having a liberty community while away from campus.”
Soon enough, she formally became a part of Students For Liberty.
“Removing the pepper spray ban on campus had been a goal of mine for a few years.” Aubrey is a part of the student government at Northeastern and she says, “my involvement with this issue started by expressing interest to the Student Body President.” She then began attending meetings and pushing for change.
“As the lone libertarian in the room, I communicated my reasoning from a more practical angle of a technique for sexual assault prevention.” This strategy proved effective and as Aubrey says, “ultimately, everyone agreed that the ban should be removed.”
The change will officially go into effect this summer and pepper spray possession will now be encouraged as part of Freshman orientation at Northeastern. This is important because, as Aubrey points out,this policy “allows individuals to have the opportunity to defend themselves.”
Reflecting on her experience with Students For Liberty, she says, “SFL has empowered me to not only lead a chapter of like-minded liberty activists but also take on endeavors on my own to enact change.”
Aubrey noticed an infringement of liberty on her campus and acted to bring about positive change. Now, Northeastern is a freer place. We hope other students will be inspired by Aubrey’s story and fight for positive change on their campuses as well!