One Conversation at a Time

This week we were back on campus talking to hundreds of students at the University of Auckland.

By the end of day today (Wednesday), nearly 300 students have signed up for our updates or followed us on social media, taking us to more than 1,000 student supporters at the University of Auckland alone.

We love getting out and talking to students. It's funny, informative, and a nice change of scenery from the office. But more than that, it's an opportunity to get a real feel for the issues students care about, the culture they're being educated in, and how much room there really is for disagreement and debate on campus.

We're pleased to report that the overwhelming majority of students we met were more than happy to share their views, have them challenged, and engage in respectful discussion. From environmental issues and Fees Free, to transgender ideology and, of course, the Israel-Palestine conflict, we asked questions, challenged assumptions, and modelled something that's becoming increasingly rare: healthy disagreement.

Debate isn't hateful. It isn't harmful. It isn't dangerous. It's how free people test ideas.

That doesn't mean everyone was happy to see us. We were made aware of a message sent to AUSA's Instagram page warning organisers about our presence, claiming we were radicals who hated LGBTQ people and migrants. The funny thing? That individual never came to our table. They never introduced themselves, never challenged us, and never had a conversation. They stayed behind a keyboard and a locked account.

The good news is they were the exception.

Out of hundreds of conversations across the three days, everyone we met was respectful, curious, and willing to engage, even when we strongly disagreed.

In September, PILLAR turns one. Looking ahead, we have an ambitious vision for this work.

Our goal is to take these conversations nationwide, running three to four interactive campus activations every year at each of New Zealand's five major universities. We want to create spaces where debate is modelled well, difficult conversations are encouraged, future team members are identified, student leaders are equipped, and a nationwide network of young New Zealanders committed to liberty can be built.

With your support, we can make that vision a reality.

We've already started, and we have no intention of slowing down.

We're incredibly grateful to every one of you who has made this work possible. It's not digging ditches or drilling for oil, but it's honest work, and it's work we're genuinely grateful to do.

We believe in New Zealand. We believe in our future. We believe in our young people. And we believe PILLAR can make a real difference, one conversation at a time.

If you haven't already, jump over to our social media channels and check out some of the interviews and conversations we filmed throughout the week on campus. We think you'll enjoy them.