Months after being asked to step down from leadership of College Democrats, Ethan Ilya Lipkind is changing his political focus by starting a branch of College Libertarians at Northwestern.

“I thought it would be good for Northwestern to have a Libertarian community as well, where we can expose the abnormalities and the flaws of both mainstream political views,” Lipkind said.

But there’s a small problem — that group already exists.

Weinberg senior Jason Konik, president of NU College Libertarians, said his group lost ASG recognition last year as membership declined. After no one showed up for a meeting, Associated Student Government de-recognized the group.

“Our membership was whittled down to me and me entirely,” Konik said.

Lipkind said he plans to apply for ASG recognition during the first week of Fall Quarter in hopes of qualifying for funding available to newly-created T-status groups in the next academic year.

The ASG Executive Committee has $7,000 from the Office of Student Affairs to distribute during the next academic year for new T- and B-status student groups, Executive Vice President Howie Buffett said.

Each of these groups will receive a one-time $300 grant. Leftover funds will be allocated through a grant system Spring Quarter, he said. Buffett, a Communication sophomore, added that current T- or B-status groups would not be entitled to the funding.

Former ASG Executive Vice President Bryan Tolles said because College Libertarians has existed in the past, funding would be at the discretion of the Executive Committee and also would require approval from the Center for Student Involvement. Lipkind said his group has no connection to the previous group.

“As far as I’m concerned … it’s a brand-new project with a brand-new organization and a brand-new student group,” Lipkind said.

Lipkind, who said he has already found 25 interested members, said he did not know of a College Libertarians chapter on campus but would welcome old members to join his new organization.

Libertarians champion a limited government dedicated solely to protect citizens from coercion and violence, according to Lipkind.

“It’s at times idealistic to be purely libertarian,” he said.

Though it may seem like quite the ideological leap, Lipkind said he had favored limited government even under Democrats.

Lipkind, a Weinberg sophomore, said he remains active in the Democratic Party of Evanston and the Illinois Federation of College Democrats, even though he no longer participates in NU’s branch “for their lack of respect for individual rights.”

Citing the Bush Administration’s Patriot Act, Lipkind said Republicans also are guilty of infringing on personal freedoms.

His group will focus on political discussion, Lipkind said, and he plans to hold joint events with College Democrats and College Republicans.

College Democrats President Andrew Proksel said he met with Konik on April 13 to discuss the possibilities of joint programming. As of Sunday, Konik said he had not heard of Lipkind’s attempt to restart the group.

Proksel, a Weinberg sophomore, said he thought it was ironic that Lipkind, who was removed from his position as external relations chairman last quarter due to miscommunication centering around organizing an event, is trying to lead a group de-recognized due to misunderstandings.

Lipkind hasn’t made any attempt to contact College Democrats since he was removed and still is in bad standing under College Democrats rules, Proksel said.

According to Proksel it seems unusual to subscribe to both Democratic and Libertarian ideology.

“I don’t see the connection where you can be an active member of the Democratic Party of Evanston and be an avid Libertarian,” he said.