As the Treasurer of a political organization at UVA during my first year, part of my role as an exec board member was to table at the activities fair for the spring semester. Because it took place during the winter months, the fair was held indoors in Newcomb. For some reason, the fair organizers decided to place all the political organizations, from both sides of the aisle, in the same small room. On the one hand, one can see the purpose of this decision. It would be more efficient, as all those who were interested in political advocacy would only have to go to one room, saving them time and effort. It would optimize space and preparation time for the fair organizers. However, this decision did not take into account the negative externalities of placing political organizations from different sides of the aisle in the same room as each other. Members of other organizations came to our side of the room and made negative comments as well as obscene hand gestures. These actions hurt our organization's recruitment because potential members may well have been turned off after realizing that they would be subject to the same harassment if they joined our club. As a result, they missed out on being part of a club from which they would have gained utility through free and open debate.
Without intending it, the club's organizers imposed a negative externality on potential members of our club by placing all the political clubs in the same room during the activities fair. If the fair organizers were interested in an efficient market of club recruitment, they should have compensated our potential members who decided against joining our club because of the harassment we received. This would make up for the opportunity cost of the utility they would have received from becoming members of our club.
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