One August afternoon, Dylan Dean stood by a duck pond, totally unaware that his life was about to change.
He had missed the registration deadline to set up a recruitment table at Montana State University’s 2021 club fair. And so, always a bit of a rebel, he and his table stood slightly, technically, off the fairgrounds.
Rachael Stevenson and her sister had not missed the deadline. Their College Republicans table was in the heart of campus, but they had another problem: They had run out of swag to hand out, so she went to get more.
“There were two routes back to my car,” she said. “I figured I’d take the shortcut so I wouldn’t leave my sister for too long. And … well, I guess I made the right decision.”
It was her shirt that he noticed first.
“I was in my Ben Shapiro phase back then,” Rachael said bashfully, though she was quick to add: “I haven’t listened to him for a while now.”
Dylan saw it nevertheless and thought: “I can fix her,” he said, “I can make her a libertarian.” He doesn’t remember what he called out, exactly, but they exchanged contact information as club directors; maybe they could work together, down the road on something — strictly professional, at this point.
“But,” Dylan said, “I thought maybe there was a spark.”
Rachael agreed: “After I walked away, I was kinda like … huh. I could tell he was passionate about his work.”
Love in the Time of Covid
Covid and the heavy-handed government response to it tore so many lives apart, but it brought Dylan and Rachael together — professionally, at first. University administration had promised, as the 2021 school year began, that no mask mandate would be implemented. Then it reversed course a week later.
Rachael, a Republican at the time from a conservative household, but always libertarian-leaning, texted Dylan first. “I wanted to do something about this,” she said, “and I thought we could work together.”
Dylan asked if he could call a few minutes later and, according to Rachael, went on an epic rant about the university president. Passionate about his work, indeed.
“I was a little shocked,” Rachael said, “and even a little overwhelmed. But we got together for coffee to talk about how we could protest the mandate.”
They become friends as they petitioned together to overturn it.
“Talking to Dylan, little by little, showed me that I had always been a libertarian,” Rachael said. “He even got me to read Anatomy of the State. But I remember telling my mom that even though we had become good friends, I didn’t think I’d ever date him,” she laughed.
But sure enough, there was a first date — on October 24, 2021: lunch at Little Star Diner. They became a couple before long, the chemistry obvious to each. “And it’s a good thing we got along so well,” Dylan laughed. “We spent a LOT of time together petitioning, gathering signatures … in the same spot, actually, where we met, by that duck pond.”
Dylan had been featured in several media outlets, and Rachael remembered telling her cousin that she was going out with Dylan.
“She goes: ‘You’re dating the mask mandate guy!? That’s awesome!’”
Ultimately, Dylan and Rachael helped collect more than 1,100 signatures, which led to the overturn of the mask mandate shortly after Valentine’s Day — February 22, 2022.
“We both really benefitted from each other’s strengths,” Rachael said. “I’m naturally introverted, Dylan’s the opposite … and I don’t think either of us would have been able to work so hard alone.”
Continued Effort and Impact
And their hard work together didn’t stop when the mask mandate ended. Montana State, like many other public schools, can significantly restrict its students’ civil liberties. So Dylan and Rachael began working on a bill to, as he put it, “empower the Montana legislature to protect the enumerated rights of students on college campuses.”
Read more here: Making A Difference In The Fight For Free Speech In Montana
In plain English, “It would have made sure the Constitution would apply on campus” he said. For example, it would have allowed students to carry weapons, according to their 2nd Amendment rights, and allowed Montana’s legislature to force universities to investigate allegations of sexual assault.
Rachael, now a first-year law student, helped bring 12 other students to testify in front of the Montana legislature. She hosted a workshop to help them craft testimony, suggesting certain phrases that might be persuasive. Dylan, now pursuing a Master’s degree in artificial intelligence, still feels the sting of the bill’s failure to pass, though it has inspired him to do more.
“Of all the bills that failed, it came the closest to passing,” he said. “And believe me, this is just the beginning. It was such a good learning opportunity — how to build community, how to lead, how to fundraise … and now, those are all things that I can help younger SFLers do.”
Having endured together the stresses of protesting, petitioning, and lobbying state representatives, how hard could marriage be? So when, on December 18, 2023, while playing Pokémon GO, they found themselves back at that duck pond, Dylan prepared to ask a certain 4-word question. He had prepared a speech, too, but “She beat me to it!” he screamed. “She gave basically the same speech I was going to give. So I guess we really are compatible.”
A little more than six months later, the following June, they were married at Rachael’s family’s ranch in Hobson, Montana, and for their honeymoon, they drove off into the sunset — west, toward Seattle, then down the coast to Oregon, two fiercely independent individuals, now united in their love for each other and for liberty.
Are you a student interested in getting involved in pro-liberty activism? By applying to join Students For Liberty’s Local Coordinator Program, you can be supported in promoting the ideas of liberty while also developing your skills and meeting many like-minded students from across the world. Click on the button below to find out more and get involved!
This piece solely expresses the opinion of the author and not necessarily the organization as a whole. Students For Liberty is committed to facilitating a broad dialogue for liberty, representing a variety of opinions.
