Students For Liberty is proud to announce that our Second Annual International Students For Liberty Conference will be held at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. from February 20-22, 2009. This conference is the successor to the inaugural 2008 Students for Liberty Conference held at Columbia University this past February, which drew 100 students from 42 schools and 2 countries together to discuss how to promote liberty on campus and hear from leaders in the cause of liberty today. This year, we anticipate an even larger group of students to attend from a greater diversity of countries.

Our first confirmed Keynote Speaker is Yon Goicoechea, recipient of the 2008 Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty for his work as a 23-year law student leading the Venezuelan student movement for democracy and human rights. Yon is an inspiration to students everywhere, and a testament to the power that students hold. We are honored to have him join us.

Due to space and financial constraints, students must apply to be accepted to the conference. Applications are online and students may submit them now. Given a large number of anticipated applications, we encourage students to apply as soon as possible as preference will be given to students who show a dedication and interest in attending early on.

Students For Liberty is proud to announce the first annual publication of the Journal of Liberty and Society during the 2008-2009 academic year.  The Journal of Liberty and Society is an undergraduate, academic journal whose purpose is to encourage academic work surrounding the topic of liberty and its role in society for undergraduates everywhere.  Check out the Call for Papers on the Journal of Liberty and Society’s webpage and feel free to email journal@studentsforliberty.org if you have any questions.

SFL’s Executive Director, Alexander McCobin, was recently interviewed by the Atlas Economic Research Foundation.  The interview is now available on here on Atlas Podcast.

Students For Liberty’s regional conferences have all opened their registration for this fall.  The purpose of these conferences is to bring students from the same area together to discuss how to best promote liberty and to learn from pivotal figures in the cause of liberty from their area.  Each conference brings a unique mix of speakers and students tailored to its geographical area.  An incredible list of participants have already been lined up!  Limited space is available at each conference, so we encourage students to register early to guarantee a spot.

Here is a list of the regional conferences:

• October 25th, Philadelphia Students For Liberty Conference
• November 1st, Boston Students For Liberty Conference
• November 8th, Midwest Students For Freedom Conference
• November 8th, Southern Students For Liberty Conference
• November 15th, West Coast Students For Liberty Conference

Students For Liberty is proud to announce the publication of its first handbook, How to Start a Student Organization for Liberty. This handbook outlines a 10-step process for students to use in starting a student organization for liberty and provides in-depth explanations for how to go through each step. This handbook is a starting point for all students interested in founding an organization, and may always be followed up by emailing SFL at info@studentsforliberty.org with questions and requests for support.

SFL will be publishing several handbooks throughout the 2008-2009 school year on best practices for student organizations dedicated to liberty. These handbooks seek to aggregate diffuse information spread throughout student organizations across the United States into complete documents that other students may access to advance the cause of liberty on their campus. By increasing information-sharing techniques between students and student organizations, students will no longer have to reinvent the wheel every four years.

2008-2009 Foundations of Freedom Fellow Announced

Students For Liberty is pleased to announce that Alex Koren has been selected as the first Foundations of Freedom Fellow. Alex Koren is a senior at Pennsylvania Leadership Charter School, outside of Philadelphia. Alex founded and currently leads his school’s debate and mock trial teams. In addition, Alex was a senior fellow at the Philadelphia Debate Institute, and is the president of his school’s Interact club, a high-school division of Rotary International.

The Foundations of Freedom Fellowship is a year-long fellowship that provides high school seniors with the opportunity to study the intellectual foundations of liberty. The fellow is given an advisor who is a college professor in their area of interest who will take the fellow through a reading list of major works in the history of liberty. At the end of the academic year, the fellow will submit a completed senior thesis on a subject related to liberty, which the advisor has reviewed and critiqued throughout the year.

The Foundations of Freedom Advisor for 2002-2009 is Professor Aeon J. Skoble. Aeon J. Skoble is Professor of Philosophy and Chairman of the Philosophy Department at Bridgewater State College, in Southeastern Massachusetts. His main research in moral and political philosophy include theories of rights, the nature and justification of authority, virtue ethics, practical reason and moral psychology, just-war theory, classical theories of happiness, and theories of legal interpretation. He is the co-editor of the anthology Political Philosophy: Essential Selections (Prentice-Hall, 1999) and author of Deleting the State: An Argument about Government (Open Court, 2008), as well as many essays in scholarly and popular journals.

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Students For Liberty is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide a unified, student-driven forum of support for students and student organizations dedicated to liberty. Founded by five students from five universities, Students For Liberty is one of the leading organizations that supports student education of liberty today. For more information, please contact Alexander McCobin at amccobin@studentsforliberty.org.

As the start of the school year approaches, it’s time to start thinking about what you can do to begin the year with a bang. The most successful student groups have a strong recruitment effort at the start of the year. You should start planning a kick-off event that will bring as many students out as possible. This could be an outside speaker, a movie night, a debate with another group, or a variety of other things. What is important is that you start planning your first event now.

To help you market your group right away SFL is proud to offer your student group to hand out free copies Foundation for Individual Rights in Education’s Guide to First-Year Orientation and Thought Reform on Campus. Handing these Guides out is a great way to both get noticed by freshmen while they experience new student orientation as well as promote liberty on your campus. If you’d like to receive free copies of this book to give away either during freshman move-in or a student activities fair, please email amccobin@studentsforliberty.org with the subject line “FIRE Guide Giveaway”. There is a limited supply, so contact SFL quickly!

Thank you to FIRE for donating these books!

What: Student Leadership Roundtable

When: Wednesday, August 6, 6-8PM

Where: Cato Institute, First Floor Conference Room

Why: To discuss and learn best practices for running a student organization dedicated to liberty.

How to Register: If you would like to participate in the Student Leadership Roundtable, please email Alexander McCobin at amccobin@studentsforliberty.org with your name, school, year, student organization, email and cell phone.

Last year, a dozen Koch Summer Fellows came together to discuss best practices of their individual student organizations dedicated to liberty. A direct product of this roundtable was the formation of the Students For Liberty (www.studentsforliberty.org). Continuing the tradition of this momentous event will be the second annual Student Leadership Roundtable, held on August 6th from 6-8PM at the Cato Institute. All students who are in the D.C. area and who are interested in sharing your experiences with running a student organization, learning the best practices of other organizations, or starting a new student organization are invited to take part. The roundtable will be moderated by Alexander McCobin, co-founder of the Penn Libertarian Association, and co-founder and Executive Director of Students For Liberty.

What: Student Leadership Presentation

Who: Yon Goicoechea (2008 Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty Recipient), Joey Coon (Head of Cato Student Programs), Alexander McCobin (Students For Liberty Founder & Executive Director)

Where: Cato University, Rancho Bernardo Inn (San Diego, CA)

When: Between July 20-25

SFL Executive Director, Alexander McCobin will be speaking on student activism at Cato University. Thank you to the Cato Institute for providing this great opportunity!

What: The Objectivist Perspective

Who: David Kelly, Founder and Senior Fellow of The Atlas Society

Where: The Cato Institute (1000 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Washington D.C.)

When: Wednesday, July 30th from 6-7:30PM

Refreshments will be provided after the talk. Come here a rousing discussion on the impact of Objectivism today. All individuals, students and non-students are invited to attend this public lecture.

The Objectivist Perspective Flyer