The origins of Students For Liberty can be traced back to the summer of 2007 when several students in the Institute for Humane Studies Koch Summer Fellowship got together on July 24th to hold a roundtable discussion about best practices for student organizations dedicated to liberty. Many members of the fellowship were involved in campus organizations and used the forum to share successes and failures in their organizations for the sake of learning from others’ experiences. At the end of the roundtable, Alexander McCobin asked the group if they thought a larger version of the event such as a conference would be valuable and received a very positive response. When Sloane Frost approached Alexander afterwards and said “let’s do it,” the concept began to develop.

Alexander and Sloane began to outline the conference and develop a proposal for a modest, 40 person conference exclusively for students from the northeast. Two other fellows were soon recruited to join the venture as well, Pin-Quan Ng and Sam Eckman. When the summer fellowship ended and the school year began, the conference’s growth led to the induction of Richard Tracy to the Executive Board. As more time went on, the size and expectations of the conference grew. Students from the west coast and internationally contacted the Executive Board about attending the conference. As well, the foremost figures of liberty were brought on as speakers at the conference, showing true excitement at the prospect of speaking to a group of students for no financial compensation.

The Students for Liberty Conference was held at Columbia University from February 22-24, 2008. 100 students from 42 schools as far west as California and as far east as Ukraine attended with many more non-students speaking and attending lectures alongside students. The conference was a tremendous success and the dedication of so many students and leaders to the conference’s mission led the Executive Board to decide that a conference was not enough. On the morning of February 22, a terrible snow storm hit the northeast, causing countless students’ travel plans to fall through. But even though roads were dangerous, flights were canceled, and trains delayed, the students persevered, finding innovative travel methods and routes to attend the conference because their desire for a resource that supported students who believed in liberty was so great. Inspired by this proof of enthusiasm, the Executive Board announced on the last day that the Students for Liberty Conference would be transformed into the Students For Liberty,* an organization to provide year round support for students.

Since then, Students For Liberty has undergone an incredible transformation. All five of the founding Executive Board members stayed on and six new, truly dedicated students joined the Board. A distinguished list of scholars signed on to the Board of Advisors. Partner organizations are working with Students For Liberty to provide as many resources to students as possible. And Students For Liberty’s reputation has already led Executive Board members speaking at several conferences about student activism and academic freedom. SFL has the potential to transform the educational system and with such incredible momentum behind us, we are sure it will happen.

(The founding Executive Board of the Students for Liberty Conference. From left to right, Alexander McCobin, Sloane Frost, Richard Tracy, Sam Eckman, and Pin-Quan Ng.)

* The name of the inaugural conference was Students for Liberty with a small “f”. Upon becoming an organization, though, the name was changed to Students For Liberty with a big “F”.