Students For Liberty is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide a unified, student-driven forum of support for students and student organizations dedicated to liberty.
About Us
The philosophy of liberty is in jeopardy today. The older generations have let us down, and there seem to be few short-term solutions. Our hope for a free society lies in the future. The best investment one can make to promote liberty today is in the youth, particularly, in students.
Students are in a unique position that makes them open to the ideas of liberty. Academia is an environment premised on a belief in debate and inquiry where all ideas are welcome to be presented and inspected by each individual. Students have not fully formulated their beliefs and so are interested in inquiring into different world views. But without support from their academic or peer groups, there is no hope for students to consider the ideas of liberty as viable alternatives to authoritarianism.
There are two types of students who enter college: those who are unfamiliar with the ideas of liberty, and those who already believe in liberty. Many students have never read Locke’s Second Treatise, Bastiat’s The Law, or even the Declaration of Independence beyond the quote “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness”. What these students need is exposure to the principles of liberty that underscore a prosperous society. The second are those who enter college with a belief in liberty. These students enter academia with the hope of developing a greater understanding of their beliefs is that they so often are beaten down to the point where they give up on their belief in liberty and never develop their potential to further the cause or support the philosophy.
The problem is significant, but the solution is clear: There is a need for an organization to counter the climate of authoritarianism on campus by directly supporting students dedicated to liberty.
Activities
Students For Liberty provides a plethora of activities, programs and resources to support students interested in liberty. SFL’s efforts can be broken down into 3 general categories:
1) Consulting Services.
SFL is a leader in the field of student group resources by providing consulting services targeted directly towards student groups to help groups form and run more efficiently. This includes publications on how to effectively run student groups such as our How to Start a Student Organization for Liberty guide, as well as one-on-one support where SFL leaders tackle specific problems that student organizations send to us.
2) Networking.
SFL networks students interested in liberty with three groups: students, leaders, and organizations. SFL connects students dedicated to liberty with other students to strengthen their support for one another and show students that they are not alone. SFL provides opportunities for students to meet leaders in the cause of liberty today at our many conferences and through our alumni outreach. Lastly, SFL seeks to expose students interested in liberty to the many organizations that exist to promote liberty to students. Our hope is that by strengthening these networks, students will become more enthusiastic about liberty and be better equipped to promote liberty on campus.
3) Resources.
SFL provides independent resources to promote liberty and empower students to be leaders of liberty. These include an academic journal, free books for reading groups, and many more resources that are coming out soon.
