Free Institutions Programs: A Prospectus

Born in antiquity, nurtured in the creative anarchy of the Middle Ages, and brought to maturity through long political struggle in Europe and the Americas, free institutions have now blossomed worldwide, to be increasingly enriched by the contributions of many peoples and cultures. It can now be truly said that they provide the foundation for an emerging global civilization - the very first in the history of our species - liberating human talent and energy to an unparalleled degree.

But the institutions of freedom also face fierce and continuing opposition from forces that would curtail liberty, deny tolerance, and suppress reasoned discourse. Indeed, freedom's enemies have lately born witness to the awful lengths they will to go to smash the confidence of the free, reminding us that each generation must vindicate afresh the liberties bequeathed it by its forbears. Yet freedom cannot be effectively defended unless it is adequately understood, and such understanding demands determined educational effort. Free institutions have not been the human norm, and in the absence of a serious effort to transmit the knowledge, skills, and habits of mind on which they depend, they are likely to prove ephemeral.

There are few subjects of study more integrally related to the mission of liberal education than the nature, history, basis, and prospects of free institutions. Indeed, in its classic conception liberal education is literarily a preparation for freedom, designed to cultivate the frame of mind and fund of learning upon which citizens must draw in making well-reasoned public and private choices.

As an academic subject the study of free institutions includes more than an examination of the constitutional, political, and economic arrangements that allow people to control their own lives. It also encompasses an exploration of the ideas, cultural values, and social and psychological structures that underpin these arrangements. And it is certainly not uncritical. Freedom has its costs as well as benefits, and there are a wide range of views about the worth of its specific instantiations, and the trade offs that accompany its exercise. Moreover, even the most unqualified intellectual opponents of freedom have things of real value to teach us.

Free institutions, and the ideals and practices to which they give rise, are, of course, currently objects of research and teaching in many academic departments and courses. A large number of individual scholars in political science, history, law, economics, philosophy, and other fields already have a keen interest in them. But there are very few venues on our campuses through which teaching and research about free institutions is coordinated and concentrated across interdisciplinary lines. This represents a serious gap in the organizational chart of academe, especially when so many subjects of a narrower nature have numerous and well-funded campus anchorages. It is certainly appropriate that our colleges and universities afford sites where the particularities of human experience can be explored. But there should also be institutional representation for programs concerned with matters of common interest and aspiration, such as the desire to live a life of freedom. The development of programs dealing with freedom will also add an important new dimension of intellectual diversity to the campuses of their host institutions.

The movement to create and multiply "freedom studies" programs has several specific objectives. It will seek to encourage and support faculty members and administrators who wish to establish new programs by putting them into communication with one another. It will provide them with information about model programs. It will sponsor fora within which the challenges and opportunities involved in developing programs on free institutions can be discussed. And it will work to generate the financial resources by which new programs can be launched or expanded. A new scholarly society, the Association for the Study of Free Institutions is being organized to mediate these activities.

Programs on free institutions can perform a variety of important academic functions. They can develop curricula leading to special certificates, or fulfilling the requirements of undergraduate majors and minors. They can offer graduate courses and advisement for those interested in pursuing careers in scholarship centered on the study of free institutions and societies. They can organize research, sponsor fellowships, host visiting scholars, and create academic centers institutionalizing such activity. They can publish journals, newsletters, and maintain websites linking scholars and members of the general public with intellectual resources dealing with the study of free institutions and free societies. They can sponsor lectures and seminars on their campus on questions of academic debate or public policy relevant to their missions. They can work on an extra-curricular basis with undergraduate students, individually or through organized groups, who have a special interest in free institutions and societies. They can work with K-12 teachers, school districts, state education bodies, and other organizations to improve the quality of education about free institutions and free societies in the schools. Obviously, any particular program will only sponsor such activities as interest, resources, and opportunity permit.

Individual circumstances will determine the range of activities that new programs can offer, though when sufficient resources are available there is no reason these can't be of substantial scope. In light of the academic need for free institution programs, ambitions should be large. But many new programs will have to start with only a modest range of activities (or only a single activity), for example, the sponsorship of an annual seminar or lecture series featuring local or in-house experts. Still, no matter how modest the initial level of operations may be, the vital first step lies in securing institutional recognition as an academic entity (e.g., a center, institute, program etc.). It is also of prime importance that the new entity have procedures for self-governance equivalent to that of other recognized centers, institutes, or programs. Official recognition is the foundation for subsequent program growth.

Working with the development staffs of their host college or university, the leadership of free institutions programs should remain alert for, and vigorously pursue, financial development opportunities. Some of these already exist within various federal grant programs, including the National Endowment for the Humanities' "We the People Program", the Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education's "Civic Initiative", and the Department of Education's Teaching American History Grant program. The American Association for the Study of Free Institutions and Free Societies will develop on-line resources and other services geared to directing members' attention to private and government fund raising possibilities. Its conferences will feature development workshops.

Since the nature, history, and philosophy of free institutions is likely to be of interest not only to students and professional scholars, but to the general public as well, many free institutions programs will want to explore the possibility of playing a role in public education. Developing such an outreach role will, in many cases, be a natural adjunct, to the programs' campus oriented public affairs programming.