Volume 10, Number 9, September 2004 Installing Ayn Rand’s Books in Classrooms A New Semester at the Across the Nation Objectivist Academic Center This month a group of 37 new students will join Teachers in at least 12 states, 50 counties, curriculum committees decide what is taught in the undergraduate program of the Objectivist Aca- and dozens of cities across the nation will be scores and sometimes thousands of classrooms. demic Center. The OAC’s mission is to find and offered free classroom sets of Anthem and The Second, if a school district or a state board of train new Objectivist intellectuals, and to support Fountainhead this academic year—thanks to education officially adopts the novels, it will their work in disseminating Ayn Rand’s ideas. support from ARI donors (see map). also provide the necessary funding for schools The OAC’s undergraduate curriculum, In the first two years of this program we have to buy copies of the books on their own. Thus, which was launched in 2000, operates on a distributed more than 65,000 books. This year we in time, ARI can help introduce more students to cycle that takes four years to complete. This expect to distribute 100,000. Anthem and The Fountainhead, but with far less spring will see the first batch of students to We are raising funds in order to provide free expense—allowing us to invest the Institute’s graduate from the program. classroom sets of Ayn Rand’s novels to teachers precious resources in growing our other projects. The courses offered in each year of the who would like to teach the books but who lack Because there is no uniform way in which undergraduate program are integrated around a the means to obtain enough copies. The aim districts or states design their English curricula, we unifying theme. The focus of year one is to intro- of the program is not merely to supply books will make customized appeals to each curriculum duce students to the nature of philosophy—the where they are needed, but also, more broadly, committee. But to do so, we must first undertake universal questions that confront all men in any to encourage school boards to make Ayn Rand’s a great deal of research to learn who designs era; in year two students focus on Ayn Rand’s novels fixtures in their curriculum. the curriculum and what the regional academic philosophic system; and in year three they learn As we continue to fulfill the book requests standards are. With that information, we can then how to make Objectivism their guide in thought from teachers, we have started the next phase: contact the decision-makers and explain how Ayn and action. Year four, which we are deploying for encouraging state boards of education and school Rand’s novels—esteemed classics of American the first time, focuses on objectively communi- districts to adopt Anthem and The Fountainhead literature—can enrich any course in English. cating rational ideas. into their curricula. With a tax-deductible contribution to ARI Students attend the OAC by teleconference In a recent letter to ARI contributors, Dr. you can help us put Ayn Rand’s books into more and by listening online to audio recordings of Yaron Brook, executive director, noted the benefits classrooms and into the hands of tens of thousands classes. The faculty members this year are: of contacting the decision-makers directly. First, of students. Dr. Harry Binswanger, who will teach in the continued on page 2 So far, we have received financial contributions that CITIES: will enable us to offer free copies of Anthem and The California: Beverly Hills, Burlingame, Malibu, Moreno Valley, Fountainhead to schools in the following regions: Millbrae, Santa Clarita Connecticut: Danbury Colorado: Denver Venue for 2005 Conference Massachussetts: Boston, Brookline, Braintree, Chelsea, Dorchester, UNITED STATES: Everett, Revere, Quincy, Winthrop North Carolina: Raleigh- Alaska, Delaware, Georgia, Kentucky, Minnesota, North Dakota, Durham, Chapel Hill New Mexcico: Albuquerque New York: Albany, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Virginia, Brewster, Long Island (several schools), Syracuse Kansas/ Washington, D.C., Wyoming Missouri: Kansas City metro area Oregon: Portland Texas: Austin, Houston Washington: Seattle Ontario, CANADA: Toronto CANADA: Quebec (English-language schools), Saskatchewan COUNTIES: California: Napa County, Orange County, San Diego County, San Luis Obispo County, Santa Clara County, Santa Cruz County Florida: Brevard County, Lake County, Lee County, Orange County, Osceola County, Pinellas County, Seminole County, Volusia County Massachusettes: Middlesex County, Worcester County Nevada: Carson City County, Douglas County, Lyon County, Storey County, Washoe County New Jersey: Bergen County New York: Westchester County Washington: King County The Objectivist Summer Conference 2005 will take place July 2 to 14 at the Omni Hotel in San NH VT ME Diego, California. The conference brochure is WA due to be mailed in late fall. Although the Omni AK MT ND MA OR NY will be the venue for the lectures and courses, ID MN SD MI RI participants will have the option of lodging at WI CT WY PA any nearby hotel of their choosing. IA NJ NE OH IL IN DE The Omni, a brand new hotel near the NV WV UT VA MD CO historic Gaslamp Quarter, is surrounded by KS MO KY DC CA NC numerous hotels ranging from the luxurious to TN OK SC the economical. The Omni itself is exquisitely AZ NM AR decorated and boasts spectacular vistas of the AL GA MS ocean and the cityscape. (The hotel is connected TX LA by a walkway to the baseball stadium that is FL home to the San Diego Padres.) HI We encourage you to block out time to (This data is correct as of September 1, 2004) attend the conference. A New Semester at the Objectivist Academic Center, continued from page 1 OAC’s graduate program; Dr. Keith Lockitch, ARI junior fellow; Dr. Onkar Ghate, ARI senior fellow; Robert Tracinski, instructor and senior writer; and Dr. Darryl Wright, guest instructor. Dr. Wright, associate professor of philoso- phy at Harvey Mudd College, is an alumnus of the Institute’s advanced training program in Objectivism—as are Dr. Lockitch, Dr. Ghate and Mr. Tracinski. Auditing Courses at the Auditors attend classes by listening to audio Joining the faculty as a teaching assistant is recordings of each session, via the Internet, on Ben Bayer, who is a graduate student of the OAC Objectivist Academic Center their own schedule. The recordings are made and a doctoral candidate in philosophy at the University of Illinois. He will be assisting in Dr. Each month Impact suggests readings and other available soon after each class takes place, and are archived online. The archives remain Wright’s Introduction to Philosophy course. resources for fans of Ayn Rand’s fiction who wish The OAC’s undergraduate program prepares to learn more about her philosophy, Objectivism. accessible until the start of the next academic year. You can access the recordings at any students for our graduate program, which is in time of day or night, from any computer that is development. We now offer several graduate connected to the Internet. courses, and next year we will launch the formal he purpose of the Objectivist Academic graduate program. Center is to find and train new intellectuals, Auditors also have access to the e-mail T discussion list of each class that they attend, * * * and to support their work in spreading Ayn To encourage more students to apply for admis- Rand’s ideas. Although we seek students who and they usually receive copies of any exercises or homework assignments. But auditors do not sion to the OAC we have produced a brochure intend careers as professional intellectuals, the that will be distributed at campus Objectivist clubs OAC is also open to auditors who wish to enrich submit their assignments or attend tutorials. If you would like to audit one or both and sent to entrants in the Fountainhead and Atlas their understanding of Ayn Rand’s ideas. Shrugged essay contests. The brochure describes This year two of our university-level courses courses offered this year, please visit our Web site to read course descriptions and to download the mission and courses of the OAC, and high- are open to auditors: Introduction to Philosophy, lights the ease of attending classes by teleconfer- with Dr. Darryl Wright; and Undergraduate the registration form (there is neither an entrance exam nor an application form required). ence from anywhere in the world. The brochure is Seminar on the Philosophy of Ayn Rand (UPAR, part of a wider effort to promote the OAC among for short), with Dr. Onkar Ghate. Introduction to Technical note: Our courses are recorded in RealAudio format. We recommend that you high school and college students who have read Philosophy meets for 90 minutes every week for Ayn Rand’s books. two semesters; UPAR meets for three hours every check whether your computer is configured to week for two semesters. play back RealAudio files. To help you do this, our site offers sample audio excerpts from past OAC courses. continued on next page Event Held for Atlantis Legacy Donors During the Objectivist The names of planned giving donors who donate to ARI because it is both acting summer conference in give their permission are published in a special “I as Central Command and serving on AL July at Wintergreen, annual insert in the January issue of Impact. If the frontlines of the most important battle in Virginia, ARI hosted you have arranged a planned gift and have not history—the battle of ideas. The work it is doing an event exclusively for participants in the sent in the Atlantis Legacy response card giving to transform our culture is a higher priority than Atlantis Legacy, the Institute’s planned giving permission, your name will not be listed—but any short-term activism being done by other program.