INewsletterM of the ®P InstituteA Volume 6, NumberC 10, OctoberT 2000 Bringing to Campus To preserve one’s mind intact through a modern college education is a test of courage and endurance, but the battle is worth it and the stakes are the highest possible to man: the survival of reason. —Ayn Rand, “The Comprachicos,” 1970

With the start of the new academic year, ARI is redoubling its efforts to bring reason to college campuses. As an antidote to the irrationality of many university courses, ARI is launching a new Web publication: “The Student Surivival Guide: Or, How to Get a College Education While Keeping Your Mind Intact.” We also have enlarged and greatly streamlined the layout of our Campus Clubs Web site to make it easier for students to find out how to start campus clubs and how to study Objectivism.

Campus Clubs Web Site ARI’s campus clubs offer students the opportunity to discover Ayn Rand’s sunlit universe and to study her of reason. This academic year, ARI is supporting clubs on 95 campuses worldwide (including a few high school clubs). The newly redesigned “Objectivism on Campus” site will make it easier for students to find out how to start clubs and to coordinate speaking events and study groups. Please go to: http://www.aynrand.org/campus/ The site’s simple design will allow students easily to find our regularly updated “News & High- lights” and “Calendar of Events” sections. New visitors to the site can read an overview of the cam- pus clubs project and can fill out a questionnaire if they want to be added to our database and e- mail list. For club officers there is a special section for ordering books, borrowing taped lecture courses, and viewing sample posters for use in publicizing speaking events. The site now includes descriptions of all the talks available by ARI speakers for delivery on campus, along with short biographies of the speakers—plus summaries of all audio lectures and vid- eotapes available from ARI’s lending library. “By providing a wealth of information about starting and running clubs, the Web site frees up more of my time,” said Stewart Margolis, ARI’s campus clubs coordinator. “The time saved mailing out the information, is time I can spend helping students establish new clubs and bring in more Objectivist speakers to campus.”

Student Survival Guide The Student Survival Guide is designed to help the rational student make sense of—and counteract—the fundamental problems that are corrupting aca- demia. Prepared under the editorial direction of Dr. Edwin A. Locke, the guide will be prominently featured on the newly renovated Objectivism on Campus Web site. The guide begins with an overview of colleges and universities, describing the current state of academia and the major philosophic errors holding sway. Students are offered advice on obtaining a degree from the “system” without compromising their reason and integrity. At the heart of the guide are essays on what students can expect to encounter in seven specific disciplines, ranging from philosophy to music (see sidebar.) Written by an expert in the field, each essay identifies the central fallacies in a given discipline and suggests how to approach the field rationally. Recommended read- ing lists are included with each essay to help students fill in the gaps left by their courses. Contents of Student Survival Guide A section on tips from students provides advice on how to study effectively, how to stay • Overview of Colleges and Universities Today motivated, and how to select courses. • What to Expect in Seven Specific Fields of Study The reading list in the Intellectual Ammunition section aims to help students un- · Darryl Wright on Philosophy tangle the philosophic roots of such pernicious trends as political correctness, multicul- · Edwin A. Locke on Psychology turalism, and environmentalism. Included on the list are and Miss · David Harriman on Physics Rand’s essay on modern education “The Comprachicos,” as well as “Guide to the Study · Eric Daniels on History of Objectivism” by Dr. Gary Hull. · on Intellectual History The Student Survival Guide will expand over time to include essays on literature and · M. Northrup Buechner on Economics on how to write without absorbing the crippling epistemological errors common in · Stephen Siek on Music academia. Eventually, live on-line chats will be included to allow students to ask for advice • Intellectual Ammunition from an Objectivist intellectual. • Tips from Students Club Profile: University of Michigan Live Events Founded in 1985, the club at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, is the longest- Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY running club sponsored by ARI. Over the years, every ARI speaker has lectured on that · Wednesday, October 11; 7:00 P.M.; location TBA · “The Fall of Physics and Its Cause” by David Harriman campus. Club members have published their own quarterly journal, listened to taped lecture courses, watched dozens of videotaped talks, and distributed thousands of Objec- University of Wisconsin, Madison · Tuesday, October 24; time and location TBA tivist pamphlets and flyers on campus. This year the club is planning a weekly reading · “The Virtue of Selfishness” by group on Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand by . Since the club’s University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign founding, several members have gone into ARI’s undergraduate and graduate programs, · Wednesday, October 25; 7:00 P.M.; 100 Noyes notably Dr. Darryl Wright, who was a founding member and is today a philosophy pro- Laboratory fessor at Harvey Mudd College, and Kathy Cross, who heads ARI’s Planned Giving De- · “The Virtue of Selfishness” by Peter Schwartz partment. University of Iowa, Iowa City · Thursday, October 26; 7:00 P.M.; W151 PBB (Tippie Auditorium) Atlas Shrugged Dramatization · “The Virtue of Selfishness” by Peter Schwartz Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN The is aware that TNT plans to produce a dramatization of Ayn · Thursday, October 26; James Union Bldg., 3rd Floor, Rand’s Atlas Shrugged for television. ARI is not involved in any way with the project, Dining Room C; time TBA and we do not have any information about the details of the production. The Estate of · “Pro-Choice Is Pro-Life: The Philosophical Basis for a Ayn Rand sold the rights for the dramatization years ago to another buyer, and has no Woman’s Right to Abortion” by legal control of any kind over the production. Stanford University, Stanford, CA Ayn Rand often stated that the value of any dramatization of Atlas Shrugged, given · Thursday, November 9; time and location TBA the state of Hollywood today, would be not its quality as art or philosophy, but its power · “The Virtue of Profit: Why Businessmen Need Ayn to call attention to the book. If and when a dramatization airs, ARI and the Estate of Rand’s Morality of Selfishness” by Gary Hull Ayn Rand will work closely with the publisher of the book to maximize the visibility, Columbia University, New York availability, and sales of Atlas Shrugged. ARI views the potential for increased sales of · Tuesday, November 14; time and location TBA · “Objectivism: Ayn Rand’s Philosophic Revolution” by Atlas Shrugged to be the important aspect of the project. University of Virginia, Charlottesville · Thurday, November 16; time and location TBA Announcements · “The New Primitivism” by Peter Schwartz ARI is seeking a Web programmer/developer well versed in one or more of the following: George Mason University, Fairfax, VA HTML, Java, JavaScript, PHP, Perl, CGI programming, and SQL. The work can be done · Thursday, November 16; time and location TBA · “The Neo-Puritan Assault on Sex and Pleasure” by remotely or at ARI on a part-time or full-time basis. For further information, please e- Gary Hull mail Richard Ralston: [email protected]. Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA · Wednesday, November 8; 7:30 P.M.; Wean 7500 There will be an ARI Day Saturday, December 9, in Tampa, Florida. This all-day briefing · “The Mind as Hero in Atlas Shrugged” by Andrew on ARI programs is open to all current ARI contributors and their guests. Advance Bernstein registration is required. Contributors in Florida, South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama Contact Stewart Margolis for additional information: will be mailed invitations in early November. [email protected]

Leonard Peikoff to Speak at Ford Hall Forum Leonard Peikoff will speak at Ford Hall Forum in Boston on Sunday, April 9, 2001 at 4:00 P.M. He expects to talk about the book he is currently writing, which is tentatively titled The One In the Many. ARI is now planning a special event the Saturday prior to his Ford Hall talk. More details will appear in Impact in a few months.

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e-mail: [email protected] Web: http://www.aynrand.org Editor: David Layne All rights reserved ©2000.

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