,EreLET7-EI "THEAYN RANDINSTITUTE The Ayn Rand Institute: The Center for the Advancement of Oblectivism, Marina del Rey April, 1987 THE INSTITUTE: 1987 The timing was coincidental, but the cepts," a revised version of his doctoral meaningwas not. Two yearsfrom the day dissertationon goal-directedaction. Plans that it had officially opened,The Ayn Rand are also underway to publish a book of Institute relocatedits headquartersto a essayson the Objectivist theory of con- much larger suite of six offices at 330 cepts; advertisementswill appear in the !ilashington Street in the businessdistrict major philosophicjournals to elicit submis- of Marina del Rey. The move was neces- slons. sary. The Institute no longer consisted of New American Library has decided one Executive Director, Dr. Michael not only to publish the "High School Berliner, operatingout of one small office. TeachersGuide to The Fountainhead" by During the past two yearsthe Institute's Dr. Andrew Bernstein, but also to dis- ARI staff (1.to r.): Michael Berliner, full-time staff has expandedto include Dr. tribute the manualto peopleattending edu- Jayne Deoens,lVilliam Lanahan, Donna \Tilliam Lanahan, Director of Develop- cational conventions.The Institute will Montrezza,and Michael Palumbo. ment; Donna Moflftezz\ Administrative distribute the Guide to high-schoolteach- Assistant;Jayne Devens, DatabaseMan- ers as part of the 1988Essay Contest. ager; and Michael Palumbo, Office And the Institute's first experimentin oBJECTTVTSM Assistant. advancedphilosophic raining has already ..UNDERGROUND'' In 1987,the Institute will continueto begunwith the start of Dr. Binswanger's utilize time and money to support and seminar for graduate students in philoso- expandits two majoron-going projects: the phy. (Seepage 3 for details.) Ayn Rand published is being in the high-schoolEssay Contest, which awarded As ARI begins its third year, there is midst of the Communist EasternBloc. And in collegescholarships last year, no longer any questionabout whether there with assistance $15,000 from the Institute, more of and the CampusObjectivist Clubs, 65 of is enoughsupport to sustainthe Institute as her books will be availablethere soon. which are now establishedthroughout the a major force in spreadingthe philosophy Last December, Korwin-Mikke Janus U.S. and Canada.Associated proiects such of Objectivism.During 1986, there were contactedARI; he was on his first visit to as the Campus SpeakersBureau, video- 900 new contributors, most of whom the United States,he said, and one of his tape/audio lectures and the production of learnedof ARI through the insert cards in main goals was to find Ayn Rand books club materials will also continue. But as Ayn Rand'sbooks. that he publish-in could Poland. indicated in the last issue of the Newslet- As of 1987,The Ayn Rand Institute "Undergroundr" i.e., illegal,publish- ter, during the upcoming year the Institute has successfullycompleted its start-up ing is big business in Poland, and Korwin- will place greater emphasison developing phase,and the questionthat now remainsis Mikke has publisher become a successful projects of a more purely philosophic whether the interest shown in the Institute and distributor of anti-communist pro- and nature. thus far will grow enoughto support it as a free enterprise literature. A self-described Institute's Publishing Division professional pro-capitalist (in The mature, fully-operational and "liberal" the l9th-cen- will be inauguratedwithin the year when it organization.According to Dr. Lanahan, tury European senseof the term), Korwin- publishes Dr. Harry Binswanger'sbook 1987,ARI's third year,will be mostcritical Mikke first read Ayn Rand's "The Roots '"The Biological Basisof TeleologicalCon- in revealingthe answer. of Var" about sevenyears ago. He subse- quently published Anthem, which did not sell very well, he says,"because the Polish reader is too sophisticatedabout total- itarianism." Sincehe agreedwith what he had read of Objectivism, particularly with THE BANQUET:TAKE TWO the idea that politics must have a logical ethical base,he wanted to make more Ayn More than 150 peoplefrom 16 states quet, Ed Snider will assumethe samerole Rand books availableto what he describes attended ARI's first banquet in Los in New York. The auction, alone, raised asa largeand increasinglyinfluential "Lib- Angeleson November 8, 1986.It proved to more than $20,000 for the Institute. eral Movement" in Poland. (In English, be financially and socially rewarding Among the items that went for the highest the movement'sname literally translatesto enoughthat a repeatperformance has been bids were JeromeRothstein's Comrnunica- "The Conservative-LibertarianMove- scheduled for the East Coast. The tion, Organization€9 Sciencefor $4500; a ment." But Korwin-Mikke saysthis name Institute's second "Evening of Celebra- blue glassvase for $3000;and a first edition does not represent its position since it is tion" will take place on Saturdayevening, of Barry Goldwater's Conscienceof a Con- opposedto Conservatism'sreligious ideas, November 7, 1987 at the Vista Interna- sensatitsefor $2500.Although only a limited and to Libertarianism's anarchist, anti- tional Hotel in New York City. There will supply of Ayn Rand memorabiliaremains, governmentviews.) be dinner, dancing and another fund- similar items will be offered during the Becauseof the primitive production raising auction of items from The Estateof New York auction. techniquesthat underground publishers Ayn Rand. All ARI contributors will receive must use, it is questionablewhether Kor- In light of his bravura performanceas information about the '87 banquet/auction (See[Jnderground, p. 4) auctioneerduring the Los Angelesban- during the summer. Institute Interview:JOHN RIDPATH didn't find a philosophy of life, but within tenure at York, which by now was trying to 100 pagesI had fallen in love with Fran- make room for more "prestigiousr" mean- cisco...with the combination of his ing published, faculty. Since my ideas were seriousness,courage and playfulness.I saw widely known and not popular, and since I a great story about charactersI loved, hadn't published, it was clear that I was a fighting for the kind of life I had come to prime candidate for dismissal. But the Sen- regard as a fantasy. ate Committee on Promotion and Tenure Q:, When did you becomeinterested in the miscalculated. It voted to deny me tenure on the grounds that I wasn't a good enough A: Not long after, I went to a lecture on teacher-when just a couple of years before Objectivism, and it was then that I grasped a faculty association had named me one of that Ayn Rand waspresenting a whole view the outstanding university teachers in of the world, and that by using your mind Ontario. It became clear that the reason for you could identify what you wished to the vote was ideological. I was told by peo- achievein life. Personally,that meant that ple on the Committee that they had never my dreamsdidn't haveto remain dreams, seen the Marxists rally as strongly. So I that I could fight to build a life that was not appealed the decision, mentioning the also I teaching prize, and including a letter of Objectioistshaoe come to know only exciting, but what really John Atlas right away, then recommendation from Frederick von Ridpath as the tall professorwith the reso- wanted. I reread I could find-in Hayek whom I had met while doing some nant ooicewho, when not teachingeconomics started reading everything philosophy..-- research at the.University of Chicago':and and social scienceat- York Unizsersityiit istory, -- who had just won the Nobel prize in eco- Toronto,is on theroad, debating and lectuing Qz How did you changeyour mind about nomics. York ended up not only giving me on subjectsranging the moral defenseof Ieaztinethe furaiture business behind? from dramatic.I took a one-year tenure, but also a promotion. And since capitalism to the philosophyof Frederick A: It ivasvery program Toronto, and then got then, they've left me alone to design Nietzsche.Had "fate" preoailed,hozleoer, MBA at of Virginia's Ph.D. courses and teach as I wish. this Ridpath would not be as he is- into the University John you profes- eitherphysically or intellectually. programin economics,even though, at that Q: What do hope to accomplish point, I didn't think I wasintellectually up sionally in the future? Qz Let's start with the physicalside of your to gettinga Ph.D. At the beginningof my A: Ofer the years I have worked hard to story. In what ways werelou not "fated" to secondyear at Virginia somegraduate stu- become more at home in the world of ideas be the physicallyactioe l}-year-old man you dents,including me, wereasked to teachan (it was a long way from being a non- haoebecome? introductory economicscourse to under- intellectual engineer), and I have become A: As a boy, I was short for my age,frail, graduates.It was the kind of requestyou increasingly interested in the role that phil- often sickly, and I fought very hard not to iust couldn't refuse.And within onemonth osophical ideas play in history. I would like be weak. In my teens, I got involved in of that courseI knew with total conviction to give a course and perhaps write a book sports,liftedweights and spenta lot of time what I wantedto do with the restof my life. on intellectual history, focusing on those running and swimming.By 22,I becamea To teach. I phoned home and told my thinkers who transmitted ideas from the CanadianNational backstrokechampion, motherto sellthe business,and I got down major philosophers to the culture. And I then took up skiing and tennis.This battle to work on my Ph.D. am now doing research on the history and againstmy original constitutionled me to Qt lVhatdid you like aboutteaching? importance of the concept of man's rights, appreciatethe physicalside of life. A: I(/hat I loved, and still do, is to work about which I hope to write a maior work.