Programs & Initiatives
Educate
FREE BOOKS
To introduce young people to Rand’s writings, we offer free classroom sets of her classic novels to teachers. Every year, as a result, more than 400,000 students encounter her inspiring heroes and thought-provoking ideas. Every year, teachers tell how their students are swept up in the thrilling stories, how the characters ignite passionate debates about putting nothing above the judgment of one’s own mind, how the novels encourage deep thinking about the meaning of individualism. Since 2002, ARI has distributed four million novels, and more than 75,000 teachers have used them as part of the curriculum.
ESSAY CONTESTS
For more than thirty years, ARI has sponsored student essay contests on Rand’s novels. Tens of thousands of high school, college and graduate students from across the United States, Canada and other countries around the world take part every year. The contests invite students to reflect on and analyze the philosophic themes Rand dramatizes in her novels. ARI awards hundreds of prizes in scholarship money for college.
Many entrants have said that engaging with Rand’s ideas is a life-changing experience. Since the contests began, we’ve received more than 407,000 essays.
COLLEGES & UNIVERSITIES
Most people form their basic philosophic outlook on life during college. Rand’s conviction that ideas, truth and one’s life matter resonates powerfully with students. We provide a variety of programs that enable students to learn about Rand’s philosophy and its application to their lives. We offer educational internships, support for student clubs interested in Rand’s philosophy and free copies of her books to students active in free market groups.
More and more scholars are exploring and teaching Rand’s ideas on campus, and ARI engages them through conferences and provides curriculum resources. We encourage new scholarship on Rand’s thought, and our own experts write and speak on her philosophy.
ARI CAMPUS
ARI Campus presents interactive multimedia courses on Rand’s life, novels and philosophy. Anyone around the world with an Internet connection can take part in free educational programming featuring Ayn Rand, Leonard Peikoff (today’s foremost authority on Objectivism) and ARI’s writers and speakers. With a continually expanding course catalog, ARI Campus enables students at all levels of knowledge to advance their understanding of Rand’s ideas at their own pace.
Owner: Leonard Peikoff | Credit: Ayn Rand Archives
AYN RAND UNIVERSITY
ARI’s Ayn Rand University (ARU) offers courses, seminars and career training to future Objectivist intellectuals: the scholars, teachers and writers championing Ayn Rand’s philosophy throughout the culture. Limited to ambitious students considering intellectual careers in academia or public policy, the ARU provides advanced training in Objectivism as well as a focus on communication and other professional skills needed in an intellectual career. We provide grants and scholarships to promising advanced students, and run a junior fellowship program for recent graduates considering a policy-oriented intellectual career.
Empower
WRITING
ARI’s philosophic mission calls for questioning and rethinking the basic premises embedded in our culture. To do that, convincing scholarship and incisive commentary are indispensible. Our experts write about Rand’s philosophic system and apply it to today’s issues — from epistemology to free speech to foreign policy — illustrating the power of her ideas to guide not only the individual toward happiness but also society toward freedom. In their editorials, essays, journal articles and books, ARI’s writers connect with key audiences: scholars, teachers, students, policymakers, think tank analysts, activists and businessmen.
SPEAKING
Our experts speak about Rand’s philosophy at academic conferences and in corporate boardrooms, at public debates and in university lecture halls, at briefings for congressional staff and in high school classrooms, at Tea Party rallies and in industry seminars. Engaging live audiences and often sharing the stage with other influencers in the field, ARI’s experts discuss such issues as the foundations of morality, the perils of government intrusion in medicine, the bankruptcy of Social Security, the turmoil in the Middle East, the causes of financial crises and the moral case for laissez-faire capitalism.
MEDIA
ARI’s writers and speakers regularly appear in major media outlets to convey how Rand’s ideas can clarify problems of the day and point us to a brighter, capitalist future. Our opinion pieces have been published in such venues as the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Foxnews.com, CNN, Huffington Post, Forbes, Businessweek, Foreign Policy and the Guardian. Top TV and radio broadcast channels, including CNN, Fox News, MSNBC and NPR, have sought commentary from ARI’s experts on both Rand’s philosophy and its application to current affairs.
