Today begins the Second Annual International Students For Liberty Conference. Slated to attend are 150-200 college students from 14 countries and a great line-up of speakers (including a workshop on activism that we here at Bureaucrash will lead!). But perhaps equally as impressive as this conference is the background of the host organization.

The Students For Liberty was conceived of by five college students — four of whom were alums of top-notch Institute for Humane Studies seminars — just over a year ago. Their mission: “to provide a student-driven forum of support for students and student organizations dedicated to liberty.” Their initial event was a conference at Columbia University. They initially planned for about 40 or 50 students but, after being inundated by applications,  had to scale up the conference. When it was all said and done there were about 100 attendees. Fast forward to today and one of those five students involved from the start — Alexander McCobin – now working as a Koch Associate placed at the Cato Institute is working to get SFL off the ground (they’re now advertising for a Program Manager, their first full-time paid position). Proof that ideas have consequences and that one individual can make a difference.

For those of you that aren’t going to be joining us at SFL, you can follow the going-ons at SFL’s blog or via Twitter. Also, I’m told that some of the sessions will be filmed and posted to SFL’s site later. It’s very exciting to see SFL reach so many college students interested in learning more about the ideas of individual freedom and responsibilit, but this post wouldn’t be complete without mentioning other groups that use seminars to reach out to the leaders of tomorrow to provide them with the intellectual ammo and communication skills needed to counter the apathy and Statism that is so pervasive today.

If you’re currently in college (or know someone that is), I strongly encourge you to check out the offerings below and get yourself to one (or more) of the seminars:

• The Foundation for Economic Education — which seeks “To help people rediscover how essential freedom is to human existence and to demonstrate how dangerous it is to move toward any form of collectivism, FEE offers a comprehensive educational program to all students of liberty.” I was fortunate to attend their Austrian Economics seminar last year.
• The Institute for Humane Studies — “The mission of IHS is to support the achievement of a freer society by discovering and facilitating the development of talented, productive students, scholars, and other intellectuals who share an interest in liberty and who demonstrate the potential to help change the current climate of opinion to one more congenial to the principles and practice of freedom.” I had the excellent opportunity to be a Koch Fellow in the summer of ‘05 and work for IHS for about 2 1/2 years. Needless to say, I’m a big fan.
• The Institute for Liberal Studies (Canada) — ILS “is a non-partisan, non-profit organization dedicated to promoting discussions of economics, philosophy, history and public policy in Canada. We offer educational seminars to teach students about the classical liberal foundation of Canadian society and its application to current issues and challenges. Those invited to speak at ILS seminars span the political spectrum. We encourage discussion and debate about issues grounded in democracy, rule of law, markets and individual choice.” Last year I attended one of their seminars in Windsor and their epic Liberty Summer Seminar.
• The Mises Institute — “It is the mission of the Mises Institute to restore a high place for theory in economics and the social sciences, encourage a revival of critical historical research, and draw attention to neglected traditions in Western philosophy. In this cause, the Mises Institute works to advance the Austrian School of economics and the Misesian tradition, and, in application, defends the market economy, private property, sound money, and peaceful international relations, while opposing government intervention as economically and socially destructive.” Still haven’t been able to attend one of their seminars in person… Maybe this year!