Institute for Humane Studies

From Free net encyclopedia

The Institute for Humane Studies (IHS) is a libertarian organization that assists students at the undergraduate and graduate levels. It acts as a talent scout, identifying, developing, and supporting the brightest young libertarian students who are seeking careers as academics or intellectuals. Each year, IHS awards over $400,000 in scholarships to students from universities around the world.

The Institute for Humane Studies was founded in 1961 by Floyd "Baldy" Harper as a successor to his projects for the William Volker Fund, for which he had worked previously. The IHS inherited Volker's staff, approach, and the strategy of its directors, Loren Miller and Herb Cornuelle. Other founding members, many of whom had been associated with the Volker Fund as well, included Leonard P. Liggio, George Resch, Kenneth S. Templeton, Jr., and Dr. Neil McLeod; and among the earliest business supporters of the IHS were R. C. Hoiles, J. Howard Pew, Howard Buffett, William L. Law, and Pierre Goodrich.

Based for many years in Menlo Park, California, the IHS moved to Fairfax, Virginia in 1985 and associated with George Mason University. It is currently on GMU's Arlington campus.

In 2004, IHS launched aBetterEarth.org, a student-oriented website that states its goal as exploring "pragmatic approaches to solving environmental problems." The site discusses "alternative environmental approaches, including locally based 'eco-innovation,' outcome-based regulations, quasi-market pricing strategies, corporate and individual stewardship, property rights enforcement as a means of protecting the environment from polluters, and the cultivation of environmental aesthetics." The site criticizes traditional environmentalists for being anti-capitalist and for pushing counterproductive government regulations.

The IHS receives funding from a number of large libertarian and conservative foundations, including the Sarah Scaife Foundation, the Koch Family Foundations, Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, and the Carthage Foundation.

As of 2005, the president of the IHS is Marty Zupan.

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