About Us
Students For Liberty is a rapidly growing network of pro-liberty students from all over the world. We are the largest libertarian student organization in the world. In Fiscal Year 2021, SFL produced:
2,571
SFL Events
600,130
Event Attendees
3,429
Student Volunteers
2,571
SFL Events
600,130
Event Attendees
3,429
Student Volunteers
We are thoroughly trained and professional. Through increasing awareness of our emotions, we are able to manage and control them, leading to improved interpersonal relationships and empathetic communication with people with other viewpoints. We have a high level of understanding of the ideas of liberty and can clearly and effectively explain the economic and philosophical rationale for the issues we stand for.
Rising above partisan politics, we engage in open and civil discourse over how to best promote freedom in all aspects of our lives. We respect that everyone comes to their justification for liberty in their own way and we are supportive of them in that journey.
Liberty creates a better world and our message surrounding the ideas are welcoming, positive, and inspiring.
Students For Liberty educates young people about the philosophy of liberty. We do this in two ways: by helping young people learn about the principles of a free society, and by identifying those young people who are already supportive of liberty and providing them with resources to spread the ideas. This step is not about providing advanced education regarding the nuances of libertarian theory. Rather, we aim to provide a basic education to as many people as possible on the meaning of liberty and key values of classical liberalism
Students For Liberty develops the leadership skills of those who support liberty. To effect change, it’s not enough for someone to intellectually agree with the principles of liberty: they must be capable of taking action to bring it about. This is why SFL is providing training and support to develop the leadership skills of our volunteers. The goal is to help them be more effective organizers, managers, writers, speakers, and overall better leaders today and tomorrow. This involves teaching fundamental skills that all successful leaders should know, as well as facilitating personal growth and specialization in areas where our students can provide the most value for liberty.
Students For Liberty empowers students and alumni to make the world a freer place. For anyone supportive of the principles of liberty, we want to provide the resources, network, training, infrastructure, and any other kind of support we can, to help them become more active and more successful in advancing the cause of liberty. This defines SFL and drives our programs so that we will ultimately bring about change which favors freedom.
SFL is not a top down, chapter based, or membership organization. Instead SFL functions as a network of pro-liberty students from a wide diversity of locations and backgrounds.
We work with a variety of student organizations across the many ideological positions within the philosophy of liberty. These include Students For Liberty groups, College Libertarians, free speech clubs, small “l” libertarian associations, economics clubs, Objectivist societies, Austrian Economics reading groups, Students for Individual Liberty groups, and any other group that supports an idea or cause of liberty.
With SFL Academy you have the unique chance to learn more about liberty in an gamified and social environment. You’ll be able to take a course, discuss it with like minded individuals from all over the globe, and share your achievements with them.
Learn Liberty is your resource for exploring the ideas of a free society. We tackle big questions about what makes society free or prosperous and how we can improve the world we live in.
What Does Liberty Mean to SFL?
Students For Liberty is an organization that supports liberty for all people. SFL does not dictate the foundations upon which individuals justify their belief in Liberty. Rather, Students For Liberty embraces the diversity of justifications for liberty and encourages debate and discourse on the differing philosophies that underlie liberty. What Students For Liberty endorses are the principles that comprise liberty:
Economic
Freedom
Individual
Freedom
Academic
Freedom
STUDENT FOR LIBERTY’S HISTORY
Students For Liberty was founded in 2008 by a group of students who wanted to make a difference by supporting their fellow pro-liberty students on campus.
Pro-liberty student groups had long been isolated from one another and the larger liberty movement. The initial Students For Liberty Conference at Columbia University was originally planned for around 30 students, but demand far exceeded those estimates and 100 students ended up attending the conference in spite of a blizzard that shut down most of the region.
From those humble beginnings, the organization has grown each year to keep up with the rapidly growing demand and provide support to the student movement for liberty.
