Institute for Humane Studies
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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.
It was started in 1961 by F. A. 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 Buffet, 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.
In 2004, IHS launched aBetterEarth.org (http://www.abetterearth.org/index.php), 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 regulation.
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.
The current president of the IHS is Marty Zupan.
References
- John Blundell, "Waging the War of Ideas (http://www.atlasusa.org/toolkit/waging_war.php?refer=toolkit)", speech to the Heritage Foundation, January 1990, accessed January 12, 2004.
- Radley Balko, "Private Investment Protects Environment Where Government Fails (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,116497,00.html)," FOXNews, April 8, 2004.
- "Institute for Humane Studies (http://www.mediatransparency.org/search_results/info_on_any_recipient.php?169)," MediaTransparency.org.