We hope you enjoy these top news stories about TFAS activities, alumni and events this week. Please visit us on social media for additional up-to-the-moment TFAS news and information and sign up for our newsletter to receive weekly updates.
Alumna Files Class Action Lawsuit to Fight Chicago’s Unconstitutional Impound Practices
Alumna Diana Simpson, Law ’09, an attorney with the Institute for Justice, launched a major class action lawsuit against the city of Chicago over its car impound system. In an article for Reason, Simpson says, “The lack of innocent owner protection really violates two different kinds of constitutional protections: both the excessive fines and fees protection, as well as due process.”
Local news station NBC 5 Chicago also highlighted Simpson’s effort to stop Chicago’s unconstitutional impound practices.
When Policies Hurt Those They’re Meant to Help
TFAS alumna Samantha Summers ’12, PPF ’16, is exposing the unintended consequences of increasing the minimum wage through her work as communications director of the Employment Policies Institute (EPI). In a co-written article for the USA Today network, Summers says nearly 11 million teenagers have dropped out of the workforce in recent years and blames higher minimum wages as a key factor in eliminating opportunities for teens with little experience.
State and local legislators should be wary before mandating wage hikes that harm those they are intended to help.” – Samantha Summers ’12, PPF ’16
She writes, “Businesses that are unable to offset the cost on price-averse customers have instead turn to other alternatives to reduce labor costs. McDonald’s announced plans to add self-service kiosks to all US locations by 2020; earlier this year, Red Robin announced it was eliminating all busboy positions in its 570 locations … Teenagers earn more than just a paycheck through summer jobs, but rising minimum wages are robbing teens of these opportunities. State and local legislators should be wary before mandating wage hikes that harm those they are intended to help.”
Remembering Senator Richard Lugar
TFAS joined the nation in mourning The Honorable Richard Lugar this past weekend. Sen. Lugar was a bipartisan powerhouse on foreign policy and a shining example of leadership. We were honored to bestow on him our inaugural Congressional Leadership Award in 1989 and again in 2010 for his dedication to developing future leaders.
It is this invigorating hybrid of practical experience with intellectual endeavor that inspires our youth to become leaders for tomorrow – leaders needed to preserve and advance our heritage of freedom.” – Sen. Richard Lugar
When accepting the award in 1989, Sen. Lugar said The Fund for American Studies is “the type of initiative that was long overdue; it is a constructive effort to immerse potential leaders in the work and thought of Washington. And it is this invigorating hybrid of practical experience with intellectual endeavor that inspires our youth to become leaders for tomorrow – leaders needed to preserve and advance our heritage of freedom.”
Sen. Lugar’s work was transformational, and we will sorely miss him.
TFAS Professor Reflects on 75 Years of “The Road to Serfdom”
TFAS Professor Dr. Stefanie Haeffele explores the impact of F.A. Hayek’s “The Road to Serfdom” 75 years after its publication. In an article co-authored with Michael Schultz, Dr. Haeffele says that despite the vast changes and advances in the world since 1944, the underlying sociopolitical conversations have remained very much the same and thus Hayek’s lessons remain a “dire warning to idealist political activists of the consequences of real-life socialism.”
Dr. Haeffele teaches “Public Choice Economics” in our TFAS U.S. Summer Programs.
Post of the Week
Mannnn @TFASorg changed my life!!! Summer 2016 truly set my path toward greatness. If you’re a college student who is curious about journalism, why not test the waters in Washington, D.C.? Now I live off the coast reporting on the Sunrise Side in MI…..DM me for questions! https://t.co/e7VNRTy2pP
— Elijah Baker (@elijahbtv) April 29, 2019
Liberty + Leadership Quick Links
Novak Fellow Curt Mills, Novak ’18, is named Washington editor at Spectator USA. In an announcement, Spectator said, “Curt is a brilliant young journalist and one of the most exciting talents in D.C. We’re delighted that he’s agreed to join us. He is a Robert Novak Journalism Fellow — a scheme which has a great record of unearthing the best.”
TFAS Regent Emeritus Lee Edwards says recent surveys confirming millennial support for socialism and distaste for capitalism presents “a golden opportunity to educate all Americans about the manifold failures of socialism and miraculous advances the world has made under free enterprise” – lessons young people learn inside TFAS classrooms. Read more at Fox News.
TFAS Professor John Samples of the Cato Institute says government oversight should stay out of social media. “Individuals have a right to speak, and our society benefits from dissent.” Read more in The Sun.
Tim Alberta, Novak ’18, takes a look “Inside the Shrinking Newsroom of the Paper That Shapes the Primaries” for Politico’s Media Issue.
Forbes reviews Tim Carney’s, Novak ’03, new book “Alienated America” and proposes what educators and education policymakers can do to deter the crumbling of American institutions. Read more in Forbes.
Kate Gillem ’13 is the new communications director for the Senate Minority Office in Oregon.
Michael Brendan Dougherty, Novak ’09, appears on Fox News to discuss his new book, “My Father Left Me Ireland: An American Son’s Search for Home.” Brendan Dougherty will be speaking at the TFAS Annual Conference in June.