CORNELL UNIVERSITY

We aim to enhance understanding and appreciation for constitutional liberty, by stimulating inquiry into the nature and meaning of freedom. We regard the freedom of individuals as the bedrock upon which solutions to thorny problems can be built. But, individual freedom flourishes best in the framework of institutions. Constitutional democracy, limited government, and a strong sense of citizenship are essential... We want to focus on the most pressing contemporary challenges - the genuine, underlying conflicts in the world. We hope to stimulate debate on fundamental issues. We want to engage in an undertaking that encourages Cornellians to think about big questions with the rigor, dispassion, and lack of partisanship that serious academic inquiry requires. We hope to press questions that encourage thinking about what a university community should say to outsiders or how faculty and students might respond to the basic questions that engage people in the larger world.

Also known as: Freedom and Free Societies

Primary location: Ithaca United States