Reston, VA—Young America’s Foundation (YAF) is excited to announce the 2017-2018 launch of the Fred Allen Lecture Series, introducing thousands of young people to conservative ideas at schools across the country. Since the introduction of the Fred Allen Lecture series in 2015, the New York Times has called Young America’s Foundation “the conservative force” on campuses. The Fred Allen Lecture Series will empower conservative students at schools nationwide to share their ideas of individual liberty, personal responsibility, and a strong national defense with their peers, throughout the 2017-2018 school year. Speakers of the Fred Allen Lecture Series will address the key issues facing students on their campuses and will feature prominent YAF speakers including Dinesh D’Souza, Newt Gingrich, Steve Moore, Christina Hoff Sommers, Katie Pavlich, Marc Thiessen, Lieutenant Colonel Allen West, and Ben Shapiro. Live streaming will make select lectures available to millions more people across the country. The Fred Allen Lecture Series will provide unmatched resources to students who are passionate about advancing conservative ideas and otherwise would not be able to host a speaker. Ron Robinson, president of Young America’s Foundation, said, “We are deeply grateful to Fred Allen for his strong commitment to reaching young people and advancing freedom. Through the third consecutive Fred Allen Lecture Series, thousands of new students will attend exciting campus events and hear a spirited defense of conservative ideas. Millions more will watch online. The lives of the student organizers will never be the same. Mr. Allen is inspiring the next generation of conservative leaders!” The announcement comes at a time when school administrators are more hostile to conservative students and conservative ideas than at any other time since the 1960s. 46% of YAF’s campus lectures have been disrupted in some form since November, including two lectures blocked by administrators at the University of California, Berkeley, which led to YAF’s much-publicized federal lawsuit against UC – Berkeley aimed at restoring students’ free speech rights. Young America’s Foundation Vice President Patrick Coyle, who has overseen YAF’s campus lecture program for nearly 20 years, explained, “Leftist administrators are more vicious than ever in their tactics to silence conservative students. Administrators delay and reject applications by students to form YAF chapters, refuse to assign rooms for meetings and events, schedule events at inconvenient times and undesirable locations, and charge discriminatory and punitive security fees when little or no effective security is provided. Over the last few months, our students began facing a new challenge: administrators are increasingly violating the rights of students who want to hear from conservative speakers, by allowing one or a handful of leftists to holler, disrupt, and shout down presentations that challenge the Left’s agenda. Students have the right to organize and attend events without the uncertainty of the actions of spiteful disrupters.” Fred Allen shared his excitement about the launch of this year’s lecture series: “I am pleased to renew my sponsorship of the Fred Allen Lecture Series. Through my partnership with Young America’s Foundation, we have introduced thousands of young people to ideas of freedom no longer taught in schools. One of America’s greatest freedoms is the right to pursue happiness, which is paramount to success. By distorting America’s founding principles, schools have been robbing young people of their American heritage. My goal through this lecture series is to inspire thousands more young people with the American values of freedom, personal responsibility, and ambition that have shaped our great country since our founding.” Since 2015, thousands of young people have attended campus lectures featuring Lt. Col. Allen West and Ben Shapiro as a part of the Fred Allen Lecture Series. Millions more viewed lectures online through live streaming and archived videos. Upon the conclusion of the 2016-2017 lecture series, Lt. Col. West noted, “The Fred Allen Lecture Series allowed this soldier to stay on the battlefield. It is an ideological battlefield but still a vital, critical conflagration of ideals to protect and preserve that for which my Army was established 242 years ago.” Ben Shapiro echoed these sentiments: “It was an absolute pleasure to participate in the Fred Allen Lecture Series. From California State Los Angeles to Penn State, from University of Michigan to University of Berkeley, I think we made a significant difference, not just for the students who attended and tens of thousands who watched online, but for the national debate over free speech and the future of our universities.
