UFM: The Next Step. Advancing the Ideas of Liberty Throughout the Spanish-Speaking World

This proposal is the same project conceptually and substantively as ID# 54680, which was approved by JTF Trustees in Fall 2014. This transfer is to change the legal organization from Friends of UFM directly to the Universidad Francisco Marroquin, requiring JTF to terminate 54680. The present proposal is a continuation of the work outlined in 54680, as of January 1, 2016. The Spanish-speaking world lacks classical liberal values. The allure of figures like Che Guevara and Castro are symptoms of the failure to grasp the intellectual foundations, economic processes, and social benefits of individual freedom. In order to overcome this problem we need leadership in the articulation, production, and dissemination of alternatives. UFM is uniquely positioned to reassert insights abandoned by the Spanish-speaking world. Our legitimacy comes from the fact that we can trace our intellectual roots back to the theologians of Salamanca, who understood that personal and economic freedom are vital for individuals and society. UFM is the only institution of higher learning in the world expressly founded to teach and disseminate the principles of a society of free and responsible persons. Our challenge is to leverage UFM’s well-developed platforms into powerful and replicable tools that can transmit free-market principles. Our Next Step project will be led by UFM’s CHH, the hub for developing curricula and activities related to our mission. 5 additional components focus on pedagogical reforms, multimedia publications, and outreach programs that can expand UFM’s impact beyond Guatemala: a film school, 4 MOOCs on Don Quijote, publications on the practical applications of economics, and an online K-7 primary school program. We can change the debate in the Spanish-speaking world (including the United States) by informing key populations about the relationship between liberty, prosperity, and human dignity.