Strategic Problem. Law schools are dominated by faculty who share a philosophy antithetical to free markets and broad religious freedom. Unless a coordinated, strategic effort for change is made, the problem will worsen and impact judicial decision making. This grant will encourage faculty to vigorously defend religious and economic freedom through their scholarship and participation in the public policy process. Having executed a planning grant to monitor results over 9 months, we now seek a 3 year grant to apply the lessons learned.
Main activities/Outputs
1) 16 topical colloquia
2) 3 studies that build upon the conclusions derived from the law review study
sponsored under the planning grant
3) 6 three-day job workshops for aspiring academics
4) 6 paper competitions for aspiring academics yielding 30 publishable papers
5) Recruitment and advising of 200 law students considering careers in the academy
6) 15 podcasts by legal scholars on recently published books or timely public policy
topics
7) 5 book launch events
8) 3 junior scholars colloquia
9) 23 video projects: 3 short videos on topics of religious and economic liberty, 3
in-depth series
10) 90 academics participating in a coordinated media campaign
11) 2 conferences with students and/or recent graduates interested in academic careers
12) 9 fellowships
13) 15 junior faculty workshops
14) 3 national faculty conferences
15) Participation in 3 international conferences on the free society
Potential Enduring Impacts:
Reinvigorating the studies of religious and economic liberties in the legal culture in a way that favors freedom
Disrupting the negative cycle of the hiring process in the legal academy that perpetuates a liberal orthodoxy
Providing theories of interpretation of major consequence in judicial decisions dealing with religious and economic liberties
Pushing forward the international conversation about the principles of a free society
