Ayn Rand Institute

The Ayn Rand Institute describes itself as "a non-profit organization headquartered in Irvine, California, works to introduce young people to Ayn Rand's novels, to support scholarship and research based on her ideas, and to promote the principles of reason, rational self-interest, individual rights and laissez-faire capitalism to the widest possible audience."

Global warming
In 2009 the institute was a co-sponsor of the Heartland Institute's 2009 conference for climate change skeptics.

Saying "U.S. Should Not Help Tsunami Victims"
On December 30, 2004, the Ayn Rand Institute sent out a press release saying that the "U.S. Should Not Help Tsunami Victims". This was just days after the devastating South Asian tsunami. Boston.com (The Boston Globe) wrote "That's certainly one way to keep alive the spirit of the author of The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, for whom altruism was a dirty word and the productive, heroic pursuit of one's own happiness the highest ideal. After widespread ridicule, the Institute removed the statement from its website, offering the clarification that it was opposed to all government-sponsored charitable giving (since the money isn't the government's to give), and that singling out this instance, just now, was inappropriate."

Free copies of Ayn Rand novels
Since 2002, the Ayn Rand Institute has given out more than 1.4 million free copies of Ayn Rand novels to teachers in North America. The novels Anthem, The Fountainhead, and Atlas Shrugged have been sent to 30,000 teachers in 40,000 classrooms. The Institute figures that given the expected three-year lifespan of a book, more than three million people will be introduced to her books and ideas.

Personnel
As of November 2010, Staff:
 * Onkar Ghate, Dean, Objectivist Academic Center and Senior Fellow
 * Kurt Kramer, Media Relations Specialist
 * Richard E. Ralston, Publishing Manager
 * Anu Seppala, Vice President of Cultural Programs

Board of Directors:
 * Michael S. Berliner, Board Co-Chair
 * Arline Mann, Board Co-Chair
 * Yaron Brook, President and Executive Director
 * Carl Barney, Chairman and CEO of Independence University
 * Harry Binswanger
 * Peter LePort
 * John B. Ridpath
 * Tara Smith

Former:
 * Kara Devar

Contact details
2121 Alton Parkway, Suite 250 Irvine, California, 92606-4926 Phone: 949-222-6550 Fax: 949-222-6558 Website: http://www.aynrand.org

Related SourceWatch articles

 * Ayn Rand
 * Climate Change
 * Climate change sceptics
 * Climate change skeptics/common claims and rebuttal
 * International Conference on Climate Change (2008)
 * International Conference on Climate Change (2009)
 * Researching global warming skeptics
 * think tanks

External articles

 * Noah Kristula-Green, "Tea Party Embraces Ayn Rand", FrumForum, July 31, 2010.