Objectivist Club

Last year, a group of students decided that Ayn Rand's objectivist ideas should be receiving more attention on the Harvard campus.

For many years, the Objectivist Club--devoted to promoting the philosophy Rand founded--had been inactive, with membership declining to fewer than 10 students.

But last spring, a few of the club's remaining members, including current club President Joseph C. Anderson '99, sought information from the Ayn Rand Foundation about the philosopher's work.

After receiving several postcards from Harvard students, members of the foundation contacted them and offered them the foundation's resources.

Club leaders and the institute's campus clubs director discussed the possibility of co-sponsoring an event and were eventually able to arrange the lecture series "Ayn Rand Comes to Harvard."

The lectures, which began nine days ago and will continue through December 10, are given by scholars who work for the Speakers Bureau of the Ayn Rand Institute, Anderson says.

The Objectivist Club is undertaking an extensive advertising campaign on campus to promote the lecture series.

The club's treasurer, Andrew P. Schwartz '99, says that the club received a "generous" contribution from the foundation, but is not getting any money from the University or from the Undergraduate Council.

The campaign appears to be working: 185 students attended the first lecture, and 110 went to the second.

Objectivism, according to the club's philosophical literature, "upholds the supreme value of the individual mind and champions the individual's right to live for his own sake, by his own judgment."

Rand created and developed the philosophy in books such as Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead.

According to Anderson, the lectures will thoroughly explore the many facets of objectivism, including moral, economic and personal issues.

"People should attend the lectures to discover Ayn Rand's revolutionary ideas," Anderson says. "[People will learn that] our most important priority is to ourselves and that society is no more than a conglomeration of individuals."

The next lecture in the series, "Ayn Rand's Theory of Free Will," will be delivered by Dr. Harry Biswanger on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. in the Sackler Museum Lecture Hall.

Lectures are free for students and faculty at Harvard and other schools. A $10 donation is requested of others.

The Objectivist Club also sponors video lectures and presentations throughout the year, Anderson says.