Federalist societies, like this one at the University of Michigan School of Law, are emerging on college campuses.
Modeled after The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy, which has molded several generations of legal thinkers at the nation’s law schools, this new wave of conservative thinkers is looking to take root in graduate schools of business, medicine and foreign policy.
One of the fastest-growing conservative alternatives is the Benjamin Rush Society, whose members support a free-market, limited government approach to medicine. The organization says its ranks have swelled since passage of the federal Affordable Care Act.
“Thirty to 40 years ago, the rule of law was a joke. It wasn’t taken seriously,” said Dr. Beth Haynes, executive director of the Rush society, named for an 18th Century physician who signed the Declaration of Independence. “It had no intellectual weight to it upon law campuses. That’s a very similar place to where free market in academic medicine is. It’s considered laughable.”
“I want to get free market back to the point where it’s a respectable point of view that has to be seriously considered. There’s no way that can happen until students are aware of what that really means, and they start having conversations,” he said.
At Duke University, fourth-year medical student Alex Chamessian leads a modest Benjamin Rush chapter that hosts debates, guest speakers and Skype chats. Like their counterparts at Ohio State, Yale, George Washington and other campuses, the Duke chapter embraces spirited debate rather than confrontation, Chamessian said. They’re also more concerned with finding the right kind of members—future influence leaders—than merely pumping up the membership rolls. Chamessian said that, while events typically draw 40 to 50 students, the core group consists of a half-dozen leaders.
It’s a well-worn model that Federalist Society forebears perfected a generation ago, with speakers willing to challenge their host’s perspective in order to give the students a chance to make up their own minds.
