New Excellent Program: UCLA Center for Liberal Arts and Free Institutions

Ashley Thorne

One of the ways NAS is working for higher education reform is to build and encourage the development of specialized programs that fill a gap in today's college curriculum. Such programs offer courses in subjects that have been largely neglected by mainstream institutions: American history and freedom, Constitutionalism, Western civilization, free markets, Great Books, and civic leadership.

NAS has compiled a database of these campus-based programs and lists them on the "Excellent Programs" page on our website. Our chairman Steve Balch helped build many of the nearly 50 listed.

We are always updating our Excellent Programs page; check out the newest addition, below. We invite you to browse our list and send the link (/resources/recommended_programs) to interested friends.

The list of programs can be accessed by clicking the blue “Excellent Programs” tab on the left sidebar of the NAS homepage.

* * *

University of California at Los Angles – Center for Liberal Arts and Free Institutions (CLAFI)

Website: http://www.clafi.ucla.edu/index.php

An interdisciplinary center created in 2009 as part of the UCLA division of Humanities, CLAFI is dedicated to teaching the history of free institutions; encouraging students to confront basic questions of the meaning of life through the liberal arts; and promoting the study of the great works of civilization. CLAFI sponsors courses for undergraduates oriented toward these goals and invites the public to lectures, seminars, performances, and discussion groups. The UCLA Shakespeare Society is an affiliated group that meets to discuss the plays of Shakespeare and attend local productions of them. CLAFI is directed by Daniel Lowenstein, professor of law emeritus at UCLA.

  • Share

Most Commented

September 6, 2024

1.

Professor Alleges "Widespread" Discriminatory Hiring Coverup at University of Washington

Audio acquired by the National Association of Scholars describes allegations of coverup race-based hiring coverup at the University of Washington...

October 29, 2024

2.

The Looming Irrelevance of Middle East Study Centers

Today’s Middle Eastern Studies Centers are facing a crisis due to the winds of change in the Middle East and their own ideological echo chamber....

September 25, 2024

3.

NAS Statement on University of Pennsylvania Sanction of Amy Wax

The National Association of Scholars is outraged—but not surprised—by Penn's decision to penalize Wax for exercising her academic freedom. ...

Most Read

May 15, 2015

1.

Where Did We Get the Idea That Only White People Can Be Racist?

A look at the double standard that has arisen regarding racism, illustrated recently by the reaction to a black professor's biased comments on Twitter....

October 12, 2010

2.

Ask a Scholar: What is the True Definition of Latino?

What does it mean to be Latino? Are only Latin American people Latino, or does the term apply to anyone whose language derived from Latin?...

September 21, 2010

3.

Ask a Scholar: What Does YHWH Elohim Mean?

A reader asks, "If Elohim refers to multiple 'gods,' then Yhwh Elohim really means Lord of Gods...the one of many, right?" A Hebrew expert answers....