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Rampart College, also referred to as the Freedom College was an unaccredited American libertarian educational institution established in 1956 by
Robert LeFevre Robert LeFevre (October 13, 1911 – May 13, 1986) was an American libertarianism, libertarian businessman, radio personality, and primary theorist of autarchism. Early life LeFevre was born in Gooding, Idaho, on October 13, 1911, but when h ...
in
Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...
. The college was a four-year school for followers of LeFevre's
autarchism Autarchism is a political ideology that promotes the principles of individualism and the moral ideology of individual liberty and self-reliance. It rejects compulsory government, and supports the elimination of government in favor of ruling one ...
and classical liberals. It was originally founded as the
Freedom School Rampart College, also referred to as the Freedom College was an unaccredited American libertarian educational institution established in 1956 by Robert LeFevre in Colorado. The college was a four-year school for followers of LeFevre's autarchism ...
.


Early years

LeFevre bought Glenrose Park, a 320-acre ranch south of Larkspur in
Douglas County, Colorado Douglas County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 357,978. The county is named in honor of U.S. Senator Stephen A. Douglas. The county seat is Castle Rock. Douglas County is pa ...
, in September 1955, using an inheritance from his mother, and started enrolling students in 1956. He purchased the property explicitly in order to establish a school to teach free-enterprise principles. Rising to over 7,000 feet above sea level, the forested land contained several cabins of questionable condition. In addition to LeFevre, the first board of directors included Ruth Dazey, William J. Froh, Lois LeFevre, Majorie Llewellin, Robert B. Rapp, and Edith Shank.


Freedom School renamed Rampart College

During the winter of 1964, the trustees of the Freedom School decided to officially rename the educational institution Rampart College after the nearby Rampart Range mountains. Carl Watner, ''Robert LeFevre, Truth is Not a Half-way Place'', Gramling, South Carolina, The Voluntaryists, 1988, p. 123 Froh assumed the position of president, while LeFevre was named dean and put in charge of instruction. By October 1964, the institution stated that over 730 students had completed courses at Freedom School since 1956. From 1965 to 1968, Rampart College published its primary publication—''Rampart Journal of Individualist Thought''—which according to Brian Doherty ran a number of stories "favorable to
individualist anarchism Individualist anarchism or anarcho-individualism is a collection of anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hi ...
", such as Roy Child’s article that explained why
Ayn Rand Alice O'Connor (born Alisa Zinovyevna Rosenbaum; , 1905March 6, 1982), better known by her pen name Ayn Rand (), was a Russian-born American writer and philosopher. She is known for her fiction and for developing a philosophical system which s ...
's
Objectivism Objectivism is a philosophical system named and developed by Russian-American writer and philosopher Ayn Rand. She described it as "the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive a ...
“necessarily implied anarchism".Brian Doherty, ''Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the Modern Libertarian Movement'', New York: PublicAffairs, 2007, p. 321 In addition, the journal featured an article that proposed a new way of looking at the
political spectrum A political spectrum is a system to characterize and classify different Politics, political positions in relation to one another. These positions sit upon one or more Geometry, geometric Coordinate axis, axes that represent independent political ...
, which was to become an early version of what was later to be known as the
Nolan Chart The Nolan Chart is a political spectrum diagram created by United States, American Libertarian Party (United States), libertarian activist David Nolan (libertarian), David Nolan in 1969, charting political views along two axes, representing econo ...
. By 1968, Rampart College had come to a point where they believed they could offer master's degrees to the general public.


Lecturers at the school and college

Over 50 teachers, guest instructors and guest lecturers taught at the school in Colorado. Some of the more notable lecturers included
Milton Friedman Milton Friedman (; July 31, 1912 – November 16, 2006) was an American economist and statistician who received the 1976 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his research on consumption analysis, monetary history and theory and ...
,
Ludwig von Mises Ludwig Heinrich Edler von Mises (; ; September 29, 1881 – October 10, 1973) was an Austrian-American political economist and philosopher of the Austrian school. Mises wrote and lectured extensively on the social contributions of classical l ...
,
Leonard Read Leonard Edward Read (September 26, 1898 – May 14, 1983) was the founder of the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE), one of the first free market think tanks in the United States. He wrote 29 books and numerous essays, including "I, Pencil ...
, F. A. Harper, Elgie Marcks, Ellis Lamborn,
Frank Chodorov Frank Chodorov (February 15, 1887 – December 28, 1966) was an American intellectual, author, and member of the Old Right, a group of classically liberal thinkers who were non-interventionist in foreign policy and opposed to both the America ...
, Hans Sennholz, Raymond C. Hoiles, Percy L. Greaves Jr., Ruth Maynard, Oscar W. Cooley, Raymond C. Hoiles, A. Neil McLeod, and Butler D. Shaffer. According to Doherty, some of the other speakers included
Rose Wilder Lane Rose Wilder Lane (December 5, 1886 – October 30, 1968) was an American writer and daughter of American writer Laura Ingalls Wilder. Along with two other female writers, Ayn Rand and Isabel Paterson, Lane is one of the more influential advoca ...
, Gordon Tullock, James M. Buchanan, and Childs.


Flood and end of Rampart College in Colorado

Over 14 inches of rain drenched the Palmer Range above Rampart College on June 16, 1965, and caused a torrent of water to fill the cabins with mud halfway to the roof, causing $150,000 in damages. The flooding and mudslides destroyed most of the campus, which halted its operations. With the school’s total indebtedness of close to $700,000, it became apparent that the entire 320-acre campus had to be sold. Near the end of 1968, the land and facilities of Rampart College, still often referred to as the Freedom School campus, were sold. The property was bought by a religious organization, the
Mennonites Mennonites are a group of Anabaptism, Anabaptist Christianity, Christian communities tracing their roots to the epoch of the Radical Reformation. The name ''Mennonites'' is derived from the cleric Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland, part of ...
, who had been searching for a location to use for educational purposes. According to Jeff Riggenbach, who visited the former school in 1981, the facilities looked more like a retreat for troubled boys.


Rampart College moves to Southern California

In November 1968, LeFevre moved to Southern California and took possession of the 7,000 square feet house on two acres in Arcadia, California, under the name of Rampart College. He planned to hold college courses and lectures at the residential property, but was unable to convince city officials to re-zone the property to establish a small college. To resolve this and other problems, LeFevre signed a six-year lease for a suite of offices on the top floor of the First Western Bank Building in Santa Ana and sold the Arcadia property. During this time period, Rampart College produced two 16mm color documentary films, such as ''Property: A Basis for Morality'' and ''The Meaning of Responsibility and Obligation'', which were narrated by LeFevre. A number of seminars were conducted across California, including some on the island of Catalina and the Carmel Valley area. In addition, the institute produced two home study courses, the Fundamentals of Liberty and Raising Children for Fun and Profit, along with 50 thirty-minute lectures on cassette tape based on LeFevre’s ''Fundamentals of Liberty'' home study course. In January 1973, LeFevre resigned from Rampart College and turned over its assets and presidency to Leon, an instructor and administrator of the college since 1966. Leon focused on organizing speaking tours for author
Harry Browne Harry Edson Browne (June 17, 1933 – March 1, 2006) was an American writer, libertarian political activist, and investment advisor. He was the Libertarian Party's presidential nominee in the U.S. elections of 1996 and 2000 running on a platfor ...
, managed a series of libertarian programs, and arranged media interviews to promulgate libertarian principles. Within a few years, Leon was unable to make rental payments to keep Rampart College afloat and the college closed its doors. In 1980, LeFevre and others attempted to revive the institution by establishing another school and Freedom library under the name of
Rampart Institute Rampart Institute is an incorporated non-profit educational foundation officially launched in 1980 to “bring public awareness to Libertarianism, libertarian/individualist ideals through a unique education program,” and to revive some of the ...
. LeFevre passed away in 1986, before he was able to acquire a new site for a libertarian-orientated college."Libertarian Philosopher Robert LeFevre Dies", ''Los Angeles Times'', May 18, 1986


See also

*
Right-libertarianism Right-libertarianism,Rothbard, Murray (1 March 1971)"The Left and Right Within Libertarianism". ''WIN: Peace and Freedom Through Nonviolent Action''. 7 (4): 6–10. Retrieved 14 January 2020.Goodway, David (2006). '' Anarchist Seeds Beneath the ...
*
Unaccredited institutions of higher learning Unaccredited institutions of higher education are colleges, trade schools, seminaries, and universities which do not have formal educational accreditation. Educational institutions may not be legally required to obtain independent accreditation, d ...


References

{{reflist


External links


''A Basis for Morality, Part 1''

''A Basis for Morality, Part 2''

''The Meaning of Responsibility and Obligation''
Defunct private universities and colleges in Colorado Libertarian organizations based in the United States