Federalist Society Success Inspires Campus Copies

 

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"Duke University's medical school has a diverse group of students from many backgrounds and with many different opinions and philosophies about a variety of issues," said Dr. Edward Buckley, vice dean for education. "That is what makes our student population great, and we not only encourage but embrace an environment where students are free to support their beliefs and express their opinions."

The Duke group's guest speakers included Dr. Keith Smith, an Oklahoma City anesthesiologist whose surgical center lists the costs of its medical procedures online in a move toward price transparency. The practice only accepts private health insurance, not Medicaid or Medicare.

Also using the same approach is the Alexander Hamilton Society, whose 2010 creators include Princeton University professor Aaron Friedberg and hedge fund lawyer Roy Katzovicz. The group says its goal is providing "what American higher education lacks: vital, constructive debate on foreign, economic and national security policy" rather than letting students rely on "professors whose commitment to liberal internationalism remains steadfast."

More than 50 chapters have sprung up, including at Duke, Northwestern, Stanford and six of the eight Ivy League schools.

The Benjamin Rush Society traces its roots to 2008, when Canadian activist Sally Pipes organized a Washington meeting with support from the Kansas City-based Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. Its credo: "the profession of medicine calls its practitioners to serve their patients rather than the government." Conversely, they also support so-called "concierge medicine" in which those with more money pay for individualized care otherwise unavailable.

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Online:

The Federalist Society: www.fed-soc.org

Benjamin Rush Society: www.benjaminrushsociety.org

Alexander Hamilton Society: www.hamsoc.org

The Adam Smith Society: www.adamsmithsociety.com

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Follow Alan Scher Zagier on Twitter at http://twitter.com/azagier