January 5, 2022
In 1956, Grove City College Board chairman, J. Howard Pew, hired Hans Sennholz to direct the economics program at the college.
Sennholz—one of four (Israel Kirzner, Louis Spadaro, George Reisman) Ph.D. students Ludwig von Mises had in the U.S.—would teach at GCC until 1992 when he retired to become the president of the Foundation for Economic Education.
As the college puts it:
“Sennholz wasn’t the only faculty member committed to free markets and classical liberalism at Grove City College, but he stands as the prototype. Many others would work with him and follow in his footsteps.”
During his teaching heyday, Sennholz was a “voice crying in the wilderness” amidst the height of the hegemonic, Keynesian-inspired, Samuelsonian, “neoclassical synthesis” (long since challenged on a host of fronts by Monetarism, New Classicalism, the resurgence of Austrian economics, and the rise of NIE, Chicago, and Public Choice). Relative to the 50’s (when Sennholz began teaching), 60’s, and 70’s, the economics profession today must be said to be much more pluralistic due to the “rediscovery” of lost learning by the intellectual movements I just mentioned.
In large part due to Sennholz’s presence at the school, GCC attracted students who were interested in the ideas of classical liberalism. Others “converted” on arrival.
Most of the time, on this blog, I write about ideas, not personalities. But Walter Grinder’s recent passing was my impetus to catalogue a few of the more notable GCC grads in the liberty movement.
Here are a few GCC alums who have devoted their lives to understanding, writing, and speaking about the principles which undergird free, prosperous, and peaceful societies. Of course, their inclusion on this list shouldn’t be taken as endorsement of all their views by myself and certainly not by Grove City College. Nor do I pretend to speak for any of their own views, especially how they might see their relationship to the college. I’ve done my best to keep this as factual as possible.
1.
George Pearson. I’m not sure what year Pearson graduated from GCC (mid 60’s), but Pete Boettke identifies him as an architect of the famed 1974 South Royalton Conference, which marked the beginning of the modern renaissance in Austrian economics. Attendees included Milton Friedman, Henry Hazlitt, Murray Rothbard, Israel Kirzner, Ludwig Lachmann, and W.H. Hutt among dozens of younger scholars.
2.
Walter Grinder ’67. It seems Grinder’s biggest impact came through his time as Vice President for Academic Affairs at the Institute for Humane Studies, where he mentored Tyler Cowen, Pete Boettke, George Selgin, and countless others. He also wrote several academic pieces. Here are a few examples: 1 and 2.
3.
Jeffrey Rogers Hummel ’71. Leading economic historian at San Jose State University. He has held positions at the Hoover Institution, the Independent Institute, the Cato Institute, and the Institute for Humane Studies. He is an expert on the economics of slavery, the American Civil War, and monetary history.
4.
Lawrence Reed ’75. President of the Mackinac Center for two decades, after which he served as president of the Foundation for Economic Education where he is now president emeritus. While working as a freelance journalist, he covered economic events in 78 countries. A highly recognizable and compelling communicator of economic ideas to the public.
5.
Peter Boettke ’83. One of the most influential scholars in academic Austrian economics of the last fifty years. University Professor of Economics and Philosophy at George Mason. The Wall Street Journal profiled him here. I think he has over 150 scholarly articles, but I lost track after 100. Former president of the Mount Pelerin Society. Former president of the Southern Economic Association, has supervised countless PhD students.
6.
Alex Chafuen ’84. President of the Atlas Network from 1991-2018 and one-time president of the Philadelphia Society. His dissertation, “Faith and Liberty,” is a masterful look at the economic thought of the Scholastics. Founder of the Hispanic American Center for Economic Research.
7.
Matt Kibbe ’85 and Terry (Schott ’86) Kibbe. M. Kibbe joined “FreedomWorks” (previously “Citizens for a Sound Economy”) in 1986, serving as president from 2004-2015. Steve Forbes commented that, “Kibbe has been to FreedomWorks what Steve Jobs was to Apple.” Currently the president of Free the People where Terry is the CEO. Bestselling books like this one.
8.
Scott Bullock ’88. A lawyer focused on property rights issues. Currently the president of the Institute for Justice. Notable for arguing the “Kelo” eminent domain case—one of the most famous court cases in history—before the Supreme Court.
Alfredo Irigoin, Walter Wessels (a TA to Gary Becker while in graduate school), Juan Cachanosky, and Sanford Ikeda are additional GCC-grad economists with strong interests in the ideas of liberty.
In my role at the college, I’m routinely asked about where “Sennholz students” are now and what they’re doing. Well, here are a few. In several years reflecting on this question, I’ve concluded that no other school’s alums have had as great an influence on the 20th-21st century freedom movement as have Grove City College’s.
