Give the Gift of Good Ideas to Students at Your Alma Mater

Strategic Mission:

To encourage an awareness and understanding of traditionalist and classical liberal ideas among college students by making it convenient for alumni and others to support that mission directly.

Why is CICEM needed?

Alumni want to support education at their alma mater; they contribute over $52 BILLION annually to colleges and universities. Yet most conservatives do not participate, thinking our colleges are hot houses of “wokeness” and political correctness. CICEM is designed to provide a simple, convenient platform to make it easy for alumni and friends of a college to provide a diversity of conservative ideas to current students at that college — ideas at the heart of Western Civilization but all too rarely part of the regular curriculum.

How does CICEM do this?

CICEM itself does not solicit contributions for itself; rather it facilitates support of educational activities directly to college students. A CICEM College Council for a specific college is formed when 5 or more alumni and others are willing to support activities with at least $200 each and a little time. You know exactly where every penny goes!

How can I help?

1. If your alma mater (or another preferred college) already has a Council or Provisional Council, simply volunteer to join it.

2. If there is not yet a Council, a pledge of $1K and a willingness to fulfill gift subscription requests is needed for a Council to be formed. This can be done by one or more individuals.

3. Tell others who might be interested in helping this effort. There is, of course, no limit on how much might be provided for activities, but CICEM is designed to allow small donors to participate and know exactly where every penny of their contribution goes. But it also allows for a group of alumni to join together easily for joint activities (and in some cases, CICEM can keep funds in an escrow account until a full budget for a program is reached. It is also worth reminding that, on a college campus, it takes rather small amounts to have a substantial impact.

How long will Council members serve?

There is no limit on how long a person can serve, but at least three years is expected.

What are the requirements for joining a College Council?

A small amount of time (fulfilling gift subscriptions on the internet and exploring other prospective activities) and a willingness to contribute at least $200 for these activities.

How will students learn about this initiative?

The CICEM web site, word-of-mouth and similar efforts. Certain faculty members will be asked to recommend the program to students they know who might be interested. Since CICEM does not solicit funds for itself, it is able to work with other groups aimed at college students; these groups might help publicize this program selectively. Ads might also be taken in the college paper.

What are these programs?

Only one program is required: to provide a free annual subscription to one of six publications, upon the request of that student. Those six publications are Modern Age, Humanitas, First Things, The Claremont Review, The American Conservative and Chronicles of Culture. After that, the specific activities are up to the College Council for that college. Subscriptions to other publications, books, lectures, support for attendance at seminars are all possible. (All programs must must be educational, focus on traditionalist and classical liberal ideas, and feasible.)

What are some examples of such programs?

The possibilities are extensive. Funds for speakers or conference with an established college organization. Another example would be to fund a student’s registration fee at a conference. A third: to offer selected books to students who have requested a subscription. A fourth would be to offer one of ISI’s Student Guides to the disciplines. A fifth might be to fund registration fees to attend a Leadership Institute course. A sixth would add more libertarian oriented publications which students could choose to receive.

Why these six publications?

These were publications subscribed to by Harry Hogan, whose estate made the founding of CICEM possible. The subscription program is a living memorial to his memory.

What other programs could a Council undertake?

That is largely up to each College Council. Nothing more is required. The criteria will be primarily a clear educational purpose, feasibility and compatibility with the overall CICEM mission. (The CICEM Board must approve any new programs in advance.)

How would new programs be funded?

The College Council members and others would pledge contributions to cover any such program. While direct funding of any such programs is preferable, CICEM can hold funds in escrow for a designated program until sufficient funds are available to undertake the activity. For large donations, CICEM’s 501c3 status may be beneficial, but CICEM generally does not seek to be an intermediary. CICEM as such does not anticipate undertaking programs or generally to solicit funds for programs.That means all funds go directly and fully to programs and activities at the designated college.

Can a College Council start a memorial to others, such as a beloved professor at the college?

Yes. Doing this is encouraged. For example: The subscription program at Georgetown University has a “Memorial to three legendary professors at Georgetown — George W. Carey, James V. Schall, S.J. & Lev Dobriansky.” or “Funding for this speaker is provided to honor the contributions of Professor (name of professor) to the education of generations of (college name) students.”

What if I don’t want to be involved in receiving and fulfilling requests for these publications?

In that case, a donation made to CICEM can be made and a provisional Council for the college will be initiated and gift subscription requests will be handled by CICEM.

What if more students request subscriptions above the $1,000 pledged?

The College Council members will either continue funding requests or simply inform those students that the funds for this program have already been expended for the current year.

How will College Councils interact with other organizations with similar purposes?

Cooperatively. CICEM is unusual in that it does not solicit funds for itself. Money from Contributors goes directly to fund an activity on a college campus. In this way, Contributors can, individually or collectively, support or co-sponsor any appropriate activity on a campus.

How would such a collaboration work with either a national organization or an on-campus organization?

There are a great many possibilities. The initiative or idea may come from a College Council member, students or a faculty member at that college, or an organization. One or more College Council members may fund such a proposed activity directly or, as a group, fund a discrete part of a larger program. A lecture, seminar, books, conference registration fees are all possibilities.

What would a Faculty Associate do?

At a minimum a Faculty Associate would volunteer to inform prospective students about the gift subscription program (obviously when it is available for that college). Such as simply saying: “Jim, you might be interested in a magazine called “First Things”. And there is a program that provides free subscriptions to it. The web site is CICEM-USA.org. You might check it out.” Other possible activities would be to lead a discussion group focusing on one or more articles in one of the publications — or on some other topic. In-person discussion groups for students at that campus is one variation; another would be a Zoom conference allowing for a wider audience of students from other colleges. A faculty member may also propose a project that a College Council might agree to undertake, such as sponsoring a lecture on that campus.

Can there be more than one Faculty Associate at a college?

Yes. Ideally they will coordinate to some degree, but can also operate independently.

How many college Councils do you think will be formed in the first two years?

There are 12 Provisional Councils already, so 25 such Councils seems a reasonable short-term goal, with most of them at small, but well-known colleges. (See list below.) To be clear, however: Pledge(s) totaling $1,000 can initiate the core gift subscription program at any college or university. After that we hope hundreds of Councils will come into existence

What about the long term — say ten years?

Ten people providing free subscriptions to students at 100 college would be wonderful. That would roughly be 10,000 subscriptions and something like an average of $35K going to each of the six publications. At a thousand colleges would be even more wonderful. And a major defeat for the narrow ideological education of “wokism.” The more substantive answer can’t be quantified: one exceptional article read by an inquiring student can re-orient that person’s life.

What will CICEM Board members do?

The purpose of CICEM is to encourage and facilitate alumni and other friends of colleges to cooperate to support activities at their specific college. The most important activity of the Board will be to refine how CICEM operates so problems can be avoided and opportunities seized. Board members may, at their discretion, join one or more College Councils. Since CICEM’s administration costs are expected to be already funded, no contributions to CICEM are required from Board members or others.

Will CICEM have any staff or offices?

This is not expected, at least in the early years although this may change. We have a web site designer and a lawyer handling our 501c3 issues. If CICEM grows beyond current expectations, then we might need to find office space and consider hiring a staff (at which time, more funding will be needed). Overall, however, a good web site and the individual Councils will handle most of the activities.