History

In winter 2009, several New York students* from three schools - Columbia University, New York University, and Fordham University - came together to discuss ways that their respective campus organizations could work together to advance liberty. Calling themselves the New York Liberty Alliance, they established a Facebook group to communicate and advertise their campus events to members across the New York area.

In addition to communicating their campus events, the group was also able to successfully coordinate travel to several local events - including trips to a Cato City Seminar and the Foundation for Economic Education. Discovering the educational opportunities available to students in the area, plans were made to create a more formal structure to support students more consistently.

On November 20, 2010, the New York Leadership Alliance Leadership Retreat was hosted at Columbia University by the Columbia University Libertarians. During that meeting, twenty students from seven colleges came together to share ideas and discuss best practices for developing successful student pro-liberty groups.

Taking a page from previously established local networks in Philadelphia and Washington D.C., the group was renamed the New York Forum for Freedom (NYFF). Henceforth, pro-liberty students in the New York area would have a regular forum to share their ideas, participate in leadership training, and plan joint events.

*Students included Masood Manoochehri, Phil Fraietta, Sean Williamson, and John David Fernandez.
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