Los Angeles, April 16, 1998 -- To mark the first anniversary of the Philadelphia volunteerism summit, the Ayn Rand Institute (ARI) announces a new program of "Anti-Servitude" internships for students. Students who are forced into the alternative of performing mandatory service or being denied graduation now may have the opportunity of fulfilling this requirement while undermining it. They may apply to the Ayn Rand Institute to work on Institute projects that reject the self-sacrifice premise underlying mandatory service and instead promote reason, rational self-interest and the freedom to pursue one's own happiness. Those students accepted into the internship program may even work directly on projects to combat volunteerism, such as conducting research in their communities to document the adverse impact of community service on students' education and career preparation.

The Anti-Servitude Program has been organized because volunteerism's primary target is the children of this country. President Clinton and General Colin Powell are promoting mandatory service for students as a requirement for advancement and graduation. Students who do not voluntarily act on the moral premise that they must sacrifice their time and lives to others are being drafted into service by more and more schools. These draftees are being taught that their lives and futures are not their own but the states'.

Since the Presidents' summit on volunteerism in April 1997, the Ayn Rand Institute has been the sole voice of moral opposition to volunteerism. Volunteerism is designed to turn Americans into guilt-ridden indentured servants -- a program morality more appropriate to a dictatorship than to a nation founded on independence and freedom.

For full details of the "Anti-Servitude" internships -- which begin in September -- students wishing to apply should contact: