If University of Mississippi students find themselves ruminating on life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, UM may have the answer: a new minor in freedom studies. Offered through the Declaration of Independence Center for the Study of American Freedom, the minor will be available in spring 2024.  

The center seeks to educate students on freedom and liberty as value systems. It was established in 2007 with the mission to explore how legal and economic systems stifle or promote freedom, as well as to provide students with a historical record of freedom in the United States.  

Steven Skultety, director of the Declaration of Independence Center and chair of the Department of Philosophy, hopes that the program will engage students interested in thinking more deeply about what freedom is and its value to our society. 

“This will be a place on campus where (students) can think and study freedom in a careful and academic manner,” Skultety said. “It’s an interdisciplinary minor and it’s housed in the College of Liberal Arts. It is also going to be offering special freedom studies courses that will be staffed by the center, and I think those classes will be of a lot of interest to students.” 

Sophomore public policy leadership major Barton Boyll believes the new minor will provide a special opportunity to students.  

“I think it will give students here a unique opportunity to expand their knowledge on what freedom really means and why it’s so important, especially within our country,” Boyll said.“And I think it being open to students of all ideologies is great because it will give an equal opportunity to prospective students to get a broad view of freedom.” 

Some of the courses include “Ideals of Liberty in the US Founding” and “Topics in Law and Constitutional Thought.” The interdisciplinary minor is housed in the college of liberal arts.  

The center will also be offering $10,000 Freedom Studies Scholarships. Fellows will receive the scholarship money over four semesters and must be students of sophomore or junior standing by spring 2024. To apply for the scholarship, students must submit a short essay as outlined on the center’s scholarship page.  

“I think the minor is a great idea, because we all need to be informed on the struggles associated with keeping and maintaining freedom,” Shayla Hanson, a sophomore biology major, said. “The scholarship associated with it would also motivate people to take the classes which, all in all, will increase the popularity of the newly offered minor and also increase excitement about learning the subject.” 

Other students have already expressed interest in the new minor and are considering adding it to their academic plans next semester.  

“The freedom studies minor seems to be a really unique opportunity for Ole Miss students to learn the meanings of freedom in the U.S. from the writing of the constitution to how it affects our everyday lives, which is something I think gets taken for granted,” Isaiah Goss, a sophomore public policy leadership major, said. “Since I have a desire to one day progress the country using those values, I think this is a great minor for me to add.” 

Skultety also clarified that all students are welcome to take up the minor.   

“People across the political spectrum are able to participate,” Skultety said. “We’d be happy to have people from across the political spectrum studying freedom at the declaration center.”