Name: Irena Schneider
School: American University
Email: ISchneider@StudentsForLiberty.org
Bio: Irena Schneider is a junior at American University, pursuing a major in Russian Language and Area Studies and a minor in literature. Having immigrated with her family from Russia at age 8, she was exposed to the bleak reality of socialism from a young age. After becoming interested in the philosophy of libertarianism from the Ron Paul movement, she and a friend launched the American University Students for Liberty as freshmen in 2008. To find resources to strengthen her club, Irena contacted the Cato Institute that fall, through which she was soon introduced to Students For Liberty, then still forming. She attended the 2008 regional Philadelphia Conference at the University of Pennsylvania, after which the AU SFL began growing tremendously in size and scope.
Irena went on to found and direct the DC Forum For Freedom, a strong local network of liberty-oriented student organizations in the DC area. She served her first term on the executive board of Students For Liberty as Mid-Atlantic director from 2009 until 2010. In the fall of 2009, she launched the SFL E-Leadership series in ideas and hosted the largest regional SFL conference that year at Drexel University, which garnered an attendance of over 140 students. Following the success of the fall, she co-organized the 2010 International SFL Conference at her home university. While she was spending the semester abroad in St. Petersburg, over 300 students from all over the world attended the 3-day conference in DC, and the AU SFL was recognized as a nominee for Student Club of the Year. Since 2008, Irena has interned at the Libertarian National Committee, the Foundation for Economic Education, and has served as a supplemental instructor in microeconomics at AU.
Irena eventually hopes to study Russian political economy at the PhD level and become a professor. She is a committed life-long advocate of liberty.
Favorite Figures in Liberty: John Locke, Friedrich Hayek, Mohandas Gandhi, Ron Paul
On Students For Liberty: One of the greatest spontaneous feats of student organization. It has created an invaluable community of impassioned, eager minds willing to stand up for fundamental freedoms if no one else will. Empowerment, creativity, hard work, and intellect are SFL.
