Pope Center joins global effort celebrating late Nobel laureate

Milton Friedman, recognized as the most influential economist of the last century, will be the focal point at the John W. Pope Center for Higher Education Policy’s Friedman Legacy Day on July 31 in Pinehurst, NC. The Pope Center and others around the world celebrate the event to showcase the Dr. Friedman’s famous ideas, including school choice.

The event will be held at the Pinehurst Clubhouse (80 Carolina Vista Drive, Pinehurst, NC 28374). Registration begins at 11:30AM; lunch will be served at noon. To register, please visit www.popecenter.org/events.

Special guest speaker Isaac M. Morehouse, founder and CEO of Praxis, will talk about growing problems in the higher education system and why solutions are not likely to come from politics or policy change, but from entrepreneurs and innovators. “The key is that businesses and founders are incentivized to please customers, the consumers of education,” said Morehouse, “while policymakers and politicians are incentivized to please the shifting moods of the public and special interests.” Morehouse says this and other reasons explain why massive change is coming to the college approach to higher education.

“In education alone, today Milton Friedman’s ideas are positively impacting thousands of Americans,” said Robert Enlow, president and CEO of the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice. “Calls for more personal empowerment and choice can be attributed to Dr. Friedman.” The event is being co-sponsored by the Friedman Foundation, a group founded by Dr. Friedman and his wife, Rose.

An advisor to several U.S. presidents, Milton Friedman won the Nobel Prize in economics in 1976 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1988. He authored such books as “Capitalism and Freedom” and is well known for his appearance on the popular PBS series “Free to Choose.”

The John W. Pope Center for Higher Education Policy is a nonprofit institute dedicated to improving higher education in North Carolina and the nation. For more information on the Pope Center’s event, individuals are asked to contact Ashley DeSena at adesena@popecenter.org or visit www.popecenter.org/events.