About Us
This isn’t your professor’s liberalism. The Institute for Liberal Values champions liberal principles in an age when both left and right demand ideological submission. We emerged when citizens across the political spectrum faced the same threat: speak your mind, lose your job. Question the orthodoxy, lose your community. Think differently, become the enemy. We said no.
Today, we’re building something unprecedented; a coalition where progressives and conservatives, believers and skeptics, unite around timeless principles: individual liberty, free expression, the open exchange of ideas. We provide educational resources, community support, and most importantly, proof that viewpoint diversity isn’t just possible but essential for human flourishing.
We do this by hosting dialogues across our divisions that honor viewpoint diversity, seeking to understand rather than undermine, and treating different ideas with curiosity and humility. We employ our unique point-counterpoint framework for dialogue in contribution to the Constitution of Knowledge and the Marketplace of Ideas, which are the cornerstones of a thriving democratic society.
We are not just another partisan think tank. We seek the restoration of liberalism, where individual rights take precedence over collective demands, where debate and dialogue replaces dogma, and where freedom of conscience remains sacred. It protects the teacher who won’t pledge allegiance to any ideology. It defends the employee who refuses to denounce colleagues for wrongthink. It empowers communities to reject authoritarianism from any direction. By showcasing a new way to engage in dialogues that matter, we are building a movement that empowers individuals and communities with the moral courage necessary for free societies to prosper.
Join us. Not because you agree with everything we say, but because you believe everyone has the right to say it. Because you remember when liberalism meant liberation, not limitation.
OUR LEADERSHIP
Directors
Jennifer Richmond
Executive Director
Jennifer Richmond, an International Relations Specialist, supports liberalism and universal values and believes that we are at our best when protecting individual rights and freedoms. She worked in international relations for over 20 years, focusing on global geopolitics, intelligence, and East Asian policy, before turning her attention and cross-cultural skills towards the most polarizing issues within the United States and beyond. She is dedicated to learning how to communicate on difficult and polarizing issues, in good faith, to develop citizens (and herself) in building a strong and diverse community for democracy to thrive. Jen and co-author W.F. Twyman, Jr. have recently released their book – Letters in Black & White: A New Correspondence on Race in America.
Dr. Nafees Alam
Senior Director of Policy and Research
Dr. Nafees Alam is an award-winning professor (2022 Golden Apple Award) specializing in nonprofit program evaluation and macro practice, with over seven years of experience. Before academia, he worked in Wall Street’s financial sector for over seven years. Dr. Alam’s research agenda is self-determination in sport social work with a secondary focus on viewpoint diversity, open inquiry, and constructive disagreement in higher education. He has several publications and has presented at conferences worldwide, including two keynotes. He aims to disseminate ideas through many public platforms as a contributor to the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, Heterodox Academy, Inside Sources, Psychology Today, and Real Clear Education. He is passionate about global education through technology, teaching and designing online courses taught globally, along with his YouTube channel and Podcast geared toward an international academic audience.
Dr. Elizabeth Spievak
Senior Director of Programs
Elizabeth Spievak, Ph.D., is a Professor of Psychology at Bridgewater State University where she also served for over 10 years as chair of the Institutional Review Board. A degree in quantitative business analysis and an MBA in decision sciences led to an early career in business and consulting, which informs her psychological research on narrative, attention, and decision making. When she is not engaged in compliance work, teaching, or managing her undergraduate research lab, Elizabeth is typically exercising, or engaged in collaborative projects, including co-hosting The Dissidents podcast.
Matthew Watson
Executive Director of Prosocial Workers, ILV Senior Advisor
Matthew Watson is the executive director of Prosocial Workers, an affiliate of the Institute for Liberal Values, dedicated to promoting viewpoint and political diversity in social work practice and education.
He is a seasoned mental health advisor and licensed clinical social worker with over 30 years of experience across five states. He provides competent, compassionate care and strategic leadership in mental health services where he has excelled in direct service provider, management, and executive roles. As an experienced senior manager, Matthew has a documented history of building high-performing teams, improving outcomes, identifying individual strengths, and mentoring others to develop their talents. He combines strong organizational skills with technical proficiency and evidence-based practice to enhance both team and individual productivity.
Matthew’s philosophy is that sustainable results emerge from the development of people, believing that strong, talented individuals are the ultimate outcome of effective leadership. His interests reflect a deep commitment to civic and ethical engagement, including voluntary service organizations, viewpoint diversity, religious liberty, and the integration of differing perspectives.
Fellows
Mike Burke
Fellow
Mike Burke is an academic from England whose research and consulting interests include education, political philosophy, and ideology. His present research focus is on Critical Social Justice (CSJ) ideology and the advantages and challenges it poses to the national security of the United Kingdom and other liberal democracies, by extension. He has also written on and maintains an interest in Islamism and contemporary far-right thinking. Mike is one of the hosts for the Institute for Liberal Values podcast, The Dissidents.
Dr. Brian Russell Graham
Fellow
Brian Russell Graham is a Fellow at the Institute for Liberal Values. He is a two-time graduate of the University of Glasgow, where he completed an M.A. and PhD in English Literature. His first monograph, The Necessary Unity of Opposites, published by University of Toronto Press in 2011, is a study of Northrop Frye, particularly Frye’s dialectical thinking. His second and third monographs – On a Common Culture and Speech Acts in Blake’s Milton – were published in 2022. In addition to his scholarly work, he has also published slow journalism in publications such as Quillette, Areo and Merion West, amongst others. Brian teaches the Liberal Bookshelf Courses on behalf of the Institute for Liberal Values.
Advisors
Helen Pluckrose
Advisor
Helen Pluckrose is a left-wing liberal humanist author. She co-authored Cynical Theories, which traced the evolution of postmodern thought into Critical Social Justice scholarship and activism. The Counterweight Handbook is a practical guide to addressing CSJ in the workplace, universities and schools. The forthcoming Reformers, Revolutionaries and Reactionaries: Has Liberalism Failed or Are We Failing to be Liberal? looks at how to revitalize liberalism across the political spectrum. Helen argues that liberalism consists of a commitment to individual liberty (individualism), tolerance of difference (pluralism) and recognition of our common humanity (universalism), as well as a drive for reform over revolution or reactionism. Liberalism has ‘one simple principle’ to let people believe, speak and live as they see fit, provided they do no material harm to anyone else or deny them the same freedoms. The belief that all people have the same right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is, therefore, fundamentally liberal. Helen thinks it is clear that threats to freedom come not only from the state but from authoritarian ideologies, so liberal principles need to be protected not only in law but also valued in society. It is in everybody’s interests to uphold liberalism. Liberal conservatives, classical liberals, liberal lefties, liberal socialists, liberal Jews, liberal Christians, liberal Muslims, liberal feminists, liberal anti-racists, liberal LGBT activists and more can all work together against authoritarianism. Authoritarian versions of any of the above cannot. Helen thinks we should take advantage of that.
Ken Pope
Advisor
Ken Pope is the Chief Executive Officer at the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation. Previously he had a 34-year career in the U.S. Army, consulting industry and academia. While in uniform, he served in a variety of Armored Reconnaissance, Special Operations and Russian Foreign Area Officer (FAO) assignments in Europe, the Middle East, and Central America. He commanded an Armored Cavalry Troop during the Persian Gulf War and later a Special Operations unit focused on Central America. As an Army FAO he had a variety of assignments in Russia, Ukraine, Estonia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Kosovo. In the consulting industry, he led teams that provided strategy, analysis and wargaming support to the Office of the Secretary of Defense and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He also served as an Assistant Professor at the University of Mississippi where he taught courses on intelligence, advanced analytics, and led the program’s national security simulations with the U.S. Intelligence Community. He has a B.A. in Sociology, a M.A. in International Relations, is a graduate of the U.S. Army Command and Staff College and the George C. Marshall Center’s Executive Program for Advanced Security Studies. His military awards include the Silver Star, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star and from the President of Estonia the Eagles Cross.
Dr. Brandy Shufutinsky
Advisor
Brandy Shufutinsky is a social worker, writer, researcher, and advocate. She holds a Doctorate in Education from the University of San Francisco in International and Multicultural Education and her MSW from the University of Southern California. Dr. Shufutinsky has worked towards advancing the rights of victims and survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault within the military community through practice, education, and research. She is the Director of Education and Community Engagement at the Jewish Institute for Liberal Values. Brandy was a 2021 Scholar-in-Residence at the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism & Policy Oxford Summer Institute, where she worked to develop curriculum in Critical Antisemitism Studies. Currently she is working towards developing intercultural and academic opportunities to enhance liberal democratic ideals.
Angel Eduardo
Advisor
Angel Eduardo is a writer, musician, photographer, and designer based in New York City, best known for creating the rhetorical concept of star-manning—where we engage not only with the best version of our opponent’s argument, but also with the best version of our opponent. His writing has been featured in Quillette, Newsweek, Areo Magazine, and The Caribbean Writer, among other print and online publications. Through his work, Angel hopes to foster more productive conversations on the topics of the day, all bolstered by his own six words of advice: Be kind; we’re all first drafts.
James Petts
Advisor
James Petts is a barrister (the equivalent of a trial attorney) in London, England. He was called to the Bar in 2002 and has been practicing since 2005. In his professional life, he focuses on commercial and Chancery (property) cases, especially those involving an element of fraud or dishonesty. In his personal life, he enjoys baking, photography, computer programming and model railways. James has a passion for reason and reason-based ethics, and a strong dislike of abuses of power in any context.
Rio Veradonir
Advisor
Rio Veradonir is a producer, writer, and community organizer. Rio is Assistant Director at The Bi Foundation, an endowed nonprofit that assists in academic and scientific research, engages in public outreach and education, produces and publishes original content, and provides tools for international community building. Rio is the creator and Editor-in-Chief of Queer Majority, an influential online magazine which takes a liberal (as opposed to critical) approach to LGBT and related issues. He’s also a producer at Bi.org, the world’s largest bi resource and Lead Organizer of amBi.org – an international social club with chapters on all six inhabited continents. An outspoken advocate for sexual and romantic liberty, Rio is both married to a woman (children’s lit. curator Talia Squires) and in a lifelong relationship with his boyfriend (activist and translator Damian Emba).
Jason Littlefield
Advisor
Jason Littlefield is a lifelong learner and longtime educator. In 2021 he left public education after 21 years because his job (SEL Specialist) evolved to advance an ideology rather than enhance the human experience and condition. He now promotes Empowered Humanity Theory to schools, workplaces and communities that seek to build empowering and dignified communities. In addition to serving as a Board Director at ILV, Jason is also a co-founder and board member of Free Black Thought and a Director, the host of the Reformation Radio podcast and the Executive Director of Empowered Pathways.
Dr. Erec Smith
Advisor
Erec Smith is an Associate Professor of Rhetoric at York College of Pennsylvania. Although he has eclectic scholarly interests, Smith’s primary work focuses on the rhetorics of anti-racist activism, theory, and pedagogy. He is the president of the Foundation for Free Black Thought. Smith’s recent books include A Critique of Anti-Racism in Rhetoric and Composition: The Semblance of Empowerment(2020) and The Lure of Disempowerment: Reclaiming Agency in the Age of CRT(2022). He tweets here.