Introducing Summer Intern Kenny Tan

June 9, 2011

by Jaclyn Hall

Kenny Tan is a rising sophomore at Vanderbilt University, where he majors in Computer Science with a minor in Financial Economics. Kenny is also president and founder of the Young Americans for Liberty chapter at Vandy and a frequent contributor to campus publications The Vanderbilt Torch and The Vanderbilt Hustler. On why he came to FIRE, Kenny writes:

As a student, I have witnessed the benefits of preserving the right of students to participate in free and open debate—especially as the leader of a student organization which often controversially exercises this right. I want to make sure this right is protected across the political/ideological spectrum. I hope that after my FIRE internship, I can return to campus better prepared to share my appreciation of the marketplace of ideas with others.

I was introduced to FIRE by reading FIRE's Guides to Student Rights on Campus and attending the 2010 CFN summer conference. In addition to the well-written and useful publications that FIRE produces, the CFN conference also inspired me to become a catalyst for change on my university's campus. After beginning to reform speech codes at my own university, I wanted to continue the work by helping FIRE to defend and sustain individual rights at all of America's colleges and universities.