This appears in the Alpine, Texas, paper regarding our dear friend Larry Sechrest, who delivered the Mises Memorial Lecture last year.
Larry Sechrest, controversial Sul Ross professor, dies suddenly at 62
Larry J. Sechrest, known world-wide in libertarian circles for his economic scholarship, and controversial in Alpine as an outspoken critic of declining educational standards, died in his home Thursday from respiratory and cardiac arrest. EMS personnel called to the scene were unable to revive him. A memorial service will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 11, at 2:30 pm in the Studio Theater, Fine Arts Building, at Sul Ross State University. All who wish to pay their respects are welcome.
Sechrest was a vehement critic of the federal government’s outlawing of free banking and currency issuance. He held that the Federal Reserve System’s policy of increasing the monetary base in order to lower interest rates and stimulate the economy was responsible for the crash of 1929 as well as the recent stock market crashes of 2000 and 2008.
He was an outspoken defender of individual rights including property rights, ideas that he believed inspired the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. Sechrest subscribed to the Austrian School of economics and was influenced by Ayn Rand’s philosophy of rational self-interest and capitalism. However, Sechrest differed from Rand on the advisability of even a limited government. What has become known as “Sechrest’s Law” is the idea that any government no matter how limited originally will eventually grow and enslave its population, as he believed the U.S. was well on its way to doing.
Controversy erupted locally in 2004 when Professor Sechrest published the essay “A Strange Little Town in Texas” in Liberty magazine which lavished both high praise and cutting condemnation on his adopted hometown of Alpine. He lambasted local K-12 and university educators for lowering academic standards and turning out students grievously unprepared in basic language and mathematical skills. In response to the local uproar including threats on Sechrest’s life, Jeffrey Tucker, whose father taught at Sul Ross years ago, observed, “Throughout the ordeal, he [Sechrest] showed what he was really made of…he didn’t have a heavy heart about it…not once did he back down or back-pedal…Behind his sweet and dear exterior, then, what we saw at work here was something very rare: moral courage.”
His reputation in economics stems from his many scholarly publications and frequent speaking engagements at professional conferences. In March 2008 he gave the Mises Memorial Lecture at the Ludwig von Mises Institute. He is the author of the 1993 Free Banking: Theory, History, and a Laissez-Faire Model, published by Quorum Books and reprinted this year by the Mises Institute. He published over 50 articles in refereed journals, reference works, and popular periodicals. He is also the author of Encyclopedia of Speed under Sail, a 1300-page book resulting from 20 years of research on commercial sailing vessels of the 18th, 19th, and early 20th century. The manuscript is currently under review by an academic publisher.
Sechrest was born on October 12, 1946 near Detroit, Michigan. When he was eight years old, his family moved to Grand Prairie, Texas where his father, a sheet-metal worker, found improved work opportunities. In 1964, Sechrest was valedictorian of a large graduating class at Grand Prairie High School. In keeping with his early love of all things maritime, he joined the Naval Sea Cadet Corps. His ambition was to become a naval officer and in high school, he was granted a commission at the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis. However, as an avid reader, he was developing keen interests in history as well as theoretical physics. After high school, he declined the Annapolis commission and entered the University of Texas at Arlington in physics, then changed his major yet again before graduating. His B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. are all from UT Arlington with his undergraduate majors in philosophy and history and his graduate work in economics and finance. Peter Lewin, a professor of Larry’s at UT Arlington, recalled, “He was a great guy, always polite, funny and attentive – he was a gentleman.”
After teaching at UT Arlington as a full-time instructor, in 1990, Sechrest took a position teaching economics in the Business Administration Department at Sul Ross State University, where he moved rapidly to achieve tenure and a full professorship.
Described by MBA student, Stephen Armstrong as “A veritable master indeed, the privileged few knew that he had an unbridled passion for the truth that, quite frankly, could not be tamed or stifled. He was a strong proponent of tough love.” Former student, Monica Quiroga, agreed, “Dr. Sechrest was one of my most difficult instructors at Sul Ross. I worked hard for every grade I got from him, and never ever did he let me slide on a project. For this, I will always be grateful.” Martin Smith, another former student, said,” I surely enjoyed that old man; definitely one of the very best teachers I ever had on anything. Dr. Sechrest is one of my heroes and I shall miss him.”
Amongst his many career accomplishments, Sechrest was the director of the Free Enterprise Institute at Sul Ross State University in Alpine, TX; a scholar with the Foundation for the Advancement of Monetary Education in New York City; a research fellow at the Independent Institute in Oakland, CA; an adjunct scholar with the Ludwig von Mises Institute in Auburn, AL; a former fellow with the Institute for Humane Studies in Fairfax, VA; a trustee of the Free Radical Foundation in Wellington, New Zealand; a member of the board of advisors of the Defense of Freedom Foundation in New Port Beach, CA; an elected member of the New York Academy of Sciences; and a member of the editorial boards of the Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics, The Journal of Ayn Rand Studies, and the ICFAI Journal of Public Finance in India. Sechrest is listed in Who’s Who in the World, 2000 Outstanding Intellectuals of the 21th Century, Guide to Public Policy Experts published by the Heritage Foundation, and Who’s Who in American Education.
Besides his wife, Molly Hays Sechrest, Sechrest is survived by his mother Frances of Grand Prairie, TX, his brother Timothy of Carrollton, TX, his sister, Sandra Edson of Whitehouse, TN; and a son and a daughter by his first marriage: Kyle of Muncie, IN, and Tara of Marathon, TX. Jeffrey Tucker said, of his father and Sechrest, “They were both of a type: independent intellectuals and pioneers, men who would never give up their personal freedom or integrity at any price.”
{ 7 comments }
I spent a couple of semesters at UTA during the late 80s/early 90s. Though I won’t swear to it, Dr. Sechrest probably taught the macroeconomics course I took while there.
He used Beta vs VHS as an example of market share, thought UFOs could exist and, I think, was prone to wearing black t-shirts. Anyway, he was a great teacher – one of only a handful I remember after all these years.
I don’t know anything more about Dr. Sechrest than what is contained in his “Strange Little Town” essay, but I must say I am disappointed that mises.org would link to this piece approvingly.
His points about the shortcomings of higher education are valid but hardly original. His description of life in Alpine are somewhat informative to those of us who don’t live in that region, but quite insulting and counter-productive for those that do.
At best, the tone of the essay is that of an aloof anthropologist looking at his fellow citizens with clinical and bemused condescension. Like most academics, Sechrest forgets that his students and neighbors ultimately pay his salary through their taxes, and that therefore, “stupid” or not, they are his rightful masters.
As political theorists, we have an obligation to accept humanity and human nature as it is, and work with it as best we can. As human beings, we have an obligation to try to leave the world a better place than we found it. I fail to see how Sechrest’s essay accomplishes either of these ends.
“As political theorists, we have an obligation to accept humanity and human nature as it is, and work with it as best we can. As human beings, we have an obligation to try to leave the world a better place than we found it.”
Do you really think we improve the world by giving people degrees indicating they have attained a certain level of reasoning ability beyond high school when they haven’t?
” Like most academics, Sechrest forgets that his students and neighbors ultimately pay his salary through their taxes, and that therefore, “stupid” or not, they are his rightful masters.”
We live in an era of Big Higher Education whether you know it or not. It’s time to reign in the beast that is cranking out graduates with dubious credentials not for the betterment of humanity but rather to garner as much revenue from tuition as possible. You advocate the blind acceptance of a dysfunctional status quo that has only emerged in the past decade so should be easy to eradicate.
I admire any academic who is aware of the flaws of higher education and willing to speak about it. People go tens of thousands of dollars into debt on the advice of their betters believing this is the key to a successful life when maybe they are just going into debt only to find themselves employed at jobs they could’ve gotten upon graduating high school.
That being said, I have no idea what Dr. Sechrest thought about higher education as a business but I do have an idea that he was a decent human being and that if I had had the inclination I could’ve broached the subject with him without fear of being dismissed as a rube or an idiot.
“You advocate the blind acceptance of a dysfunctional status quo…”
I advocate nothing of the sort, and in fact made it clear that I generally agree with Sechrest’s views on higher education. I do, however, find it somewhat hypocritical of him to continue accepting a salary from a system he so copiously denounced. He could have tried to become a free-lance teacher or started his own school. He could have advocated constructive reforms such as returning to the old system where instructors were paid directly by students.
My other point was that his condemnation of his neighbors, even if accurate, was highly undiplomatic and inappropriate. Again, in the economic “real world” outside academia, no one can succeed in business while publicly heaping scorn on his clients. As taxpayers, his neighbors were indirectly paying for his pleasant lifestyle and they deserved better than that.
Well, Whittaker, Dr. Sechrest did write an essay employing hyperbole to make his point. So he was attempting to reform the system without becoming a sort of monk economist. I can’t imagine that his becoming an impoverished, itinerant advocate of the Austrian school would’ve done much to promote sound money policies or eradicate the hold Keynes and the monetarists have on our universities or our government.
I am deeply sorry about the passing of such a dear friend. Larry was first my teacher then a colleague, then a mentor. I will cherish the memories of so many discussions we had in his office about his ideology, and the clear insight he was able to provide me on so much of my own work. I will miss you buddy….
Jose
I am one of Dr. Sechrest’s former students, and I learned a lot from his graduate econ and stats classes. Dr. Sechrest is a tough but fair professor, and I know that most of my classmates (if not all of them) will be thankful for having him as our teacher. Class dismissed but we are inspired (by Dr. Sechrest’s intellectual instruction and personality).
Maxwell
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