By the late 2000s, these initiatives had lost momentum. Whether due to limited returns on investment or to Liggio’s bad health, the focus on academia receded. This happened as Palmer rose to prominence. Palmer had close ties with Students for Liberty (SFL) networks, which brought together graduates of the Institute for Humane Studies Koch Summer Fellowship Program. In the new approach, academia was bypassed and scorn returned: What Your Professors Won’t Tell You was the subtitle of a series of books edited by Palmer and distributed by SFL. Academic hierarchies were being bypassed and college students became direct targets.

Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, loc. 570