The Free University of San Francisco (FUSF) was founded by the author Alan Kaufman and the attorney and political activist and public servant Matt Gonzalez. It began with an organizing meeting held downstairs in the theater of Viracocha in the Mission on December 19, 2010. The meeting included Bobby Coleman, an attorney and poet, Joe Donohue, the publisher of Specious Species Magazine and others. At the meeting it was resolved to launch The Free University of San Francisco. Alan Kaufman gave opening remarks. Over fifty people attended the first meeting. A second planning meeting was held on January 9, 2011, and additional organizing meetings were held on January 16 and 30, 2011. It will have no tuition, will pay no salaries, and will not accept monetary donations.
The status of the FUSF is unclear, and the project appears to be on hiatus, with its website abandoned and no evidence of recent activity on its Facebook page.