Higher Ed Now: Recent Episodes
American Council of Trustees and Alumni
Higher Ed Now is a production of the American Council of Trustees and Alumni. It is a podcast concerning issues and policy in America's higher education system.
On this episode of Higher Ed Now Civics Edition, ACTA President Michael Poliakoff speaks with Michael Auslin, the Payson J. Treat Distinguished Research Fellow in Contemporary Asia at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. Professor Auslin is the author of "National Treasure: How the Declaration of Independence Made America", a dual history of the Declaration of Independence. The new book details both the physical artifact’s journey from dark storage rooms to the National Archives’ centerpiece and how Jefferson’s words and the spirit of the document inspired generations of Americans, from abolitionists to anarchists. A very special video version of this episode is available on YouTube now!
In April 2026, Dr. Bryan Paul, Curricular Fellow for ACTA’s College Debates and Discourse Alliance, joined Aimee Guidera, former Secretary of Education for the Commonwealth of Virginia, to organize and lead a student-driven civil debate at Harvard University. Sponsored by Harvard's Institute of Politics, where Secretary Guidera served as a Spring 2026 Resident Fellow, this Braver College Debate centered on a timely and critical question: "Has the United States lived up to its promises in the Declaration of Independence?" This episode captures Dr. Paul’s conversation with Secretary Guidera immediately following the debate.
ACTA's Nick Down interviews Michigan State University (MSU) Board of Trustees member Mike Balow. MSU has been embroiled in a controversy over a sudden revision to its trustee code of ethics that involved the signing of a loyalty pledge that would limit trustee speech, as well as threats to sanction and publicly censure any trustee who refuses to sign. The revised code passed 5-3, with Balow and two other trustees in dissent. Since then, the dissenting trustees have faced censure and public pressure to resign, as well as doxxing and threats on social media. Trustee Balow tells his side of the story of what really happened at the emergency meeting to pass the revised ethics code, and why he categorically opposes it. Note: When this podcast was recorded, MSU president Kevin Guskiewicz had announced his imminent departure from the university. He has since reversed course and chosen to stay at MSU.
ACTA’s chief of staff and SVP, Armand Alacbay, interviews Max Schanzenbach, the Seigle Family Professor of Law at Northwestern University School of Law. Professor Schanzenbach’s work focuses on the intersection between economy and law, and he recently coauthored multiple papers on university divestment policies. In this conversation, he explains the crucial nuances that most discussions about universities divesting from Israel fail to consider.
ACTA’s Academic Affairs Fellow Veronica Bryant is joined by Dr. Mark T. Mitchell, Dean of Academic Affairs at Patrick Henry College as well as the author of numerous books on political theory. A small Christian school in Virginia, Patrick Henry College is one of only eight colleges in the country to receive an A+ from ACTA’s What Will They Learn?© Project for its rigorous and high-quality core curriculum. Dr. Mitchell walks Veronica through the extraordinary structure of the classical liberal arts education offered at Patrick Henry College.
ACTA’s Veronica Bryant welcomes David Rohrbacher, Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs and Professor of Classics at the New College of Florida. NCF made headlines after they skyrocketed from an “F” grade to a “B+” rating in ACTA’s What Will They Learn? Project (WWTL), becoming this year's "most improved school." WWTL assigns letter grades based on the rigor of the core curriculum at over 1,100 American colleges and universities. This improvement was thanks to a total overhaul of their general education program in 2024. Professor Rohrbacher discusses how that change came about and the innovative academic reforms that engage NCF students in substantive, serious coursework.
On this episode of Higher Ed Now, ACTA’s Michael Poliakoff hosts Washington & Lee University’s John K. Boardman, Jr. Professor of Politics, Lucas Morel. Professor Morel currently serves on the U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission and ACTA’s National Commission on American History and Civic Education. He has also co-edited the book "Measuring the Man: The Writings of Frederick Douglass on Abraham Lincoln,” a groundbreaking new volume on how abolitionist Frederick Douglass’s view of Abraham Lincoln evolved as America navigated its way through the Civil War and, eventually, to the Emancipation Proclamation. A very special video version of this episode is available on YouTube now!
ACTA’s Academic Affairs Fellow Veronica Bryant welcomes Glenn Corn, who spent 35 years working in the national security and international affairs community. Mr. Corn served as CIA chief of station for four different Eurasian and Middle Eastern countries. He now teaches graduate-level courses in International Affairs and Security Studies at the Institute of World Politics. In addition to his teaching work, Mr. Corn provides strategic advising and consulting, acts as a visiting fellow at George Mason University's law school's National Security Institute, and serves as an expert contributor to the Cipher Brief. Mr. Corn compellingly argues that language learning is essential, both for an intelligence career and for national security.
ACTA’s Academic Affairs Fellow Veronica Bryant is joined by Doctor Marie Kawthar Daouda, lecturer in French at the University of Oxford’s Oriel College. Their conversation ranges from language’s role in shaping national and cultural identity, to how language learning changes one’s thinking and worldview, to the explosion in popularity of Korean in defiance of the sagging enrollment faced by other foreign language programs. Dr. Daouda was born and raised in Morocco and moved to France alone at 17 where she studied French, English, and Classics at Lycée Henri-IV and La Sorbonne. Her research focuses on the artistic representations of good and evil in periods of political and religious crisis. She is the author of Not Your Victim: How our Obsession with Race Entraps and Divides Us, where she argues against a simplistic worldview where all the evil in the world is downstream of racism and colonialism, in favor of a more nuanced and historically-literate understanding of how the past informs the present. Dr. Daouda is also a regular contributor to The Critic and The Daily Telegraph.
ACTA’s Kyle Beltramini welcomes David Eubanks, assistant vice president of the Office of Institutional Assessment and Research at Furman University. Professor Eubanks is an expert on the philosophy and practice of leadership in higher education, particularly learning outcomes assessments, strategic planning, and institutional effectiveness. His work emphasizes using data-driven processes to inform decision-making. He recently completed a term on the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity (NACIQI). Professor Eubanks and Mr. Beltramini discuss accreditation’s essential role in assuring academic quality, how the system has degraded over time, and how it can be effectively reformed.
ACTA’s Nick Down interviews Thad Westbrook, chairman of the University of South Carolina’s (USC) Board of Trustees. Mr. Westbrook earned his bachelor’s degree in political science from USC and his J.D. from the USC School of Law. A member of the USC Board since 2010, he spearheaded the creation of USC’s Center for American Civic Leadership and Public Discourse and has helped lead the movement to break up the higher education accreditation monopoly.
ACTA president Michael Poliakoff speaks with Lee Strang, the inaugural director of the new Salmon P. Chase Center for Civics, Culture and Society at the Ohio State University. He is also a professor at OSU's Moritz College of Law, the author of numerous books on Constitutional law, and the founder of Northwest Ohio Classical Academy. Professor Strang has devoted his life to the study and teaching of America's civic tradition, and he goes in-depth about his experience leading the Chase Center, from designing curriculum to managing relations with the broader university. He and Michael also discuss how Ohio has emerged as the frontrunner state in the ongoing revival of American civic education.
Description: In this episode of Higher Ed Now, ACTA Policy Research Fellow Kyle Beltramini and Third Way Education Policy Advisor Emily Rounds discuss how accreditation became a mainstream political issue overnight. They also examine the urgent need for modernization of the current system, as well as how both Democrats and Republicans can advance reform. For more, please see their recent white paper, “Five Bipartisan Principles for Accreditation Reform.”
In this episode, ACTA President Michael Poliakoff discusses solutions to our nation’s civic education crisis with distinguished jurist Douglas Ginsburg and his wife, Dorothy “Deecy” Gray. Judge Ginsburg previously served as chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and is currently a professor at George Mason University’s (GMU) Antonin Scalia Law School. A former member of the GMU Board of Visitors, Deecy Gray is a strong advocate for civic education. Together, they created Civics Fundamentals, a free online civics course for those studying to take the U.S. Citizenship Test and for the many students who have never been exposed to these basic, foundational lessons.
ACTA president Michael Poliakoff speaks with Richard Haass, distinguished diplomat and president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations. Dr. Haass has served four U.S. Presidents over 25 years, including two years leading the Irish peace process as the U.S. Special Envoy for Northern Ireland. He is the author or editor of fourteen books on American foreign policy, one book on management, and one on American democracy. His most recent book, The Bill of Obligations: The Ten Habits of Good Citizens, was published by Penguin Press in January 2023 and became a New York Times bestseller. Dr. Haass serves on ACTA's National Commission on American History and Civic Education, where he will work alongside dozens of distinguished historians, political scientists, and education leaders to help remedy the long-standing failure of American colleges and universities to require a foundational course in U.S. history and government. For more of Dr. Haass's work, read his analyses on his substack Home And Away.
Dubbed “Washington’s School for Civil Discourse,” George Mason University’s (GMU) Antonin Scalia Law School exposes students to all legal and political viewpoints and leads them in civil, respectful debate. In this episode of Higher Ed Now, ACTA’s Bryan Paul interviews JoAnn Koob, assistant professor of law and director of the Antonin Scalia Law School’s Liberty & Law Center, an academic forum dedicated to protecting individual liberty and free expression, and Debi Ghate, director of the Voices for Liberty initiative, which examines how free speech protects underrepresented voices.
MIT Concourse is a program for first-year students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that “brings science into conversation with the humanities.” It also hosts the Civil Discourse Project, which seeks to “reinvigorate the open exchange of ideas at MIT.” In this episode of Higher Ed Now, ACTA’s Bryan Paul interviews Senior Lecturer Linda Rabieh to learn how the Civil Discourse Project has used the Braver Angels debate format championed by the College Debates and Discourse Alliance — a joint program of the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, Braver Angels, and BridgeUSA — to prepare our nation’s future STEM leaders for thoughtful, engaged citizenship. He also speaks with Mariam Abdelbarr, Isaac Lock, and Siddhu Pachipala, three students who have helped plan and conduct debates at MIT.
ACTA’s Program Coordinator for the College Debates and Discourse Alliance, Kayla Johnston, returns to her alma mater, the University of North Carolina (UNC)–Greensboro, for a conversation with two student leaders: Lauren Fletcher and Matt Kircher. Thanks to the generous support of the Barnes Family Foundation, the College Debates and Discourse Alliance has brought its debates and dialogues to over 11 institutions within the UNC System. As Lee Barnes Campus Debate Student Fellows, Ms. Fletcher and Mr. Kircher have organized several Braver Angels debates at UNC–Greensboro since the fall of 2023. Together, they reflect on how our programming has helped revive a culture of open dialogue, viewpoint diversity, and free expression on campus.
ACTA President Michael Poliakoff welcomes The Honorable John Hillen, distinguished resident fellow at the Center for Politics in Duke University's Sanford School of Public Policy and an executive-in-residence of the Political Science Department. Dr. Hillen is a combat veteran and Bronze Star recipient, a former assistant U.S. secretary of state, a successful business leader, and the author of The Strategy Dialogues: A Primer on Business Strategy and Strategic Management. He also serves on ACTA’s National Commission on American History and Civic Education. Drs. Poliakoff and Hillen discuss how to engage students in the study of American civics and higher education's role in preparing students to be next generation leaders in the areas of American foreign policy and national security.
This episode features Zagros Madjd-Sadjadi, professor of economics at Winston-Salem State University. Dr. Madjd-Sadjadi has more than 30 years of teaching and economic consulting experience and was formerly the chief economist of the city and county of San Francisco. His work has been cited in the Congressional Record and led to the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act. This past year, Dr. Madjd-Sadjadi served as the Lee Barnes Campus Debate Faculty Fellow for ACTA’s College Debates and Discourse (CD&D) Alliance program at Winston-Salem State University. ACTA’s Kayla Johnston, who serves as program manager for CD&D Alliance initiatives in North Carolina, also joins this conversation, exploring Dr. Madjd-Sadjadi's efforts to introduce civil debates and dialogues in his classroom and on campus.
In this episode, ACTA Vice President of Policy Bradley Jackson talks with Jane Calvert, director of the John Dickinson Writings Project and a member of ACTA’s National Commission on American History and Civic Education. They contend that the study of history is less about rote memorization and more like being a detective excavating an unsolved mystery or a lawyer preparing to argue an important and novel legal case. Dr. Calvert discusses how a deeper understanding of history reveals us to ourselves and why she is passionate about preserving the life and writings of one of America’s unheralded Founders, John Dickinson.
In this episode, Sadie Webb, ACTA's Associate Director of the College Debates and Discourse Alliance, converses with faculty leaders and students to explore the CD&D program's extensive work at Juniata College. Reflecting on their experiences with classroom and campus debates, Matthew Damschroder, Dean of Students; Derek James, Dean of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion; and four Juniata undergrads highlight how debate serves as a powerful pedagogical tool for fostering free expression and the critical exploration of ideas.
ACTA’s chief of staff and SVP, Armand Alacbay, sits down with Jon Hardister, who once chaired North Carolina's House Education Committee, and now serves as a trustee at Western Carolina University. Hear his insider insights on the key role trustees play in university governance, student success, and protecting free speech on campus.
ACTA president Michael Poliakoff speaks to Ohio Senator Jerry Cirino, vice chair of the Senate's Higher Education Committee, on his promise to enact legislation to enhance the quality of higher education in the Buckeye State. Senator Cirino aims to safeguard open discourse and intellectual diversity for both students and faculty, mandate institutional neutrality at Ohio universities, and ensure that every post-secondary student receives a solid grounding in civics and American history.
Focusing on the role of higher education in preparing young Americans for citizenship, ACTA's president Michael Poliakoff speaks with Mitch Daniels, former Governor of Indiana, who also served as president of Purdue University from 2013 to 2022.
ACTA's president Michael Poliakoff speaks with the distinguished scholar and education leader, Joshua Dunn, who took on leadership of the recently established Institute of American Civics at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville in June, 2023. Professor Dunn was previously the executive director of the Center for the Study of Government and the Individual at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, where he was also professor and chair of the Political Science department. His book, From Schoolhouse to Courthouse - The Judiciary's Role in American Education, offers an important view of the complex relationship between courts and education. His landmark study co-authored with Jon A. Shields, Passing on the Right: Conservative Professors in the Progressive University, makes a strong case for why robust and uninhibited intellectual inquiry should be at the center of the American academy.
ACTA's Paul and Karen Levy Fellow in Campus Freedom, Steve McGuire, interviews Aaron Sibarium, a journalist who writes for the Washington Free Beacon. Sibarium graduated in 2018 from Yale University, where he was the opinion editor of The Yale Daily News. Much of his reporting for the Free Beacon focuses on issues in higher education, and he has authored numerous blockbuster investigative reports on plagiarism, race-based initiatives, and free speech issues on American campuses.
ACTA’s Doug Sprei interviews Peter Skerry, professor of political science at Boston College, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and research fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. He has been featured in a variety of scholarly and national media publications, and is the author of Counting on the Census: Race, Group Identity, and the Evasion of Politics (published by Brookings), and Mexican Americans: The Ambivalent Minority (published by Free Press/Harvard University Press), which was awarded the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Sprei first encountered Skerry while chairing a debate on immigration at the Braver Angels Convention at Carthage College in June, 2024. During that highly charged event, as Skerry stood up to speak and address other speakers, it became apparent that he is deeply conversant with issues around immigration, a topic that has polarized and challenged society for decades. Skerry is currently advising Braver Angels on framing constructive community dialogue around immigration. In this episode, he shares insights into why it has become such a weaponized topic in today's politics, and why educators should encourage students to embrace uncomfortable conversations around controversial issues.
For the past several years, ACTA has collaborated with the Alumni Free Speech Alliance (AFSA) to defend free expression, academic freedom, and viewpoint diversity on college and university campuses. With hundreds of alumni advocates across 27 institutions, AFSA represents a national movement empowering alumni to exert positive, meaningful influence on their alma maters. One of the most active groups to emerge from this movement is the MIT Free Speech Alliance (MFSA). As they support activities from on-campus debates to off-campus mobilization, MFSA members have proven to be both friends and ardent critics of their alma mater. In Fall semester 2024, ACTA's College Debates and Discourse Alliance curricular fellow, Dr. Bryan Paul, attended MFSA's annual conference in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he moderated a panel discussion with senior administrators from several institutions on the strategies that can improve the free speech culture on college campuses. Immediately after that, he recorded this interview with MFSA’s president Wayne Stargardt and executive director Peter Bonilla to further discuss the state of American higher education and MFSA's reform efforts at MIT and beyond.
In this episode of Higher Ed Now, the second of two conversations devoted to core texts, ACTA’s Academic Affairs Fellow Veronica Bryant speaks in Spanish with Clemente Cox, classics and philosophy scholar and the Academic Director of the Center of General Studies at the Universidad de los Andes. Their conversation includes the differences between Anglo-Saxon and Hispanic higher education, core curricula, the “barbarism of specialism,” what we mean when we talk about Great Books, the humanities’ special relevance today, and the Hispanic Canon study abroad program that Clemente Cox will co-lead with Maria Jose Gomez in summer 2025.
Clemente Cox holds a MA in Philosophy, with a concentration in Classical Languages, from the Universidad de los Andes, Chile. He received both his BA in Philosophy and his BA in Literature from the same university. He currently serves as academic director of the Center for General Studies at the Universidad de los Andes, Chile. In addition to coordinating the general education program, he teaches courses in anthropology, ethics and core texts in literature. His research focuses on the intersections between ancient literature and the practical philosophy of figures such as Aristotle, Plato and Xenophon. He is also interested in the tradition of rhetorical education and its potential uses in contemporary educational contexts. In Fall 2024, he will start studying for a Ph.D. in Philosophy at the University of Dallas.
In this episode, the second of two conversations devoted to core texts, ACTA’s Academic Affairs Fellow Veronica Bryant speaks in Spanish with Clemente Cox, classics and philosophy scholar and the Academic Director of the Center of General Studies at the Universidad de los Andes. Their conversation includes the differences between Anglo-Saxon and Hispanic higher education, core curricula, the “barbarism of specialism," what we mean when we talk about Great Books, the humanities’ special relevance today, and the Hispanic Canon study abroad summer program that Clemente Cox plans to co-lead with Maria Jose Gomez in Spain. Clemente Cox holds a MA in Philosophy, with a concentration in Classical Languages, from the Universidad de los Andes, Chile. He received both his BA in Philosophy and his BA in Literature from the same university. He currently serves as academic director of the Center for General Studies at the Universidad de los Andes, Chile. In addition to coordinating the general education program, he teaches courses in anthropology, ethics and core texts in literature. His research focuses on the intersections between ancient literature and the practical philosophy of figures such as Aristotle, Plato and Xenophon. He is also interested in the tradition of rhetorical education and its potential uses in contemporary educational contexts. In Fall 2024, he began studying for a Ph.D. in Philosophy at the University of Dallas.
ACTA’s Academic Affairs Fellow Veronica Bryant is joined by two distinguished educators and advocates for core texts in liberal education: Dr. Charlotte Thomas, Executive Director of the Association for Core Texts and Courses, or ACTC, and Dr. José María Torralba, board member of ACTC. Dr. Thomas is a Professor of Philosophy at Mercer University, where she is also the Director of the Great Books Program and Co-Director of the Thomas C. and Ramona E. McDonald Center for America’s Founding Principles, an ACTA Oasis of Excellence. Dr. Torralba is a Professor of Moral and Political Philosophy at the University of Navarra in Spain, where he used to direct the Core Curriculum Institute and currently heads the Civic Humanism Center for Character and Professional Ethics. He is the author of Una educación liberal. Elogio de los grandes libros (which translates to “A Liberal Education: In Praise of Great Books”). Together they discuss “core texts” or “Great Books”— what they are, how they are connected to core curriculum, and how they can bring a sense of meaning to today’s college students at colleges across America—and across the globe.
Those who listen to "The Glenn Show" will know that Professor Glenn Loury has published an extraordinary autobiography. Late Admissions: Confessions of a Black Conservative breathes the spirit of candor, intellectual openness, and personal humility that has characterized his life and work. Professor Loury is a Paulson Fellow at the Manhattan Institute, which hails his new book as “a shockingly frank memoir from a prize-winning economist, reflecting on his remarkable personal odyssey and his changing positions on identity, race, and belief.” In the words of Professor Loury’s life-long friend John McWhorter, it is also a “page-turner.” ACTA President Michael Poliakoff and ACTA board member Paul Levy sat down with Professor Loury for a conversation about his illuminating new book. The three spoke about race, conservatism, and the remarkable intellectual journey that the author and scholar has taken over the course of his life and career, in all its complexity, human fallibility, courage, and perseverance.
Renowned legal scholar, professor, columnist, and commentator Jonathan Turley joins ACTA's Dr. Steven McGuire on Higher Ed Now to discuss why free speech has always been America’s most revolutionary and indispensable right; how academia spawned the latest, and perhaps most dangerous, campaign against free speech; and why an enriching college experience should resemble the famous bar scene from Star Wars: A New Hope. Turley's new book is titled The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.
ACTA’s College Debates and Discourse (CD&D) Alliance has launched more than 300 Braver Angels debates and workshops, engaging 11,000 students at colleges and universities across the nation. CD&D employs a highly collaborative approach that engages students and faculty to lead civil debates on controversial topics. In this episode of Higher Ed Now, CD&D Program Director Doug Sprei interviews professor Mark Dalhouse and student Ari Miller, who are leading CD&D programming at Duke University in conjunction with ACTA’s two-year research project funded by the John Templeton Foundation. Professor Dalhouse and Ms. Miller share what motivated them to become involved in promoting civil discourse on Duke’s campus.
ACTA president Michael B. Poliakoff and vice president of policy Bradley Jackson engage scholar, author and Professor Emeritus of Michigan State University, William B. Allen in candid conversation about his lifelong love of books and learning, the Founders, the philosophical thought leaders whose seminal works cut a path for the emergence of our American Republic, and why he remains optimistic about the future of higher education.
ACTA President Michael Poliakoff interviews Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center and professor of law at George Washington University Law School. In this vibrant conversation, they explore Dr. Rosen’s new book, The Pursuit of Happiness: How Classical Writers on Virtue Inspired the Lives of the Founders and Defined America. They also cover the critically important role that the classics play in the intellectual and personal development of today’s college students, as well as their own personal experiences reading the work of Greek and Roman thinkers.
On today’s episode, Higher Ed Now producer Doug Sprei interviews Jennifer Keohane, associate professor in the Klein Family School of Communications Design at the University of Baltimore, and Justin Eckstein, associate professor of communication at Pacific Lutheran University. Both of these remarkable professors advise and support the College Debates and Discourse (CD&D) Alliance, a joint initiative between ACTA, Braver Angels, and BridgeUSA. This conversation was captured in March 2024 during the Wang Center Symposium at Pacific Lutheran University, where the CD&D Alliance engaged more than 400 students and local community members in a dozen campus and classroom debates.
Immediately after she delivered an electrifying keynote speech at Pacific Lutheran University's Wang Symposium on March 7, 2024, ACTA's Doug Sprei interviewed Monica Guzman, the bestselling author of I Never Thought of It That Way: How to Have Fearlessly Curious Conversations in Dangerously Divided Times. Ms. Guzman's influential work in the civil discourse movement has been amplified by her leadership at Braver Angels for several years. More recently, she became the inaugural McGurn Fellow at the University of Florida, working with researchers at UF's College of Journalism and Communications and beyond to better understand ways to employ techniques described in her book to boost understanding.
John Bolton served as the 25th United States Ambassador to the United Nations from 2005 to 2006, and as the 26th United States National Security Advisor from 2018 to 2019 during the Trump Administration. He is the author of The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir, as well as Surrender Is Not An Option. Always an erudite figure in politics, Ambassador Bolton is an attorney, Republican consultant, political commentator, and a staunch defender of free expression. ACTA's President Michael Poliakoff spoke at length with Ambassador Bolton to explore his unique outlook on the trajectory of free speech at universities, his experience as a student in the 1960s, and the fundamental differences between that era and today with regard to free speech on campus.
Dr Anika T. Prather is a nationally-recognized speaker and advocate for the relevancy of classical education for the Black community. She has served as a lecturer at Howard University’s Classics and English departments and, most recently, as a Director of High-Quality Curriculum and Instruction at the Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy. She has authored two books on Blacks and the classics: Living in the Constellation of the Canon: The Lived Experiences of African-American Students Reading Great Books Literature, a self-published book; and The Black Intellectual Tradition(with Dr. Angel Parham of UVA), as well as many articles. She is the founder of The Living Water School, a DC-area Christian and classically-inspired for independent learning. In her free time, she’s also a jazz musician and fiber artist.
In a conversation with ACTA President Michael Poliakoff and Academic Affairs Fellow Veronica Mayer Bryant, Dr. Prather discusses the relevance and inclusivity of a classical education, her perspective on faith and learning, and how classical education prepares students for college and human flourishing.
Tony Banout, Executive Director, and Tom Ginsburg, Faculty Director of the University of Chicago's New Forum for Free Inquiry and Expression join Steve McGuire, ACTA's Paul and Karen Levy Fellow in Campus Freedom, to discuss institutional neutrality -- the idea that universities should not take official positions on social and political controversies. While explaining how this position supports the truth-seeking purpose of the university and free expression on campus, they also explore its history at the University of Chicago, tracing it from the 1967 Kalven Report to the University's founding. Finally, they discuss various exceptions to the rule and times when universities might be obligated to speak up, even while adhering to a general policy of institutional neutrality.
ACTA's President Michael Poliakoff joins Paul Levy, a member of ACTA's board of directors and the creator of the Levy Forum for Open Discourse at the Palm Beach Synagogue. Together they interview Dr. Glenn Loury, the Merton P. Stoltz Professor of the Social Sciences in the Department of Economics at Brown University. Dr. Loury is one of the nation's leading social critics on topics of racial inequality, the Black family, affirmative action, and identity politics.
George Will is a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer and political commentator whose twice-weekly column has appeared in the Washington Post since 1974. His works cover subjects ranging from baseball to statecraft. In this episode, he sits down with ACTA President Michael Poliakoff for a sweeping conversation on the state of American higher education. From the fact that American English majors can now graduate without having ever read The Bard, to how the free market is regulating the production of Ph.D.’s and the stark difference between being highly educated and highly credentialed, Will offers biting and erudite remedies on how to bring about a course correction in higher education.
Jay Bhattacharya is a professor at Stanford University Medical School, a physician, epidemiologist, health economist, and public health policy expert focusing on infectious diseases and vulnerable populations. During the Covid pandemic, Dr. Bhattacharya co-wrote the Great Barrington Declaration, which advocated for a “focused protection” approach in pandemic policy. His public stance against “lockdowns” won him both plaudits and criticism from policymakers, lawmakers, academics, and scientists. ACTA’s Steven McGuire interviews Dr. Bhattacharya on his experience of being in the eye of the COVID public health policy storm and the light it casts upon the state of free expression in higher education.
Nadine Strossen is the John Marshall Harlan II Professor of Law Emerita at New York Law School, and served as president of the American Civil Liberties Union from 1991 to 2008. ACTA has long admired her tireless advocacy and devotion to free speech and is proud to have featured her as a keynote speaker and panelist at many of our conferences. In October 2023, Nadine authored her latest book on free speech for Oxford University Press’s What Everyone Needs to Know® series. In this episode, she sits down with ACTA’s president Michael Poliakoff to discuss current societal challenges to free speech and how they are manifesting on American college campuses.
ACTA's President Michael Poliakoff interviews Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Somali-born, Dutch-American writer, human rights activist and former politician and long-time friend of our organization. She is the author of best-selling books like Infidel (2007) Nomad (2010) and Heretic (2015). Now a Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University and Founder of the AHA Foundation, she regularly comments on today's issues and offers a platform to exchange perspectives that lead to real solutions.
In this episode, former Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker speaks with ACTA's President Michael Poliakoff. Governor Walker is now leading Young Americans for Freedom -- an organization committed to ensuring that increasing numbers of young Americans understand and are inspired by the ideas of individual freedom, a strong national defense, free enterprise, and traditional values.
In March 2023, ACTA’s second annual Alumni Summit on Free Expression brought together alumni free speech activists and higher education nonprofit leaders from across the country to share knowledge, experiences, and resources related to campus reform efforts. In partnership with the Alumni Free Speech Alliance (AFSA), this special gathering was designed to further motivate and equip alumni as guardians of the values that shaped their own education, including free expression, academic freedom, and viewpoint diversity.
Today’s episode features a panel from the Summit, headlined as A HIGHER ED REFORMATION: CHANGING CAMPUS POLICY AND CULTURE. Along with ACTA's Paul & Karen Levy Fellow in Campus Freedom, Steve McGuire, the discussion featured Lindsey Burke, director of the Center for Education Policy at the Heritage Foundation; Jenna Robinson, president of the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal and AFSA board member; and Dawn Toguchi, executive director of the Open Discourse Coalition at Bucknell University. The moderator was John Tomasi, president of Heterodox Academy. Together, these experts explored how alumni concerned about campus free speech can influence policy and cultural change within college and university environments.
In March 2023, ACTA hosted its second Alumni Summit on Free Expression in Washington, DC, in partnership with the Alumni Free Speech Alliance (AFSA). More than 100 individuals from various AFSA member groups and other higher education nonprofit organizations attended to support the growing movement to motivate and equip alumni in their efforts to advance free speech at their alma maters. Panelists and speakers addressed the serious challenges facing free speech advocates and how alumni can effectively work with students, faculty, and off-campus allies.
Today’s episode presents one of two panels recorded at the conference, headlined as "Free Speech Barriers and Legal Remedies: Changing the University." Moderated by Samantha Harris, attorney and partner at Allen Harris Law, the conversation features Joe Cohn, Legislative and Policy Director for the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE); Ilya Shapiro, senior fellow and director of constitutional studies at the Manhattan Institute; and Cherise Trump, executive director of Speech First. Together, these experts consider ways to improve the free speech climate on campus through potential legal solutions, both judicial and legislative.
ACTA's Steven McGuire interviews Carole Hooven, whose book titled T: The Story of Testosterone, the Hormone that Dominates and Divides Us, was published in 2021. Hooven is currently an associate at Harvard University and a nonresident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where she works on issues related to sex and gender, human evolutionary biology, health, and psychology — as well as the underpinnings of academic freedom in higher education.
Jonathan Marks has been an educator for almost a quarter century, and is currently Professor and Chair of Politics and International Relations at Ursinus College. He has published on modern and contemporary political philosophy in journals like the American Political Science Review, the Journal of Politics, the Journal of American Political Science, and the Review of Politics. Professor Marks has written on higher education and other matters for Inside Higher Ed, the Chronicle of Higher Education, Commentary Magazine, the Washington Examiner, the Bulwark, the American Conservative, the Wall Street Journal, and other outlets.
ACTA's vice president of public policy, Bradley Jackson, sat down with Professor Marks to talk about civic education, free expression on college campuses, and much more.
Higher Ed Now is pleased to launch a new series of student-driven podcast conversations issuing from the College Debates and Discourse (CD&D) Alliance – a national initiative led by ACTA, Braver Angels, and BridgeUSA. ACTA's program manager for the CD&D Alliance, Sadie Webb, will host the series to showcase students across the nation who are leading a movement to promote civil discourse, depolarizing debates, and free expression on college campuses. In July 2023, the CD&D Alliance team gathered at the University of Denver for a symposium bringing together faculty leaders and student fellows from ten colleges and universities that are participating in a two-year $1.3 million research project, funded by the John Templeton Foundation. This multifaceted project explores the effects of Braver Angels debates and discourse on campus communities – and student leaders have a major role in driving it. Joining Ms. Webb in today’s episode are three student fellows in the Templeton project. They include Jordan Phillips from Duke University in North Carolina, Lucas Rice of Texas A&M University Corpus Christi, and Cheyanne Rider of Linn-Benton Community College in Oregon. The wisdom and insights of these students are inspiring and instructive for our politically fractured nation.
ACTA president Michael Poliakoff and Higher Ed Now producer Doug Sprei interview Richard Haass, president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations, an independent, nonpartisan think tank and educational institution dedicated to helping people better understand the world and the foreign policy choices facing the United States and other countries. Dr. Haass's extensive government experience includes service as special assistant to President George H.W. Bush and senior director for Near East and South Asian affairs on the staff of the National Security Council. From 2001 to 2003, he was director of policy planning for the Department of State, serving as a principal advisor to Secretary of State Colin Powell. Confirmed by the U.S. Senate to hold the rank of ambassador, he served as U.S. coordinator for policy toward the future of Afghanistan and U.S. envoy to the Northern Ireland peace process. Dr. Haass is the author or editor of fourteen books on American foreign policy, one book on management, and one on American democracy. His latest book, The Bill of Obligations: The Ten Habits of Good Citizens, was published by Penguin Press in January 2023 and became a New York Times best seller.
ACTA's Steve McGuire sits down with Eric Kaufmann, Professor of Politics at Birkbeck College, University of London. He is the author of several books, including Whiteshift: Immigration, Populism and the Future of White Majorities; Shall the Religious Inherit the Earth; The Rise and Fall of Anglo-America; and The Orange Order. He is co-editor, among others, of Political Demography and editor of Rethinking Ethnicity: Majority Groups and Dominant Minorities. He has also written for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Times of London, Newsweek, National Review, New Statesman, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal and other outlets.
ACTA’s president Michael Poliakoff interviews John Agresto, author of The Death of Learning, published last year by Encounter Press. Agresto is a graduate of Boston College and holds a PhD in Government from Cornell University. Before becoming President of St. John’s College in 1989, he taught at the University of Toronto, Kenyon College, Duke University, Wabash College and the New School University. He also served as acting chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities in the 1980’s and went to Iraq in 2003 as senior advisor for higher education for the new Iraqi Government. Between 2006 and 2010 he served, variously, as trustee, president, chancellor, provost and dean at the American University of Iraq in the Kurdish region. After returning from Iraq, Agresto was appointed member and chair of the New Mexico Advisory Committee on Civil Rights (2010-2018) followed by his appointment as Probate Court Judge in Santa Fe, NM. He currently serves on the board of the Jack Miller Center.
ACTA’s president Michael Poliakoff is joined by Chuck Davis, the newly elected chair and president of the Alumni Free Speech Alliance. Recently he has been serving as board chair and president of the MIT Free Speech Alliance (MFSA), one of AFSA’s member groups. Mr. Davis’s new leadership position at AFSA comes at an exciting juncture for the national alumni movement. With generous funding from the Stanton Foundation, AFSA will continue its collaboration with various organizations, including ACTA, to mobilize alumni across the country and educate the public on free speech issues affecting higher education.
In this episode, ACTA's Gabrielle Anglin and Steve McGuire interview Jered Cooper, a rising senior at the University of Virginia. Mr. Cooper is majoring in government at UVA and carries a strong passion for understanding the inner workings of politics and public policy. His love for American history has been a driving force throughout his academic journey, as he finds solace and inspiration in exploring the narratives of the past. He is a writer for the Virginia Undergraduate Law Review and a member of the new organization Middle Grounds, a discussion-based group that seeks to build consensus and understanding in regard to political issues. Committed to his studies, he aspires to pursue a law degree following graduation to help make a meaningful impact in the realm of politics and public service. A gifted speaker and thinker, Jered Cooper recently won the second annual UVA Oratory competition with his speech titled “A Remedy to Save America.”
Higher Ed Now continues its series of conversations with leading lights in the surging national movement to foster viewpoint diversity and free expression on college campuses. Today’s episode spotlights two leaders at the University of Delaware – a major institutional partner in the college debates and discourse work that ACTA is doing with Braver Angels and BridgeUSA.
On April 18 Higher Ed Now's producer Doug Sprei traveled to the University of Delaware to chair a Braver Angels debate for a classroom of 25 students led by Lindsay Hoffman, an associate professor of communication who serves as the research leader for ACTA's two-year Braver Angels project funded by the John Templeton Foundation. Afterward he sat down for a conversation with Dr. Hoffman, along with another stellar leader in the discourse space, Timothy Shaffer, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Chair of Civil Discourse at U Delaware’s Biden School of Public Policy and Administration. Shaffer is also director of Civic Engagement and Deliberative Democracy with the National Institute for Civil Discourse at the University of Arizona. Both guests are highly accomplished, have extensive resumes and publication credits, and carry great passion around helping students engage in dialogue, discourse, and democracy.
Dr. Tabia Lee joins ACTA's Michael Poliakoff and Steve McGuire to unpack her shocking story of being fired from her position as the faculty director for the Office of Equity, Social Justice and Multicultural Education at De Anza College in California. As Erec Smith (another recent guest on Higher Ed Now) stated on the Cato Institute's website, Dr. Lee's transgression was "asking questions about DEI initiatives, fighting for viewpoint diversity, and upholding classical liberal values."
Smith went on to write, "For these alleged transgressions, Dr. Lee, a black female academic. . . was denied tenure and relieved of her duties. As I’ve similarly experienced, Dr. Lee is being punished for being 'the wrong kind of black person:' one dedicated to classical liberal understandings of equality, individualism, reason, and free speech. The fact that a black person can be accused of perpetuating white supremacy for upholding these tenets and basically abiding by the same understanding of diversity indicative of the Civil Rights Movement should be the last straw for those discouraged and disquieted by contemporary diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, and a wake up call for those encouraged to implement such initiatives."
In Fall 2022, at ACTA's ATHENA Roundtable in Washington DC, a remarkable morning panel was hosted by Doug Sprei, Higher Ed Now producer and ACTA's Vice President of Campus Partnerships and Multimedia. The session, titled "How Civil Discourse Can Change Campus Culture," was graced by a cohort of panelists who are truly leading lights in the national movement to bring respectful discourse to college campuses and classrooms. All are cherished colleagues and allies of ACTA, and they included April Lawson, Managing Director of Debates and Public Discourse at Braver Angels, who co-founded and co-directs the national College Debates and Discourse Program; Manu Meel, CEO of BridgeUSA; as well as Deondra Rose, the Kevin D. Gorter Associate Professor of Public Policy, at Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy; and Karrin Taylor Robson, who served on the Arizona Board of Regents from 2017–2021, and who also founded the Regents’ Cup, a remarkable student debate competition in her home state. The session was designed to take on some of the format and tone of an actual Braver Angels debate, and invited lively audience participation.
In October 2022, ACTA's ATHENA Roundtable Conference in Washington, DC was highlighted by two panels featuring extraordinary higher education thought leaders. Today we present the first of those panels – headlined as DIVERSITY DONE RIGHT, and hosted by our good friend Jonathan Rauch – Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. Joining Jonathan are panelists Glenn Loury, Merton P. Stoltz Professor of the Social Sciences at Brown University; John Chisholm, former member of the MIT Corporation; Dorian Abbot, Associate Professor of Geophysical Sciences at the University of Chicago; and Amna Khalid, Associate Professor of History, Carleton College. Together, they drill into the impact of diversity, equity, and inclusion policies on higher education, discussing how this trend has had an outsized influence on the courses that universities teach, the professors they hire, and the shared understanding of our nation’s history.
Steve McGuire, ACTA’s Paul & Karen Levy Fellow in Campus Freedom, hosts a conversation on modern liberal education with Jennifer Frey, who is set to begin a new appointment as inaugural dean of the honors college at the University of Tulsa in July 2023.
Dr. Frey is currently Associate Professor of philosophy at the University of South Carolina, where she is also a Peter and Bonnie McCausland faculty fellow in the College of Arts and Sciences. She is a faculty fellow at the Institute for Human Ecology at the Catholic University of America, and holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Pittsburgh. Her academic research is primarily in moral psychology and virtue, and she frequently writes popular essays and book reviews in places like First Things, The Hedgehog Review, Image, The Point,and The Wall Street Journal. She hosts a popular philosophy, theology, and literature podcast called Sacred and Profane Love.
Across the nation, states are stepping up to reform higher education—in effect performing their intended role as laboratories of federalism and democratic governance. ACTA is seeing good progress on this front in North Carolina. While no state has achieved perfect academic accountability, academic freedom, or academic excellence in higher ed, recent developments in the UNC system in particular demonstrate crucial steps taken in the right direction.
ACTA's Emily Koons Jae and Bryan Paul recently sat down with Jenna Robinson, president of the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal, a nonprofit institute dedicated to improving higher education in North Carolina and the nation, to discuss the successes and shortcomings of higher ed reform in North Carolina. At the time of this conversation, the UNC Board of Governors had scheduled a vote for February 23 on a resolution to ban compelled speech in admission, hiring, promotion and tenure decisions. That vote has since taken place, with the resolution passing.
Today's episode features a conversation between ACTA’s Vice President of Policy, Bradley Jackson, and Amna Khalid, Associate Professor in the Department of History at Carleton College in Minnesota. Professor Khalid specializes in modern South Asian history and the history of medicine, and is also one of the nation’s foremost advocates of academic freedom and campus free speech. Having grown up in Pakistan under a series of military dictatorships, she has long harbored a strong interest in issues relating to censorship and free expression. She speaks frequently on academic freedom, free speech and campus politics at colleges, universities, and professional conferences. She has published some very significant and widely read pieces on bias reporting systems, trigger warnings, and the trouble with Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) training in college settings. Professor Khalid also hosts a podcast and accompanying blog called Banished, which explores censorship in the past and present.
Higher Ed Now welcomes Matthew Hendricks, the founder of Perspective Data Science, a small data consulting firm that specializes in education finance and policy analytics. Professor Hendricks previously served as the Chair of the Department of Economics at The University of Tulsa. For over 12 years, he has been engaged in education policy research at all levels of education, including Head Start programming, pre-K-12 grade policies, and higher education finance policy. His research on the impacts of changes in base salaries on teacher productivity has been published in the Journal of Public Economics and Economics of Education Review.
Professor Hendricks’s latest work intends to promote financial stability and improve student outcomes in higher education. To do so, he is working with struggling institutions to promote transparency among stakeholders and help school administrators and board members make better policy decisions. Part of that work includes creating college benchmarking dashboards, interpreting the data, and disseminating key findings.
Anna Sillers, ACTA's Data Analyst Fellow for Trustee & Government Affairs, met with Professor Hendricks to explore how his innovative dashboards can help faculty, administrators, alumni, and trustees better understand an institution’s finances – ensuring that when educational dollars are spent, they can provide the best outcomes for students.
In this episode, Bryan Paul, ACTA’s director of alumni advocacy, hosts a conversation with Lauren Noble, founder and executive director of the William F. Buckley, Jr. Program at Yale University.
It’s no secret that America's colleges and universities are facing a troubling decline in viewpoint diversity and the willingness of students to openly express their opinions. Elite institutions like Yale sadly lead in this trend, with more and more students exercising self-censorship for fear of being attacked or ostracized by their peers. In her role at the helm of the Buckley Program and as alumni leader of Fight for Yale's Future, Lauren Noble knows this phenomenon firsthand and is working vigorously to expand political discourse on campus and expose students to often-unvoiced views. She seeks to foster open political discussion and intellectual engagement on campus and transform the culture of her alma mater into a haven for free expression. Her efforts and commitment to academic freedom and excellence make her an indispensable ally for all those who are dedicated to promoting genuine intellectual diversity.
Higher Ed Now kicks off 2023 with a conversation between Steve McGuire, ACTA's Paul & Karen Levy Fellow in Campus Freedom, and KENNY XU, president of the raceblind advocacy group Color Us United, an organization that investigates and takes on corporations whose woke policies are potentially harming employees and our culture of excellence. Mr. Xu authored the book An Inconvenient Minority, and hosts the podcast Inconvenient Minority, which deeply investigates race, identity, and culture. He has written commentary for the Wall Street Journal, City Journal, Quillette, Newsweek, The New York Post, National Review, The Federalist, and many more. His journalism is beloved by communities of all races who share his passion for making the United States a more fair and meritocratic society. He has spoken on colorblindness and critical race theory in front of groups as diverse as the nationally renowned Pacific Legal Foundation, the Boston Rally for Education Rights, and the all-Black Connecticut Parents Union. Mr. Xu's commentary has propelled him to interviews with Fox News, Newsweek, and features in the New York Times Magazine and NPR. As the youngest board member of the Asian-American Coalition for Education and Students for Fair Admissions and an identity politics journalist for nearly two years, he has unique and unprecedented access to the major players fighting the deep racial ideologies propagated within academics today.
Former U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese served on ACTA's Board of Directors for many years. At age 90, he is as insightful and thoughtful as ever. In November 2022, he graciously invited ACTA President Michael Poliakoff and Chief of Staff Armand Alacbay to his Northern Virginia home for a far-reaching conversation about the influence of governing board leaders on higher education, and how colleges and universities can best prepare students for engaged citizenship.
ACTA president Michael Poliakoff interviews Ilya Shapiro, senior fellow and director of Constitutional Studies at the Manhattan Institute. Previously, Mr. Shapiro was vice President of the Cato Institute and director of the Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies, where he published the Cato Supreme Court Review. Earlier in his career, he served as a special assistant/adviser to the Multi-National Force in Iraq on rule-of-law issues. In this penetrating conversation, Mr. Shapiro unpacks the widely publicized controversy over his hiring, suspension, and reinstatement as a senior lecturer and executive director at Georgetown University’s Center for the Constitution.
Higher Ed Now welcomes a return visit with Jonathan Zimmerman, Professor of History of Education at the graduate school of the University of Pennsylvania. One of the foremost education historians on the scene today, Professor Zimmerman has published numerous books, written for The New York Times, Washington Post and The Atlantic among other major outlets, and is one of the foremost advocates for academic freedom and free speech in the higher education space today. ACTA's Vice President of Policy, Bradley Jackson, hosts the conversation.
Higher Ed Now producer Doug Spreiengages two academic leaders at Denison University: Adam Weinberg, the university's President, and Adam Davis, Professor of History and Director of the Lisska Center for Intellectual Engagement. Together they conceived a groundbreaking freshman orientation initiative - "Minds Wide Open" - which gave 700 incoming Denison students an immersive experience of civil discourse through Braver Angels campus debates. President Weinberg and Professor Davis elaborate on their vision and thinking behind this innovative program, which holds promise as an inspiring model for freshman orientation efforts around the nation.
In March 2022, the New York Times published a piece by Emma Camp, titled "I Came to College Eager to Debate. I Found Self-Censorship Instead." The story quickly went viral, and Emma was thrust into the spotlight as a compelling champion for the principles of open inquiry, viewpoint diversity, and constructive disagreement. For this episode, ACTA's Emily Burden Rees and Gabrielle Anglin interviewed Emma Camp just a few months after she graduated from the University of Virginia. She is currently an assistant editor at Reason, and her work has also appeared in Real Clear Politics and Persuasion.
In March 2022, the New York Times published a piece by Emma Camp, titled "I Came to College Eager to Debate. I Found Self-Censorship Instead." The story quickly went viral, and Emma was thrust into the spotlight as a compelling champion for the principles of open inquiry, viewpoint diversity, and constructive disagreement.
For this episode, ACTA's Emily Burden Rees and Gabrielle Anglin interviewed Emma Camp just a few months after she graduated from the University of Virginia. She is currently an assistant editor at Reason, and her work has also appeared in Real Clear Politics and Persuasion.
University of Austin president Pano Kanelos returns to Higher Ed Now to describe the genesis of his new institution with ACTA president Michael Poliakoff. This past summer, the University of Austin offered its first academic programming, designed for students who were studying or starting out at other universities. "We wanted to be able to bring together students and faculty from across ideological boundaries," says Kanelos, "and throw in front of them some of the most vexing questions of the day, questions around empire, or gender, or race, and create a circle of trust where these students and faculty, who differ in so many ways, find what I call the highest common denominator."
Pano Kanelos, president of the University of Austin, returns to Higher Ed Now to explore the genesis of his institution with ACTA president Michael Poliakoff. This past summer, the University of Austin offered its first academic programming, designed for students who were studying or starting out at other universities. "We wanted to be able to bring together students and faculty from across ideological boundaries," says Kanelos, "and throw in front of them some of the most vexing questions of the day, questions around empire, or gender, or race, and create a circle of trust where these students and faculty, who differ in so many ways, find what I call the highest common denominator."
In this episode, Steve McGuire, ACTA’s Paul & Karen Levy Fellow in Campus Freedom, interviews Justin Dyer, executive director of the Civitas Institute, which was recently established at the University of Texas (UT)–Austin. The Civitas Institute advances research and teaching on individual rights, civic virtue, the rule of law, and free enterprise. In addition to running the Civitas Institute, Dr. Dyer serves as professor of government and the Jack G. Taylor Regents Professor. His impressive record of teaching and scholarship focuses on American political thought, jurisprudence, and constitutionalism. Dr. Dyer was previously the founding director of the Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy at the University of Missouri. He received his M.A. and Ph.D. in government from UT–Austin.
In this episode, Steve McGuire, ACTA’s Paul & Karen Levy Fellow in Campus Freedom, interviews Justin Dyer, executive director of the Civitas Institute, which was recently established at the University of Texas (UT)–Austin. The Civitas Institute advances research and teaching on individual rights, civic virtue, the rule of law, and free enterprise. In addition to running the Civitas Institute, Dr. Dyer serves as professor of government and the Jack G. Taylor Regents Professor. His impressive record of teaching and scholarship focuses on American political thought, jurisprudence, and constitutionalism. Dr. Dyer was previously the founding director of the Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy at the University of Missouri. He received his M.A. and Ph.D. in government from UT–Austin.
ACTA’s chief of staff, Armand Alacbay, interviews Dr. Lindsey Burke, Ph.D., the director of the Center for Education Policy at The Heritage Foundation. Dr. Burke is well known for her role overseeing Heritage's research and policy work on issues pertaining to higher education reform. In this conversation she discusses higher ed leadership in light of her recent appointment to the George Mason University Board of Visitors where, it’s safe to say, she’ll have ample opportunities to apply her education policy research experience in a practical setting.
ACTA’s chief of staff, Armand Alacbay, interviews Dr. Lindsey Burke, Ph.D., the director of the Center for Education Policy at The Heritage Foundation.
Dr. Burke is well known for her role overseeing Heritage's research and policy work on issues pertaining to higher education reform. In this conversation she discusses higher ed leadership in light of her recent appointment to the George Mason University Board of Visitors where, it’s safe to say, she’ll have ample opportunities to apply her education policy research experience in a practical setting.
Higher Ed Now producer Doug Sprei teamed up with Jack Golden, an ACTA summer intern and rising senior at Hillsdale College, to explore one of the nation's most compelling history podcasts. History That Doesn't Suck, the brainchild of Professor Greg Jackson of Utah Valley University, combines rigorous research with virtuoso production values and a dynamic approach to storytelling. With over 100 episodes available and new ones issuing every two weeks, History That Doesn't Suck has reinvented the genre and built a loyal audience of hundreds of thousands of listeners. "We need to understand who our nation is," says Jackson. "What are our principles? How does our government function? How on earth can you make good selections as to who you're going to put into positions if you don't even understand what the position really is, how it's evolved, what it does? I think history is crucial to understanding all of that; and I wanted to present it in a very nonpartisan way."
Higher Ed Now producer Doug Sprei teamed up with Jack Golden, an ACTA summer intern and rising senior at Hillsdale College, toexplore one of the nation's most compelling history podcasts. History That Doesn't Suck, the brainchild of Professor Greg Jackson of Utah Valley University, combines rigorous research with virtuoso production values and a dynamic approach to storytelling. With over 100 episodes available and new ones issuing every two weeks, History That Doesn't Suck has reinvented the genre and built a loyal audience of hundreds of thousands of listeners.
"We need to understand who our nation is," says Jackson. "What are our principles? How does our government function? How on earth can you make good selections as to who you're going to put into positions if you don't even understand what the position really is, how it's evolved, what it does? I think history is crucial to understanding all of that; and I wanted to present it in a very nonpartisan way."
ACTA's Steven McGuire sits down in a far reaching conversation with Erec Smith, co-founder and co-editor of Free Black Thought, a small group of citizens, scholars, technologists and parents determined to amplify vital Black voices that are rarely heard on mainstream platforms. Smith is the Associate Professor of Rhetoric at York College of Pennsylvania, and is the author of A Critique of Anti-Racism in Rhetoric and Composition: The Semblance of Empowerment.
ACTA's Michael Poliakoff delves into life-changing aspects of liberal arts education and study of the great books in conversation with Roosevelt Montas, the author of Rescuing Socrates: How the Great Books Changed My Life, and Why They Matter for a New Generation. Montas is a Senior Lecturer in American Studies and English at Columbia University. He was Director of the Center for the Core Curriculum at Columbia College from 2008 to 2018. He currently teaches Introduction to Contemporary Civiliation in the West, a year-long course on primary texts in moral and political thought, and is also Director of the Center for American Studies’ Freedom and Citizenship Program in collaboration with the Double Discovery Center. As you’ll discover, Mr. Montas holds great reverence for the history, meaning, and future of liberal education.
Author and educator Colin Diver joins ACTA's president, Michael Poliakoff, to deconstruct the conventional model of college rankings (exemplified by U.S. News & World Report). During his distinguished career in higher education, Mr. Diver served as the Dean of the University of Pennsylvania Law School, and from 2002 to 2012 was the president of Reed College. His book, Breaking Ranks: How the Rankings Industry Rules Higher Education and What to Do about It, was published this year by Johns Hopkins Press.
Jacob Mchangama is human rights lawyer in Denmark. He is the founder and executive director of Justitia, a think tank which aims to promote the rule of law and fundamental human rights and freedom rights both within Denmark and abroad by educating and influencing policy experts, decision-makers, and the public.
From 2018-2020, Jacob hosted a podcast, “Clear and Present Danger: A History of Free Speech.” He is the author of “Free Speech: A History from Socrates to Social Media” published by Basic Books in 2022.
In today’s episode he sits down for a wide ranging conversation on free speech with Steve McGuire, ACTA’s Paul and Karen Levy Fellow in Campus Freedom.
ACTA's VP of Academic Affairs, Jonathan Pidluzny, interviews entrepreneur and business leader John Dana Chisholm about the concept of holistic diversity and its potential to influence higher education policy. Mr. Chisholm is a member of the Free Speech Alliance at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and was previously a member of the MIT Corporation (or board of trustees). He has four decades of experience as entrepreneur, CEO, and investor, having founded and served as Chairman/CEO of Decisive Technology (now part of Google), and of CustomerSat (now part of FocusVision), a leading provider of enterprise feedback management systems. These days he heads up John Chisholm Ventures, a San Francisco-based entrepreneurship advisory and investment firm. He is the author of Unleash Your Inner Company: 10 Steps to Discover, Launch, and Scale Your Ideal Business.
Just an hour before they teamed up to launch a Braver Angels student debate on campus, ACTA's Doug Sprei interviewed Deondra Rose, Associate Professor of Public Policy, Political Science, and History at Duke University. As the Director of Polis: Center for Politics, Professor Rose leads research into higher education policy, American Political Development, political behavior, identity politics, and inequality. She is a dynamic scholar and educator who commands the admiration of students, faculty and staff leadership across Duke University and beyond into American higher ed.
Author and Emory University professor emeritus Mark Bauerlein sat down with ACTA's Michael Poliakoff to talk about his new book, "The Dumbest Generation Grows Up: From Stupefied Youth to Dangerous Adults." Bauerlein has publicly argued that the lack of general civics knowledge by millennials poses a threat to America's political and social institutions. He previously worked as a director of Research and Analysis at the National Endowment for the Arts, where he oversaw studies about culture and American life, including the much discussed Reading at Risk: A Survey of Literary Reading in America.
Higher Ed Now delves into issues of merit, fairness and equality, academic freedom, and more with Dorian Abbot, associate professor in the department of Geophysical Sciences at the University of Chicago. It’s now well known that Dr. Abbot was invited last year to give the prestigious Carlson Lecture at Massachusetts Institute of Technology—and then, in September, he was disinvited by MIT after a group of activists launched an online cancellation campaign against him. This conversation between Dr. Abbot and ACTA's Michael Poliakoff took place in Washington DC on the same day that Dr. Abbot received our Hero of Intellectual Freedom award.
Nadine Strossen is one of the nation's leading champions of free expression, a renowned author and educator, and a long-time close friend of ACTA. From 1991 to 2008, she served as the first woman and youngest person to lead the American Civil Liberties Union. Today she is a professor at New York Law School, and in 2018 she authored the book Hate – Why We Should Resist It with Free Speech, Not Censorship. In this episode she sits down for a far-reaching conversation with ACTA's Michael Poliakoff and Doug Sprei. .
ACTA's Doug Sprei interviews Paul Carrese, Founding Director of the School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership at Arizona State University. Professor Carrese shares the underpinnings of this influential program, which aims to prepare the next generation of young leaders through the study of great works of civic, economic, political, and moral thought.
For six decades, Dr. Gordon S. Wood’s scholarship has advanced the understanding of the formative years of our nation. His work on the American Revolution and the creation of the American Republic is not only renowned for its meticulous accuracy and groundbreaking insight but also for its elegant and effective presentation, which has made it resonate among professional historians and a much wider public.
Dr. Wood has served on the faculty of Brown University, Harvard University, the University of Michigan, William & Mary, and Cambridge University. In addition to the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for History, he has held a Guggenheim fellowship, and in 2010, Dr. Wood was awarded the National Humanities Medal by President Obama.
Speaking of awards, Dr. Wood was recently presented with the Philip Merrill Award for Outstanding Contributions to Liberal Arts Education at ACTA’s 25thplus oneAnniversary Celebration at the U.S. Library of Congress. This episode features his award acceptance speech at that event, in which he discusses America’s founding and the various inaccuracies of the 1619 Project.
ACTA’s president Michael Poliakoff has a bracing conversation with Ed Yingling, a co-founder of the Alumni Free Speech Alliance (AFSA)—a new consortium of alumni groups dedicated to preserving free speech on their college campuses. Yingling and ACTA Board member Stuart Taylor, also co-founders of Princetonians for Free Speech, launched the project with an explosive op ed in the Wall Street Journal on October 18, 2021. The piece, Alumni Unite For Freedom Of Speech: Many Left-of-Center Professors Now Realize That They Too Can Be Brutally Canceled by the Mob,prompted a flood of inquiries from alumni of more than 60 colleges and universities, all seeking guidance on how to recruit and organize alumni from their respective alma maters as bulwarks against the creeping illiberalism and cancel culture gripping college campuses. Yingling describes what inspired him to take action, provides a start-up plan for alumni to stand up new groups and link up with others in the expanding alumni free speech movement, and previews exciting developments at AFSA in 2022.
ACTA's president Michael Poliakoff joins author and editor Robert McCrum to explore his latest book, Shakespearean, an inspiring portrait of one of the most influential writers in history. McCrum elaborates on how Shakespeare's works resonate today as vividly as they did centuries ago, and why it is paramount to keep his works alive and strong in the modern college curriculum.
ACTA's Jonathan Pidluzny and Nathaniel Urban interview George Harne, Executive Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences at the University of St. Thomas in Texas. "Liberal education is almost like becoming a conductor in training," Dr. Harne says. "The goal is to be able to get a vision of an integrated whole, to know the natures of things, the essences of things, and then to know their objective relations with one another. . . Being liberally educated also means as you continue to learn, being able to integrate that new knowledge into the symphony of knowing."
The acclaimed author, journalist, and activist Jonathan Rauch sat down with ACTA's Doug Sprei to explore the social and political vectors that led him to write his remarkable new book, "The Constitution of Knowledge." Rauch is a research fellow at the Brookings Institution and a contributing editor at The Atlantic; he's also a champion of civil discourse, and a longtime friend of ACTA who sparked our flourishing College Debates partnership with Braver Angels and BridgeUSA.
The acclaimed author, journalist, and activist Jonathan Rauch sat down with ACTA's Doug Sprei to explore the social and political vectors that led him to write his remarkable new book, "The Constitution of Knowledge." Rauch is a research fellow at the Brookings Institution and a contributing editor at The Atlantic; he's also a champion of civil discourse, and a longtime friend of ACTA who sparked our flourishing College Debates partnership with Braver Angels and BridgeUSA.
Professor Abraham Unger has a unique vision for liberal arts education. Long before before spending a decade as Director of Urban Programs at Wagner College in New York, he was an undergraduate student concentrating on classical guitar at the prestigious Manhattan School of Music. In this episode of Higher Ed Now, he sits down with ACTA's Michael Poliakoff and Doug Sprei to reflect on the precarious condition of colleges and universities today, and explores the concept he is shaping for liberal arts education based on the conservatory model he experienced as an undergraduate.
ACTA's Armand Alacbay sits down with John W. Altman -- distinguished entrepreneur, business leader, educator, and veteran trustee at several colleges and universities -- to explore the distinct strengths that trustees should bring to any institutional governing board. Having recently stepped up as ACTA's board chairman, Altman brings a lifetime of experience and insight into helping higher education institutions stay on course and fulfill their mission.
Pano Kanelos, the noted educator, Shakesperean scholar, and champion of campus discourse, goes one on one with with ACTA's Michael Poliakoff to reflect on his tenure as the 24th president of St. John's College in Annapolis. Kanelos unpacks a pedagogical tradition where all students are immersed in conversation and the study of 200 great books.
As campuses reopen, how can college leaders help students who struggled with alcohol and drug use and mental health issues during the pandemic? In ACTA's webinar, The Pandemic and Campus Substance Use: What Colleges Need to Know Now,four distinguished health experts explored this topic, from research to practical solutions on the ground. Panelists included Robert L. DuPont, M.D. of the Institute for Behavior and Health; Amelia M. Arria,Ph.D. of the University of Maryland School of Public Health; Ellen Rome, M.D., M.P.H. of the Center for Adolescent Medicine at Cleveland Clinic Children’s; and Caleb S. Boswell, L.L.P.C., N.C.C. of the Office of Counseling & Career Planning at Washtenaw Community College.
ACTA president Michael Poliakoff sits down with Jodi Shaw, an alumna and former employee of Smith College who took a courageous stand against critical race orthodoxy at Smith. Her story, reported in The New York Times and major news venues, prompted ACTA to award her with a Hero of Intellectual Freedom Award, to be presented later this year. In our podcast, Shaw outlines the events and reasons leading to her resignation from Smith College, and elaborates on why she believes that what passes for “progressive” at Smith and many other institutions today is actually deeply regressive.
For most students, a college education is one of the biggest investments they’ll ever make in their lifetime. What if colleges and universities could take the risk out of that monumental investment by insuring future income for graduates? ACTA's Armand Alacbay explores this model with Wade Eyerly, the co-founder and CEO of Degree Insurance, which guarantees a student’s earnings in the five years after receiving a college degree.
Margarita Mooney, Associate Professor at Princeton Theological Seminary and founder and executive director of Scala Foundation, explores the value and vitality of liberal arts learning in conversation with ACTA's Nathaniel Urban and President Michael Poliakoff.
Since 2018 Braver Angels has teamed with ACTA to launch civil debates for students across the nation. College leaders applaud the program's depolarizing, transformative effects on students as they learn to engage respectfully around divisive social and political issues. Program leader Doug Sprei unpacks the magic with college instructors David Dagan of The George Washington University; Mark Urista of Linn-Benton Community College; Manu Meel, CEO of BridgeUSA; Texas intern David Amaya; and April Lawson, Director of Debates and Public Discourse at Braver Angels.
Emily Koons Jae, who leads ACTA’s Fund for Academic Renewal (FAR) initiative, has been keeping close tabs on the controversy around a $30 million gift to Ohio State University by the late Michael Moritz. In this episode, Emily explores this provocative story with Mr. Moritz’s wife, Lou Ann Ransom, and his son, Jeffrey Moritz.
On Constitution Day, ACTA co-sponsored Civic Engagement for All – a virtual event with the Office of Engaged Learning at Baylor University. Moderated by Professor David Corey, the director of Baylor in Washington, a panel of prominent Baylor alumni and senior leaders discussed how students can envision a more robust approach to civic engagement, and why doing so is essential to the health of our communities and our country. Higher Ed Now is pleased to share excerpts of the panel discussion.
Jeremy Wayne Tate founded Classic Learning Initiatives in 2015 to provide high school students with alternative standardized tests that are rooted in tradition while taking advantage of modern technologies. Featuring passages from great works across a variety of disciplines, the Classical Learning Test (CLT) suite of assessments provides an accurate and rigorous measure of reasoning, aptitude, and academic formation for students from diverse educational backgrounds. Mr. Tate explores the underpinnings of the CLT with ACTA's president, Michael Poliakoff.
Abigail Thompson, Distinguished Professor of Mathematics at the University of California-Davis, drew national attention in December 2019 with her Wall Street Journal op-ed titled “The University’s New Loyalty Oath.” Her bold challenge to the University of California’s use of diversity statements in faculty hiring inspired ACTA to honor her with a Hero of Intellectual Freedom Award. Professor Thompson argued that the rubric for assessing applicants’ diversity statements was not ideologically neutral, and that the hiring process constituted a possible infringement of academic freedom, as well as a threat to intellectual diversity. In this episode, she explores the topic with ACTA's president, Michael Poliakoff.
For acclaimed sports journalist Sally Jenkinsof The Washington Post, the Covid-19 pandemic has blown the lid off excessive spending in college athletics and brought higher education to a reckoning point. She sat down with ACTA's Doug Sprei and Armand Alacbay for a probing conversation a few days after publication of her scathing article, College sports embraced reckless greed. With the Coronavirus crisis, the bill has come due.
Drawing on over thirty years of experience in philanthropy, Joanne Florino has authored the new the guidebook, Protecting Your Legacy: A Wise Giver’s Guide to Honoring and Preserving Donor Intent. She sits down with Emily Koons Jae, the director of ACTA’s Fund for Academic Renewal, to explore what donors to colleges and universities can learn from this new guide; and they cover important trends in higher education philanthropy as well.
John Katzman's trajectory as a groundbreaking educational entrepreneur has included founding The Princeton Review, the online learning company 2U and, most recently, The Noodle Companies, where he serves as CEO. For many years he has been dedicated to making the tools of education ever more innovative, connective, accessible, and effective. He joined ACTA's president, Michael Poliakoff, for a wide-ranging conversation on Zoom.
In loco parentis is the theory that colleges can, and ought to, act “in the place of a parent” with regard to their students. How has this philosophy guided the formation of the modern university, and how has the concept changed since its inception in the early 20th century? Christopher P. Loss, professor of history, public policy, and higher education at Vanderbilt University, joins ACTA’s Erik Gross for a deep dive into one of the pivotal guiding philosophies in American higher education.
Pine Manor College, a small liberal arts school in Massachusetts, has responded to the intense financial and operational pressures of the COVID-19 pandemic in a unique way: by partnering with nearby Boston College to become the Pine Manor Institute for Student Success. Peter Alcock, a Pine Manor trustee who has been a key driver of positioning PMC for this initiative, sat down with ACTA’s Armand Alacbayto share lessons learned that could prove instructive for many other institutions around the country.
Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, President Emeritus of The George Washington University, rejoins the podcast to explore higher education's response to the current national crisis around instances of police brutality and the protests against systemic racism. ACTA's president, Michael Poliakoff, kicks off the conversation.
Michael Poliakoff speaks with former U.S. Senator, Representative, and college president emeritus Hank Brown about immediate steps that colleges and universities must take in meeting the financial and operational crisis they are facing from the COVID 19 pandemic.
ACTA's Michael Poliakoff talks with Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, President Emeritus of the George Washington University about the urgent financial ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic on colleges and universities, their prospects for re-opening, challenges imposed by declining enrollment, and the hard operational decisions that institutions will have to make in coming years.
Today we continue the conversation with college students impacted by the wide-ranging effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. We discuss how they are adapting to the loss of their university environment, maintaining academic discipline and motivation as they deal with the shift to online learning, and much more. Joining the podcast are Emily Garcia and Justin Heywood of Arizona State University, and Isaac Huang of the University of California-Berkeley. All three guests are leaders of the influential student group, BridgeUSA.
How are college students coping with the wide-ranging effects of the Coronavirus pandemic? Our first episode features Daniel Acosta-Rivas, rising senior at American University, and Erez Binyamin, a recent graduate from Rochester Institute of Technology.
ACTA's Michael Poliakoff explores the erosion of academic freedom in the academy with John M. Ellis, professor emeritus at University of California-Santa Cruz, and the author of The Breakdown of Higher Education: How It Happened, the Damage It Does, and What Can Be Done.
How do the challenges that COVID-19 presents compare to other times of crisis in higher education? What forces have been brewing under the surface of the academy to make this such a difficult time for college campuses to cope with the pandemic? ACTA's Erik Gross tapped Jonathan Zimmerman, professor of history of education at the University of Pennsylvania, for perspectives.
As the COVID-19 pandemic expands, higher ed leaders, faculty and students are being forced to adapt in real time and rethink the future. Kaplan University Partners president Brandon Busteedjoins ACTA's Michael Poliakoff for a wide-ranging discussion about the crucial challenges confronting institutions this fall and for many years to come.
The COVID-19 pandemic is forcing professors and instructors to move toward delivering courses online -- almost overnight. How are faculty, institutions, and students reckoning with this sudden shift? Lee Skallerup Bessette, Ph.D., Learning Design Specialist at Georgetown University, explores what goes into maintaining great pedagogical values in online instruction, and the sweep of urgent issues confronting students during this crisis.
One of the nation's leading researchers in the field of drug and alcohol abuse, Dr. Amelia Arria is respected by higher ed leaders and policy makers alike. A key driver of the influential Maryland Collaborative, she helps trustees and administrators forge strategies and intervention policies to help students stay healthy and successful on their academic journey.
Robert L. DuPont, MD, one of the nation's leading voices on drug and alcohol use, joins our podcast for a passionate discussion on recovery, prevention, and what college leaders need to know to save students' lives and help them succeed. Over the past 51 years, Dr. DuPont has been a major player shaping federal policy, guiding institutions, and helping countless individuals move from addiction into recovery.
Do colleges treat anti-Semitism differently from sexism and racism? Evan Gerstmann, professor of political science at Loyola Marymount University, phoned in to talk with ACTA president Michael Poliakoff about his recent Forbes articles that explore this topic.
In this conversation recorded on Veteran's Day, Michael Poliakoff explores the modern influence of the liberal arts tradition with two of its most dedicated proponents, John Hillen and Ryan Pemberton from Hampden-Sydney College -- an institution with roots linked to the founding of our nation.
Professor George LaNoue brings a lifetime of teaching college students about the First Amendment, educational policy, Constitutional law, civil rights, and more. He visited ACTA to spotlight his new book, Silenced Stages: The Loss of Academic Freedom and Campus Policy Debates, which probes into how often colleges expose their students to civil debate on important, and often controversial, public policy questions.
"What can educators, philanthropists, entrepreneurs, and activists do to create a higher ed ecosystem that's as rich and diverse and intellectually curious as we want our nation to be?" Frederick M. Hess, resident scholar and Director of Education Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute, takes a deep dive into the state of civic education with ACTA's President Michael Poliakoff.
The loving partnership of Abigail and John Adams played a remarkable role in shaping America's founding and history. ACTA joins the Grateful American Foundation and the Supreme Court Historical Society to celebrate the release of a new children's book exploring the narrative of our nation's most influential early couple.
Funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies, the innovative CollegePoint program is giving thousands of high-achieving, low- and moderate-income high school students the individualized support they need to navigate the college application and financial aid process. We sat down with Jenny Sharfstein Kane of Bloomberg Philanthropies to explore how it works.
ACTA's Erik Gross serves up a conversation with Jason Brennan and Phillip Magness, the authors of "Cracks In the Ivory Tower: The Moral Mess of Higher Education." Their microeconomic approach to analyzing the adversities plaguing today's colleges and universities lays out a gripping narrative that is sure to challenge orthodoxies in the Academy.
Kyler Gray, a rising senior at the University of Central Florida, is an emerging higher education leader. On top of full time studies, he serves as the president of the UCF student body, CEO of the Student Government Association, and as the sole student member of the university's Board of Trustees -- representing 68,000 students in the UCF community. We sat down with Kyler to explore his passion, vision, and experiences in governance on the ground at a major public institution.
April Lawson is a guiding light and director of debates at Better Angels, a remarkable national organization that has surged into the spotlight by effectively teaching citizens to combat polarization and restore civil dialogue across America. April's leadership informs Better Angels' partnership with ACTA -- and our shared vision to help students build a culture of respectful dialogue and viewpoint diversity on college campuses.
Is there really a disjunct between the world of the practical and the world of the liberal arts? Dr. Fred Beuttler, guiding light of the Graham School of Continuing Liberal and Professional Studies of the University of Chicago, certainly doesn't think so. In this episode he returns to ACTA for an illuminating conversation with Michael Poliakoff.
Back in 2011, Wallace Hall was sounding alarms about admissions wrongdoings at the University of Texas System, where he served as Regent. His activism drew blistering criticism and brought him to the brink of impeachment -- until 2015, when an investigation fully validated his claims. In light of global headlines about the college admissions scandal, Hall's stance is now regarded as heroic. In a conversation at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, he shared an inside view with ACTA's Michael Poliakoff.
David Corey, Professor of Political Science at Baylor University, drives a dialogue with ACTA's Michael Poliakoff and Erik Gross about the vital qualities of liberal education, the lessons offered by the classics, and how to teach and model rational discourse for students.
Manu Meel, a rising senior at the University of California Berkeley who serves as the CEO for Bridges USA, discusses how students can reform our political culture by bringing constructive discourse back to our college campuses.
Even after more than a year of weathering intense criticism and professional censure for airing her controversial views in public, University of Pennsylvania Law School Professor Amy Wax remains as engaging, outspoken, and unapologetic as ever. Whether you agree or disagree with her viewpoints, her wit and sharp intellect fuel a provocative dialogue on academic freedom that will endure for years to come.
Kai Fox, a rising junior at American University who serves as CEO for Students for Free Expression, outlines his group's mission to build a student-led community to drive a culture of free speech and viewpoint diversity on college campuses across the U.S.
When Professor Samuel Abrams of Sarah Lawrence College wrote an opinion piece for The New York Times in October 2018, he didn't expect a stunning backlash from students, faculty and administrators. The episode has become one of the hottest touchpoints in the national conversation on academic freedom and viewpoint diversity. In this podcast, Abrams joins former University of Pennsylvania trustee Paul Levy and ACTA president Michael Poliakofffor a penetrating discussion on the threats that campus monocultures pose to freedom of expression, reasonable debate and dialogue in higher education.
Sean Decatur, President of Kenyon College, sat down for a skype interview with ACTA's Erik Gross (a Kenyon alumnus) to talk about the virtues and benefits of a liberal arts education, and how his experience as a scientist influences his leadership of a liberal arts institution.
Seton Hall University Professor Robert Kelchen explores higher ed accountability, and explains how accreditation practices, private-sector interests, and internal requirements have become so important to institutional success and survival.
Jonathan Zimmerman, professor of History of Education at the University of Pennsylvania and author of The Case for Contention: Teaching Controversial Issues in American Schools, joins ACTA’s Erik Gross to discuss the decline of civic education, the history and purpose of higher education, college costs, and more.
Bruce Cole, who passed away in January 2018, is most often remembered for his outstanding leadership of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Beyond that, he was a visionary national scholar and educator who brought light into the humanities and arts. Our podcast shares highlights of a conversation between three higher education leaders who knew Bruce Cole personally and were profoundly affected by him. Our special guest, Mona Charon, senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center is joined by David Bruce Smith of the Grateful America Foundation, and ACTA’s president, Michael Poliakoff.
Now in its 10th year, What Will They Learn is one of ACTA’s most courageous and groundbreaking initiatives. It takes a penetrating look at more than 1,100 colleges and universities, grading how effective they are in delivering a comprehensive liberal arts education that equips students to succeed in the global marketplace and civic life. Listen in as Elliott Cole engages program leaders Megan Riethmiller and Nathaniel Urban, along with ACTA's president Michael Poliakoff, to examine how What Will They Learn cuts through the dense verbiage of course catalogs and boldly shows what really matters in higher education.
ACTA is proudly partnering with Better Angels, a depolarization initiative that has grown explosively and drawn wide media attention since its launch shortly after the 2016 election. We sat down with founder David Blankenhorn to explore how Better Angels brings thousands of conservatives and progressives—and a growing community of students—together in civil debate and dialogue.
Listen in on an inspiring conversation with Dr. Fred Beuttler, Associate Dean and guiding light behind the University of Chicago’s Graham School—where working professionals and students of all ages come to foster the life of the mind, explore great literature, and rediscover the lessons of history.
What do philanthropists and investors have in common? A lot more than you’d think. A new generation of “venture philanthropists” are looking for real results when it comes to supporting American higher education. To consider both sides of the investor/philanthropist mindset, Mark Grovic of New Markets Venture Partners and Jacqueline Pfeffer Merrill, executive director of the Fund for Academic Renewal, discuss how to consider specific issues in higher education that are ripe for innovative philanthropists to target for giving.
Listen in on a remarkable conversation with Hanna Gray, the acclaimed former president of the University of Chicago, and one of the nation’s most respected academic leaders. Speaking with ACTA’s Michael Poliakoff and Karen Hyman, Mrs. Gray shares her incisive views on academic freedom, liberal arts education versus “vocationalism,” and much more.
It isn't a question of if intellectual freedom is under threat, but how it is under threat. Long-time free speech advocate and author of Kindly Inquisitors Jonathan Rauch joins Higher Ed Now to discuss this generation's battle for intellectual diversity and academic freedom. From unsettled science to social media, Jonathan breaks down the perilous instinct to embrace kindness over the creation of knowledge and discovery of truth. His thoughtful and considered take on provocateurs and identity politics will revive even the most cynical person's faith in the scientific method and civil discourse.
The dismal science has more bad news for American higher education. Economist Bryan Caplan’s new book, The Case Against Education, finds that a college degree is valuable not because college imparts knowledge, but because it signals certain qualities to future employers. But it doesn't have to be this way. If policymakers and trustees want to make higher education worth the investment, they’ll have to make reforms that increase graduation rates, reduce the opportunity cost of attending college, and ensure that students are graduating with real knowledge and valuable skills. Tune in to hear more about the ways that colleges are failing to deliver a quality education at an affordable price.
Many people have expressed dissatisfaction with American higher education. But students and taxpayers don’t know about the oblique system responsible for ensuring quality at colleges across the country. Accreditation is the key to understanding the problems ensnaring higher ed. Third Way’s Higher Education Senior Policy Advisor Michael Itzkowitz joins ACTA President Michael Poliakoff to demystify this strange regulator that influences so many of the problems within American universities.
Theoretical physicist and international authority on nuclear fusion, Dr. Steven Cowley joins Higher Ed Now to discuss the crucial role of—the liberal arts! As the first scientist to serve as president of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, Dr. Cowley makes the 21st century argument for the liberal arts by applying his empirical background and also sharing his deep appreciation for the arts and humanities. If you’re tired of hearing that the liberal arts are outmoded and impractical or if you’re skeptical about their value in the knowledge economy, prepare to hear an eloquent defense from a scholar and scientist uniquely positioned to appreciate the scientific advances that improve the quality of the well-examined life.
What is higher education’s role in society? And how can trustees and policymakers ensure that future generations receive a quality education at an affordable price? Barmak Nassirian, Director of Federal Relations and Policy Analysis at the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU), joins Higher Ed Now to enlighten listeners with his deep knowledge and lively perspective. Mr. Nassirian brings the gifts of insight, clarity and over 25 years of public policy experience to bear on higher education’s most serious and complex questions.
Why is college so expensive? This deceptively simple question troubles students, parents, and policymakers alike. Barring large changes to the educational landscape, what can trustees do lead their institutions to embrace technological innovations and financial reforms that will make college more affordable and transparent for those pursuing the American Dream? American Enterprise Institute scholars Jason Delisle and Preston Cooper join Higher Ed Now to offer a few takes on what drives rising tuition costs and burdensome student loan balances. Can the market provide financial mechanisms that will make educational quality more transparent? Should the government utilize performance-based funding while also incentivizing open access admission policies? Jason and Preston’s creative solutions and surprising research will have listeners asking big-picture questions about higher education policy and where it’s headed.
Financial pressures and technological innovations all contribute to an unpredictable higher education landscape, but these obstacles can also present opportunities to make a college degree more affordable and accessible. How can should trustees balance the bottom line while keeping their institutions true to their educational missions? The Chronicle of Higher Education’s Senior Reporter and Editor Goldie Blumenstyk shares three decades of journalistic insight on the business of higher education in this episode of Higher Ed Now. From MOOCs to competency-based instruction, Goldie explores the trends shaping the future of colleges across the country.
Some say the humanities have lost their way. But there is hope for the future. Can developments in the digital humanities bring about a renaissance in the way higher education presents and understands art and culture? Former chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, distinguished scholar of art history and comparative literature, author, and former trustee of Indiana University, Bruce Cole joins Higher Ed Now to consider how the health of the humanities can revitalize campus culture and civic engagement.
Even when it isn’t football or basketball season, colleges can be competitive with each other; they compete for grants, students, faculty and top administrators. But does competition cost higher education opportunities to improve student outcomes? Instead of competing, the University Innovation Alliance’s members—eleven of the largest public research universities—are embracing a spirit of data-sharing and cooperation to increase access and success. UIA Executive Director Bridget Burns joins Higher Ed Now to share inspiring stories of schools like Purdue, Arizona State University, and Georgia State. Through innovation and approaches that challenge the conventional wisdom on student success, these universities have become national models for student success and fiscal responsibility. ACTA has recognized UIA as a “blueprint for reform” in its newest guide for trustees, Bold Leadership, Real Reform 2.0, university leaders will learn how to incubate ideas that will benefit the institution and the students it serves.
How's your NCAA March Madness bracket doing? College sports aren't just about the thrill of victory anymore. Over the years, more and more respected college teams have been painted in scandal due to academic dishonesty or even criminal behavior. Syracuse, UNC, and countless other schools have bent the rules or lowered academic standards in order to pursue big wins. ACTA's Vice President of Trustee and Legislative Affairs Armand Alacbay and Research Associate Alexis Zhang join Higher Ed Now to discuss trustees' role in governing athletic departments. Ultimately, colleges must prioritize academic pursuits and ensure their athletes are learning what they need to know for life off the court.
February is a month brimming with history. David Bruce Smith, founder and president of The Grateful American Foundation, rejoins Higher Ed Now with ACTA President Michael Poliakoff to discuss what’s hitting and what’s missing from the teaching of U.S. history.
Sit down for this exclusive interview with George Washington University President Emeritus Stephen Joel Trachtenberg. From working with individual trustees and large communities to grade inflation and classroom utilization, Steve shares advice for enterprising reformers and budding education leaders. This is a must-listen for anyone interested in working in higher education.
Daniel Pianko, managing director of University Ventures, joins Higher Ed Now to discuss how new education innovation is helping to improve quality and career outcomes and reduce time- and cost-to-degree. With its portfolio companies, University Ventures is nurturing innovations in financing college, advising students, and streamlining the path from graduation to the all-important first job. University Ventures’ unique vantage point as an investment firm that works alongside educational institutions and technology companies provides timely insights into the changing landscape of higher education and gives trustees a peek into creative ways to innovate at their own institutions.
2016 was one for the record books. After a tumultuous twelve months, ACTA President Dr. Michael Poliakoff joins Higher Ed Now to reflect on the successes and milestones of the past year in American higher education. The conversation traces major events in the fight for academic excellence, academic freedom, and accountability and how ACTA influenced these vital areas. From a viral report about civic education, to examinations of college finance and administrative spending, to innovating philanthropy in the academy, ACTA set the agenda for university trustees and alumni donors in 2016.
This week, ACTA announced a major expansion of its donor services through the Fund for Academic Renewal (FAR). With FAR, donors will be able to easily and confidently make transformative gifts that promote high academic standards and the study of traditional liberal arts subjects. Dr. Jacqueline Pfeffer Merrill joins the show to tell us about all the new services FAR now offers, and how alumni donors can improve higher education for generations to come.
Do you know someone who’s starting the college application process? Then you can’t afford to miss this sneak peek into ACTA’s signature report, What Will They Learn?This alternative to the U.S. News & World Report’s annual college rankings offers students, parents, and guidance counselors valuable information you won’t find anywhere else. What Will They Learn? is the only college ratings guide that evaluates the educational quality of colleges’ core curricula. ACTA Director of Curricular Improvement and Academic Outreach Eric Bledsoe joins the show to explain what the college rankings DON’T tell you.
In this episode, Armand Alacbay, Vice President of Trustee and Legislative Affairs at ACTA, and Jerry Malitz, former Chief Information Technology Officer for the Department of Education’s Institute for Education Sciences, take a look at how federal education data can be used to understand your school’s performance relative to peers. The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) houses powerful information on nearly every college in the country, providing data for public-facing websites and research tools like the College Navigator. New tools are now using IPEDS data to help parents and prospective students help make informed choices about where to attend college. Through this primer on institutional data, trustees can delve into metrics that are regularly collected by the federal government to inform strategic questions for the next board meeting.
Grateful American Foundation President David Bruce Smith and ACTA President Dr. Michael Poliakoff join Higher Ed Now to examine how and why American history is disappearing from school curricula.
David Bruce Smith talks about his organization’s efforts to increase interest in American history for K-12 students. Dr. Poliakoff supplements this work at the college level with ACTA’s latest report, No U.S. History?, which found that even history majors in college are rarely required to take a course dedicated to American history. Both experts agree that improving teacher education may be the key to reigniting interest in our country’s story.
Concerned donors, alumni, trustees, and comedy fans won’t want to miss the second half of Higher Ed Now’s conversation with FIRE’s Greg Lukianoff. Listeners will hear the inside scoop on Can We Take a Joke?, a new feature-length documentary that takes a humorous look at campus speech issues as they relate to comedy and satire. Mr. Lukianoff also shares his insights into freedom of association cases and the significance of the Chicago Principles on Free Expression.
After a tumultuous year for free speech on campus, Higher Ed Now asks Greg Lukianoff, president and CEO of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) to share his impression on campus speech controversies. From protests to microaggressions, he describes the campus culture that fosters censorship and threatens academic freedom and civil liberties for students and faculty.
What should we do about intolerance on college campuses? McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence Robert George rejoins Higher Ed Now to continue a discussion about viewpoint diversity and the role of colleges and universities play in society. Professor George describes his unlikely friendship with Professor Cornel West and explains how a liberal education can improve the quality of campus and civil discourse.
What’s happening on college campuses? The first recipient of ACTA’s Philip Merrill Award for Outstanding Contributions to Liberal Arts Education, Professor Robert P. George, shares his frontline accounts of campus illiberalism and the deterioration of discourse and intellectual engagement at colleges and universities.
What kind of diversity should colleges and universities require? Hamilton College's new diversity requirement got it wrong. ACTA Vice President of Policy Michael Poliakoff tells the story of the Alexander Hamilton Institute, a model for enriching intellectual diversity. This tale of donor intent and academic excellence explains the difference between the Institute's mission and Hamilton College's lazy version of diversity.
Are you planning on donating to your alma mater? Before you write that generous check, you should be sure that your donation is going to support quality, freedom, and accountability. ACTA Vice President of Development Dr. Jacqueline Pfeffer Merrill explains the nuances of donor intent and alumni giving. She also describes different methods of supporting academe through programs that focus on academic excellence and intellectual diversity.
Wherefore art thou Shakespeare? As we celebrate the 400th anniversary of the Bard's death we examine ACTA's report, The Unkindest Cut: Shakespeare in Exile 2015. This report revealed that one of the most influential writers in the English language is no longer revered in the halls of America's colleges and universities.
Ten percent of college graduates think Judge Judy sits on the Supreme Court! ACTA continues its podcast with an examination into this brewing crisis in civic education. ACTA VP of Policy Michael Poliakoff explains how higher education has shirked its responsibility to students and taxpayers by fostering climates of civic illiteracy.