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 best-selling 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…

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,…

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. S…

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 controversi…

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'…

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. Fr…

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 i…

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 Oc…

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 a…

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 enterpr…

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 desi…

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 a…

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 evol…

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…

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 leadin…

ACTA's 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 foreign policy choices facing the United States and other countries. …

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…

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 Univ…

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 nation…

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 …

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 …

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. …

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…

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…

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, whe…

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, recen…

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 f…

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 …

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 exp…

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 au…

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 …

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 …

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 o…

Higher Ed Now producer Doug Sprei engages 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 De…

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 …

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 brin…

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. …

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 …

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 d…

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 Pennsyl…

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. H…

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 Ree…

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 podcas…

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 Corpora…

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 Deve…

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 institut…

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…

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 – …

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 mo…

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 resona…