Academic Freedom

Upon accepting ACTA’s 18th annual Philip Merrill Award, Professor Alan Charles Kors admonished us that the struggle to reclaim and protect the “liberty and legal equality that define us as human beings with dignity, capable of morals” is the defining battle of our times, and the epicenter is on the American campus. Although the proponents of intellectual repression are ascendant on many campuses across the country, they have not won: The fight is on. ACTA is leading the campaign to take our campus culture back. In response to our influential media campaigns and persistent outreach, some of the highest profile institutions in the country have disbanded their pernicious bias response apparatus and adopted new guiding principles to safeguard free expression and academic freedom. ACTA ensures that these policies are not just symbolic “parchment barriers.” At the same time, our College Debates and Discourse Alliance is sparking deep-seated change by empowering students and faculty to resist coercive political correctness, practice civil discourse, and appreciate true intellectual diversity. Thus, we are advancing both top-down and grassroots initiatives to make the revival of campus free speech a durable reality.

Academic Excellence

In 2023, ACTA set in motion an ambitious, multi-pronged effort to reverse the civic literacy crisis that is plaguing our campuses and our country. As we observed the outstanding work of Arizona State University’s School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership, we promoted the creation of the Institute of American Civics at the University of Tennessee–Knoxville, then advised on the formation of the School of Civic Life and Leadership at the University of North Carolina (UNC)–Chapel Hill, and encouraged the birth of five centers devoted to civic education in Ohio. Our new Hillen Fellow in American History & Civic Education is currently assembling a national commission aimed at restoring the American history requirement at all colleges and universities. We also completed an ambitious overhaul of our What Will They Learn?® college curriculum ratings that makes it easier than ever for families and students to select schools with a demonstrated commitment to academic excellence.

Accountability

To restore confidence in higher education, colleges and universities need clear policies that promote free expression, rigorous academic standards, and responsible spending. They also need informed trustees who can put these policies into action. In 2023, ACTA traveled across the country, providing trustees with training and resources to balance the budget, set competitive graduation requirements, and protect free inquiry. We also helped state and federal policymakers craft legislation to ensure that universities deliver the outstanding education Americans deserve.

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He has taught at Georgetown University, George Washington University, Hillsdale College, the University of Illinois at Chicago, and Wellesley College. He received his B.A. magna cum laude from Yale University and went on to study at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, and the University of Michigan, where he earned a Ph.D. in classical studies. He has been a junior fellow at the Center for Hellenic Studies, and his research has been supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst, and the Alexander Von Humboldt Stiftung. He is the author of numerous books and journal articles in classical studies and education policy and has received the American Philological Association’s Excellence in Teaching Award and the Pennsylvania Department of Education’s Distinguished Service to Education Award.

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This report highlights our many accomplishments in the past year and shines a spotlight on new initiatives in 2023 to protect academic freedom, promote academic excellence, and advance accountability.  

Academic Freedom

For the past two decades, ACTA has shone a light on the dire threats to free expression plaguing college campuses, including disinvitations, the proliferation of bias response teams, alarming levels of self-censorship, and intense pressure to conform to certain political orthodoxies. We have established our reputation as a leading organization fighting to protect free thought on campus, and we have built relationships and allies within the walls of colleges and universities. Now, ACTA is contributing to transformative reforms that have the power to reach beyond the campus community, building what Albert Einstein called a “spirit of tolerance in the entire population.” Through the support of the Diana Davis Spencer Foundation, ACTA launched the Campus Freedom Initiative in 2022. We also incorporated our college debate program into freshman orientations for the very first time. And we amplified the voices of some of the nation’s most thoughtful academics to spark unifying and open conversations about diversity on campus.

Academic Excellence

While censorship and cancel culture have drawn national attention to the troublesome state of our colleges and universities, and rightly so, there is another fundamental challenge facing higher education today: the poor academic return students receive on the large investment they make in a college degree. These students often arrive on campus unprepared by their secondary education for serious study, and they are graduating from college still unprepared for professional life. What is more, amidst continued social and political division, colleges and universities are failing to equip students with a strong foundation for reasoned discussion and deliberation, rooted in a deep knowledge of our country’s history and governing institutions. ACTA is empowering students, families, and K-12 educators to use their market power to demand higher standards from colleges and universities, and we are supporting campus programs that are committed to the study of the liberal arts.

Accountability

In 2022, ACTA continued to work with college governing boards to help institutions reform themselves from within, while also assisting policymakers to bring outside pressure on universities to rein in runaway spending and improve student outcomes. We ramped up our board services program to provide retreats and consultations for trustees at major universities across the country. We provided testimony before Congress and met with individual lawmakers to expose the problems of censorship on campus and craft legislation to protect intellectual freedom. And we distributed high-quality resources to help trustees and lawmakers navigate complex issues of cost, quality, and campus freedom.

We are changing campus culture from the bottom up and from the top down. And we will not rest until we have changed the norms and expectations.

I thank our supporters whose generosity makes it possible for us to extend our reach and accomplish more and more. I am proud to present to all of you this report of our work in 2022.

–Michael B. Poliakoff
President

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This report highlights our many accomplishments in the past year and shines a spotlight on new initiatives in 2022 to protect academic freedom, promote academic excellence, and advance accountability.  

Academic Freedom

In 2021, ACTA lifted its voice to defend the unencumbered, free exchange of ideas on campus and to inspire students, faculty, and college leaders to speak up against restrictive speech codes and ideological coercion. We have worked hard to bring public attention to threats to academic freedom on campus, and our work is bearing fruit.

Academic Excellence

ACTA’s mission to ensure that America’s colleges and universities live up to their promise to prepare students for career and citizenship has never been more important. With massive upheavals in the workplace brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic and the difficult political and social questions that face our country today, students must be better equipped than ever before for the challenges and innovations that lie ahead.

Accountability

ACTA has long sounded the alarm about unsustainable administrative spending, inefficient management, and exorbitant tuition costs. Students and their parents should not have to make crippling personal and financial sacrifices to afford a college education. To recover from decreasing revenues and plummeting enrollment rates in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, college trustees cannot sit on the sidelines. They must intervene, and ACTA is providing them with practical solutions.

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Despite the challenges presented by the pandemic, ACTA made significant progress in 2020, our 25^th year, in our mission to reform higher education. We guided schools to commit to safeguarding the free exchange of ideas and helped craft new and stronger state guidelines for the study of American history. Our work is a critical part of the formula to reform American colleges and universities.

Then & Now: ACTA’s 25-Year Drive to Restore the Promise of Higher Education reports on our many accomplishments in the past year and shines a spotlight on new initiatives in 2021 to protect academic freedom, promote academic excellence, and advance accountability.  

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