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Make your gift countOctober 7, 2026
On September 24, 2026, ACTA and the School of Civic Leadership at UT-Austin hosted a keynote address by Vincent Phillip Muñoz, Tocqueville Professor of Political Science at the University of Notre Dame. The keynote was followed by a panel and Q&A session that explored how America’s tradition of religious liberty and freedom of conscience emerged from the nation’s constitutional heritage and why a deeper understanding of these principles remains essential to civic education today.
October 8, 2026
ACTA President Michael Poliakoff welcomes Senior Judge Douglas Ginsburg of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and a member of ACTA’s National Commission on American History and Civic Education. Also a civic educator, Judge Ginsburg recently released a PBS documentary entitled We Hold These Truths: The Global Search for Liberty. The documentary examines how the Declaration of Independence has both inspired worldwide struggles for independence and liberty, and also fueled domestic movements like abolitionism and women’s suffrage. He and Dr. Poliakoff also explore the troubling decline of civic knowledge among college students and how the civics revival…
Douglas Ginsburg: Renewing the Declaration’s PromiseSeptember 24, 2026 by Monica Boryczewski
The first half of the twentieth century was a turbulent time for the United States. In the 31 years…
ACTA in the NewsArtificial Intelligence
Post Alley | September 21, 2026 by Sally J. McMillan
American colleges begin a new school year in a continuing crisis mode that began with the introduction of generative…
ACTA’s A Broadside for the Nation: Preparing College Students for Informed Citizenship convenes 24 historians and education leaders who argue that America’s 250th anniversary demands a renewal of civic education. The report urges colleges to require every student to complete a semester-long course on the American story.
Download PDFOctober 13, 2026
North Carolina’s leading public universities have adopted important policies to protect free expression on campus. However, as the following survey from the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) and College Pulse shows, these institutions still have more work to do to build a true culture of campus freedom. Our survey of 2,270 undergraduates and […]
Campus Experience Survey: An Assessment of Students at Four-year Public Universities in North CarolinaOctober 13, 2026
Ohio’s public universities have made recent progress in promoting free expression and diversity of thought, but new research from…
October 8, 2026
ACTA’s Campus Freedom Initiative™ (CFI) has evaluated universities in several states against our Gold Standard for Freedom of Expression™,…
ACTA now provides a blueprint to help higher education regain and live by this core principle. The ACTA Gold Standard for Freedom of Expression™ provides clear guidance for institutions to create a culture of free thought on their campuses.
Download PDFThe Hechinger Report | October 13, 2026 by Jon Marcus
It was in the quiet of the summer when a new president at Louisiana State University said the school would lay off 25 administrators, including several who were high in the campus hierarchy, and shift the savings to faculty hiring and research. “Transformational change,” the president, Wade Rousse, called it. He was “streamlining operations and […]
Colleges are cutting administrative jobs — and critics say that’s a good thingOctober 2, 2026
ACTA Senior Research Fellow Kyle Beltramini welcomes back Emily Rounds, Senior Higher Education Policy Advisor at Third Way, to…
September 22, 2026
Yesterday, ACTA submitted public comment on the notice of proposed rulemaking for the Accreditation, Innovation, and Modernization (AIM) Committee….
Governance for a New Era is a blueprint for higher education governance. Signatories to the statement, a diverse group of 22 distinguished national leaders dedicated to ensuring America’s colleges and universities shed 20th century thinking and successfully meet 21st century challenges.
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A Webinar from the American Council of Trustees and Alumni
Join UsACTA in the NewsAdministrative Bloat
The Hechinger Report | October 13, 2026 by Jon Marcus
It was in the quiet of the summer when a new president at Louisiana State University said the school would lay off 25 administrators, including several who were high in the campus hierarchy, and shift the savings to faculty hiring and research. “Transformational change,” the president, Wade Rouss…
ACTA in the NewsCivil Discourse
Inside Higher Ed | October 1, 2026 by Ryan Quinn
Agroup of scholars called Uncivil is doubling down on its argument that the push for civil discourse and viewpoint diversity is part of a conservative and pro-Israel agenda—not a nonpartisan campaign. This week, it published dossiers on a broad swath of programs, groups and higher ed institutions…
ACTA in the NewsArtificial Intelligence
Post Alley | September 21, 2026 by Sally J. McMillan
American colleges begin a new school year in a continuing crisis mode that began with the introduction of generative artificial intelligence tools four years ago. Blue book sales have risen nearly 40 percent as professors return to timed, handwritten exams. The University of Chicago has banned AI…
ACTA in the NewsCivic Education
Pensacola News Journal | September 19, 2026 by Clifford Humphrey
Americans famously are lovers of liberty. This year we celebrate 250 years of enjoying historically unprecedented civil, economic, and religious liberty. Liberty, though, is an easily misunderstood concept, and our country’s 250th anniversary is a timely occasion to remind ourselves what it truly…
institutions have been counseled by ACTA on matters of cost effectiveness, financial governance, and institutional spending. See ACTA’s one-of-a-kind higher education financial analysis tool: HowCollegesSpendMoney.com.
institutions and systems representing nearly four million students, encouraged by ACTA, reaffirmed their commitment to free speech on campus by adopting the Chicago Principles on Freedom of Expression or a policy of institutional neutrality.
institutions have improved their core curriculum requirements based on ACTA’s annual What Will They Learn?® initiative. Visit WhatWillTheyLearn.com
students from 140 institutions have engaged in 660 civil discourse debates, dialogues, and workshops through ACTA’s College Debates & Discourse Alliance.
news outlets in 2025 covered ACTA’s nationwide impact on academic excellence, academic freedom, and accountability in higher education.
million dollars in gifts to higher education have been guided through ACTA’s Fund for Academic Renewal. Visit AcademicRenewal.org.
Launched in 1995, we are the only organization that works with alumni, donors, trustees, and education leaders across the United States to support liberal arts education, uphold high academic standards, safeguard the free exchange of ideas on campus, and ensure that the next generation receives an intellectually rich, high-quality college education at an affordable price.
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