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Press ReleasesGeneral Education
Three Programs Join ACTA’s Oases of Excellence Network
March 12, 2025
ACTA is proud to recognize these programs and the faculty who lead them. Their work is restoring the legacy…
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Latest
Arizona Report Card
January 31, 2025
AZ’s public universities should be leaders in free expression and diversity of thought, with policies and campus cultures that welcome new ideas and different points of view. Although they have taken important steps toward this goal in the last few years, new research from ACTA’s Campus Freedom Initiative® indicates they have more work to do.
PROMOTING ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE
Where the Humanities’ Death Knell Doesn’t Ring True
March 13, 2025 by Gabriella Hsu
According to countless recent headlines, American college students are struggling. Our “best and brightest” are no longer being asked to read or are incapable of doing so, and more and more students rely on AI to complete their assignments. Despairing reports of the “death of the humanities,” it seems, have not been greatly exaggerated.
Where the Humanities’ Death Knell Doesn’t Ring True
No U.S. History?
ACTA’s report, “No U.S. History? How College History Departments Leave the United States out of the Major,” found that 18 of the top 25 public universities did not have a wide-ranging American history requirement for students seeking a B.A. in history in the major or core curriculum.
Download PDFDEFENDING ACADEMIC FREEDOm
Student Fellow Spotlight: Lauren Fletcher
March 14, 2025
By Kayla Johnston and Sadie Webb In her final year at the University of North Carolina (UNC)–Greensboro, Lauren Fletcher has made a lasting impact as the Lee Barnes Student Fellow with the College Debates and Discourse (CD&D) Alliance. As a double major in English and political science with a concentration in public affairs, Lauren is […]
Student Fellow Spotlight: Lauren FletcherPodcastsCivil Discourse
Juniata College: Embracing Debate from the Campus to Classroom
February 27, 2025
In this episode, Sadie Webb, ACTA’s associate director of the College Debates & Discourse (CD&D) Alliance, discusses the CD&D Alliance’s…
LettersIntellectual Diversity
ACTA Letter to Texas Public University Regents
February 24, 2025
ACTA sent a letter to regents at all public universities in Texas urging adoption of several recommendations included in…
ACTA 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 PDFENSURING ACCOUNTABILITY
The Barnard Dilemma
March 11, 2025 by Michael B. Poliakoff
Last week’s storming and takeover of an academic building at Barnard College by 200 anti-Israel protesters—the second such time in a week, shutting down the library, relocating classes, and finally being cleared in response to a bomb threat—again brings into focus the need for colleges and universities to be prepared to enforce their codes of conduct to prevent similar events on their campuses.
The Barnard DilemmaStatementDepartment of Education
Statement by ACTA President Michael Poliakoff on Reductions to the Department of Education
March 11, 2025 by Michael B. Poliakoff
We firmly believe that the Department of Education has a bloated bureaucracy and contains many programs that do not…
Rising Tuition
ACTA Testimony on Maryland Senate Bill 713
March 6, 2025 by Anna Sillers
On March 5, Anna Sillers, ACTA’s Data Analyst Fellow, provided testimony in support of legislation that would require each…
Governance for a New Era
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.
Download PDFIN THE
NEWS
Press ReleasesGeneral Education
Three Programs Join ACTA’s Oases of Excellence Network
March 12, 2025
ACTA is proud to recognize these programs and the faculty who lead them. Their work is restoring the legacy of higher education, one student at a time.
ACTA in the NewsHistorical Literacy
What We Can Learn from George Washington Today
RealClear Public Affairs | March 3, 2025 by Bradley Jackson
February 22nd marked the 293rd anniversary of George Washington’s birth. It seems that few Americans, however, really know the man or understand what makes him important.
ACTA in the News
Latest Trump guidance on race has schools scrambling amid ‘intense fear’
Washington Post | February 22, 2025 by Laura Meckler and Susan Svrluga
The letter from the Education Department was published on a Friday night, at the start of a three-day weekend, but it quickly flew through the inboxes of school officials across the country. The Trump administration was threatening to pull federal funding from any school district or college that …
ACTA in the NewsInstitutional Neutrality
AAUP: Academic Freedom Doesn’t Require Institutional Neutrality
Inside Higher Ed | February 13, 2025 by Ryan Quinn
Amid public campaigns urging universities to commit to “institutional neutrality,” the American Association of University Professors released a lengthy statement Wednesday saying that the term “conceals more than it reveals.” The statement, approved by the AAUP’s elected national council last mon…
HOW ACTA IS SUCCEEDING
370
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.
146
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.
256
institutions have improved their core curriculum requirements based on ACTA’s annual What Will They Learn?® initiative. Visit WhatWillTheyLearn.com
16,000+
students from 100+ Institutions have engaged in 400+ civil discourse debates, dialogues, and workshops through ACTA’s college debates program partnership with Braver Angels and Bridge USA.
1,452
news outlets in 2024 covered ACTA’s nationwide impact on academic excellence, academic freedom, and accountability in higher education.
275
million dollars in gifts to higher education have been guided through ACTA’s Fund for Academic Renewal. Visit AcademicRenewal.org.
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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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