Inside Academe | Liberal Arts

Inside Academe Vol. XIX No. 2

March 11, 2014 Download PDF

ACTA’s new report, Education or Reputation?, reveals that most top liberal arts colleges require few core subjects and fail to protect free speech. UVA cuts financial aid and raises tuition as its president pushes for privatization. ACTA raises concerns over Penn State’s new $800,000 president, while praising Purdue for freezing tuition and Colorado regents for expanding political diversity protections. ACTA also condemns the ASA’s boycott of Israel as a threat to academic freedom.

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PodcastsCore Curriculum

Mark T. Mitchell: How Patrick Henry College Sets the National Standard

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 in the NewsCore Curriculum

Baylor University among nation’s best for core education, study finds

As many in Texas and nationwide warn of the ‘death’ of academic freedom, Baylor University appears to have avoided that fate—at least according to this new study. This month, the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA)—a higher-education advocacy nonprofit—gave Baylor University’s core curriculum requirements an ‘A’ rating for 2026.  In an analysis of more than 1,100 American […]

The ForumLiberal Arts

Who Will Write the Next Frankenstein?: Why Literature Is as Important as Ever in the Age of AI

In 1932, T.S. Eliot wrote: “The people which ceases to care for its literary inheritance becomes barbaric; the people which ceases to produce literature ceases to move in thought and sensibility.” If he were still alive in April 2026, the 30th official National Poetry Month, he would certainly be dismayed to find his nation sliding ever closer to the very barbarism he warned against. In the 21st century, poetry, Eliot’s beloved art form, is fading fast from its once-revered place in popular culture. Literary culture as a whole is dying, with falling reading numbers and an even greater decline in the formal study of literature. STEM fields are increasingly being portrayed as more practical than the humanities, which are often painted as frivolous or insubstantial.
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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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