Learning from Leaders in Reform: Achieving ACTA’s Gold Standard for Freedom of Expression™

Out of the more than 60 universities the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) has evaluated using its Gold Standard for Freedom of Expression™, a 20-point action plan for returning higher education to its bedrock mission of excellence and open inquiry, a few institutions stand out as extraordinary champions of free expression and diversity of thought.

Purdue University, the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill, the University of Wyoming, and Vanderbilt University all earned scores of at least 18 out of 20 on ACTA’s Gold Standard, vastly exceeding the national average of 11. This achievement makes them ACTA’s first cohort of Gold Standard Universities.

On October 20, 2026, ACTA hosted a webinar featuring leaders from our first Gold Standard universities on how they have strengthened their institutions’ commitments to free speech and intellectual diversity. Dr. Steven McGuire, ACTA’s Paul & Karen Levy Fellow in Campus Freedom, moderated the event. Panelists included Mitch Daniels, interim president of Purdue University; Daniel Diermeier, chancellor of Vanderbilt University; Marty Kotis, trustee of the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill; and Martha McCaughey, director of the Free Expression, Intellectual Freedom, and Constructive Dialogue Program at the University of Wyoming.