ACTA's Nick Down interviews Michigan State University (MSU) Board of Trustees member Mike Balow. The aftermath of an emergency meeting to revise MSU's trustee code of ethics has embroiled the Board in controversy. The revised ethics code includes a "loyalty pledge" that limits trustee speech, with threats to sanction and publicly censure any trustee who refuse to sign. Trustee Balow and one colleague refused to sign the loyalty pledge. Since then, the dissenting trustees have faced intense public pressure, including doxxing and social media threats. Trustee Balow tells his side of the story of what really happened at the emergency meeting, and why he categorically opposes the new mandate.

Note: Since this recording, MSU president Kevin Guskiewicz has reversed his decision to depart MSU and will remain on as the university's president.

In April 2026, Dr. Bryan Paul, Curricular Fellow for ACTA's College Debates and Discourse Alliance, joined Aimee Guidera, former Secretary of Education for the Commonwealth of Virginia, to organize and lead a student-driven civil debate at Harvard University. Sponsored by Harvard's Institute of Politics, where Secretary Guidera served as a Spring 2026 Resident Fellow, this Braver College Debate centered on a timely and critical question: "Has the United States lived up to its promises in the Declaration of Independence?" This episode captures Dr. Paul's conversation with Secretary Guidera immediately following the debate.

On this episode of Higher Ed Now Civics Edition, ACTA President Michael Poliakoff speaks with Michael Auslin, the Payson J. Treat Distinguished Research Fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution. Professor Auslin is the author of "National Treasure: How the Declaration of Independence Made America", a dual history of the Declaration of Independence. The new book details both the physical artifact's journey from dark storage rooms to the National Archives' centerpiece and how Jefferson's words and the spirit of the document inspired generations of Americans, from abolitionists to anarchists.

A very special video version of this episode is available on YouTube now!