エピソード

  • Mike Balow: Resisting MSU’s Crackdown on Dissent

    Mike Balow: Resisting MSU’s Crackdown on Dissent
    2026/07/15
    ACTA's Nick Down interviews Michigan State University (MSU) Board of Trustees member Mike Balow. MSU has been embroiled in a controversy over a sudden revision to its trustee code of ethics that involved the signing of a loyalty pledge that would limit trustee speech, as well as threats to sanction and publicly censure any trustee who refuses to sign. The revised code passed 5-3, with Balow and two other trustees in dissent. Since then, the dissenting trustees have faced censure and public pressure to resign, as well as doxxing and threats on social media. Trustee Balow tells his side of the story of what really happened at the emergency meeting to pass the revised ethics code, and why he categorically opposes it. Note: When this podcast was recorded, MSU president Kevin Guskiewicz had announced his imminent departure from the university. He has since reversed course and chosen to stay at MSU.
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    47 分
  • Aimee Guidera: Higher Education and the Nation's Founding Aspirations

    Aimee Guidera: Higher Education and the Nation's Founding Aspirations
    2026/07/20
    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.
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    30 分
  • Michael Auslin: The Making of a National Treasure

    Michael Auslin: The Making of a National Treasure
    2026/08/03
    On this episode of Higher Ed Now Civics Edition, ACTA President Michael Poliakoff speaks with Michael Auslin, the Payson J. Treat Distinguished Research Fellow in Contemporary Asia 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!
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    1 時間 7 分
  • Max Schanzenbach: An Insider’s Guide to Divestment

    Max Schanzenbach: An Insider’s Guide to Divestment
    2026/06/30
    ACTA’s chief of staff and SVP, Armand Alacbay, interviews Max Schanzenbach, the Seigle Family Professor of Law at Northwestern University School of Law. Professor Schanzenbach’s work focuses on the intersection between economy and law, and he recently coauthored multiple papers on university divestment policies. In this conversation, he explains the crucial nuances that most discussions about universities divesting from Israel fail to consider.
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    37 分
  • Mark T. Mitchell: How Patrick Henry College Sets the National Standard

    Mark T. Mitchell: How Patrick Henry College Sets the National Standard
    2026/06/22
    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.
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    52 分
  • David Rohrbacher: Inside New College’s Curriculum Turnaround

    David Rohrbacher: Inside New College’s Curriculum Turnaround
    2026/05/12
    ACTA’s Veronica Bryant welcomes David Rohrbacher, Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs and Professor of Classics at the New College of Florida. NCF made headlines after they skyrocketed from an “F” grade to a “B+” rating in ACTA’s What Will They Learn? Project (WWTL), becoming this year's "most improved school." WWTL assigns letter grades based on the rigor of the core curriculum at over 1,100 American colleges and universities. This improvement was thanks to a total overhaul of their general education program in 2024. Professor Rohrbacher discusses how that change came about and the innovative academic reforms that engage NCF students in substantive, serious coursework.
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    37 分
  • Lucas Morel: Frederick Douglass's Evolving View of Abraham Lincoln

    Lucas Morel: Frederick Douglass's Evolving View of Abraham Lincoln
    2026/04/23
    On this episode of Higher Ed Now, ACTA’s Michael Poliakoff hosts Washington & Lee University’s John K. Boardman, Jr. Professor of Politics, Lucas Morel. Professor Morel currently serves on the U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission and ACTA’s National Commission on American History and Civic Education. He has also co-edited the book "Measuring the Man: The Writings of Frederick Douglass on Abraham Lincoln,” a groundbreaking new volume on how abolitionist Frederick Douglass’s view of Abraham Lincoln evolved as America navigated its way through the Civil War and, eventually, to the Emancipation Proclamation. A very special video version of this episode is available on YouTube now!
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    50 分
  • Glenn Corn: A Former CIA Agent’s Case for Language Learning

    Glenn Corn: A Former CIA Agent’s Case for Language Learning
    2026/04/10
    ACTA’s Academic Affairs Fellow Veronica Bryant welcomes Glenn Corn, who spent 35 years working in the national security and international affairs community. Mr. Corn served as CIA chief of station for four different Eurasian and Middle Eastern countries. He now teaches graduate-level courses in International Affairs and Security Studies at the Institute of World Politics. In addition to his teaching work, Mr. Corn provides strategic advising and consulting, acts as a visiting fellow at George Mason University's law school's National Security Institute, and serves as an expert contributor to the Cipher Brief. Mr. Corn compellingly argues that language learning is essential, both for an intelligence career and for national security.
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    30 分