Universities are indispensable for a free and prosperous society. Their mission depends on a campus culture of free expression and intellectual diversity. The American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) seeks to hold American colleges and universities accountable to their missions. ACTA now provides a blueprint to help higher education regain…

Drawing on empirical data from student surveys, as well as insights from faculty and higher education leaders across the country, ACTA's report details how the rapid shift to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the ongoing free speech crisis on college campuses, further suppressed viewpoint diversity, and encouraged more…

The alumni group Davidsonians for Freedom of Thought and Discourse (DFTD) was founded in 2018 to monitor the state of free expression, diversity of viewpoints, and ideological balance at Davidson College. DFTD was also founded to undertake research to help clarify whether perceived problems in these key areas are real. Fall 2021 survey of major…

For years, ACTA warned of a looming crisis in higher education, and with it, a crisis for our nation. It is writ large in runaway college costs, civic ignorance, a skills deficit that frustrates employers, and the breakdown in the discourse that is the lifeblood of a free society. But from its inception, ACTA has been more than a warning bell in…

Freedom of speech, protected by our Constitution, has long been a vital component of political, social, and intellectual life in our country. The American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) has dedicated itself for more than 23 years to working with trustees to ensure that our nation's colleges and universities preserve this essential freedom…

The American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) has gone from strength to strength in advancing their mission to ensure that American higher education is the finest in the world. This annual report focuses on how well ACTA has led schools, coast to coast, to strengthen cost-control and accountability, nurture academic excellence, and enhance…

The good news is that America is awake to the urgent need for transformative change in higher education. We are at a turning point: ACTA's admonitions to make a college education affordable and indisputably valuable for students and our nation are being heeded as never before. And more good news: We are a nation of problem solvers, and our…

Freedom of expression is imperiled on today's college campuses. Citizens and educators alike are concerned about the number of shout-downs and disinvitations and their silencing effect on intellectual diversity. The use of speech codes, "safe spaces," new rules demanding "trigger warnings," and condemning…

The author has built one of America's most distinguished careers among defenders of free speech and civil liberties. Cancel culture, presented in this essay, is not a new phenomenon. In this essay, the author marshals a wealth of survey data to show the scope and depth of the growing crisis: Americans feel more pressure to conceal their viewpoints…

Over its 23-year history, the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) has worked to educate leaders in higher education to uphold the highest standards of academic freedom, academic excellence, and accountability. The most serious challenges in memory to the free exchange of ideas essential for liberal education has been faced. For the last…

The American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) is turning the tide and calling colleges and universities to account. The ACTA is making significant progress in the campaign to make higher education accountable, affordable, and effective. ACTA's goal is for America to be again able to say our nation's higher education is the envy of the world.…

Polarizing political beliefs are nothing new on campus, but the tactics employed by supporters of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement create new cause for concern, from the politicization of curricula and academic associations to efforts to silence Israeli speakers to overtly anti-Semitic behavior on campus. In a new essay, the…

In 2015, the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) celebrated 20 years of hard-charging higher education reform. Once a lone voice in the wilderness, ACTA is now leading the charge in their vigorous campaign to restore academic excellence, academic freedom, and accountability to American higher education. Core curricula, accreditation…

America's great public universities were founded with the highest expectations of academic excellence and service to their states. Overall, these institutions, often called the "flagship universities," do a poor job of ensuring that undergraduate students engage in an intellectually vibrant campus culture and leave with a solid…

ACTA's 12th state higher education report examines questions of great urgency for the state of Mississippi: How should individual public universities choose their leadership? Are the public universities careful stewards of taxpayer dollars? Is free speech protected on Mississippi's college campuses? The report assesses institutions on measures of…