Higher Ed Now

Jay Bhattacharya is a professor at Stanford University Medical School, a physician, epidemiologist, health economist, and public health policy expert focusing on infectious diseases and vulnerable populations. During the Covid pandemic, Dr. Bhattacharya co-wrote the Great Barrington Declaration, which advocated for a “focused protection” approach in pandemic policy. His public stance against “lockdowns” won him both plaudits and criticism from policymakers, lawmakers, academics, and scientists. ACTA’s Steven McGuire interviews Dr. Bhattacharya on his experience of being in the eye of the COVID public health policy storm and the light it casts upon the state of free expression in higher education.

Nadine Strossen is the John Marshall Harlan II Professor of Law Emerita at New York Law School, and served as president of the American Civil Liberties Union from 1991 to 2008. ACTA has long admired her tireless advocacy and devotion to free speech and is proud to have featured her as a keynote speaker and panelist at many of our conferences. In October 2023, Nadine authored her latest book on free speech for Oxford University Press’s What Everyone Needs to Know® series. In this episode, she sits down with ACTA’s president Michael Poliakoff to discuss current societal challenges to free speech and how they are manifesting on American college campuses.

ACTA's President Michael Poliakoff interviews Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Somali-born, Dutch-American writer, human rights activist and former politician and long-time friend of our organization. She is the author of best-selling books like Infidel (2007) Nomad (2010) and Heretic (2015).  Now a Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University and Founder of the AHA Foundation, she regularly comments on today's issues and offers a platform to exchange perspectives that lead to real solutions.

In this episode, former Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker speaks with ACTA's President Michael Poliakoff. Governor Walker is now leading Young Americans for Freedom -- an organization committed to ensuring that increasing numbers of young Americans understand and are inspired by the ideas of individual freedom, a strong national defense, free enterprise, and traditional values.

In March 2023, ACTA’s second annual Alumni Summit on Free Expression brought together alumni free speech activists and higher education nonprofit leaders from across the country to share knowledge, experiences, and resources related to campus reform efforts. In partnership with the Alumni Free Speech Alliance (AFSA), this special gathering was designed to further motivate and equip alumni as guardians of the values that shaped their own education, including free expression, academic freedom, and viewpoint diversity. Today’s episode features a panel from the Summit, headlined as A HIGHER ED REFORMATION: CHANGING CAMPUS POLICY AND CULTURE. Along with ACTA's Paul & Karen Levy Fellow in Campus Freedom, Steve McGuire, the discussion featured Lindsey Burke, director of the Center for Education Policy at the Heritage Foundation; Jenna Robinson, president of the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal and AFSA board member; and Dawn Toguchi, executive director of the Open Discourse Coalition at Bucknell University.  The moderator was John Tomasi, president of Heterodox Academy. Together, these experts explored how alumni concerned about campus free speech can influence policy and cultural change within college and university environments.

In March 2023, ACTA hosted its second Alumni Summit on Free Expression in Washington, DC, in partnership with the Alumni Free Speech Alliance (AFSA). More than 100 individuals from various AFSA member groups and other higher education nonprofit organizations attended to support the growing movement to motivate and equip alumni in their efforts to advance free speech at their alma maters. Panelists and speakers addressed the serious challenges facing free speech advocates and how alumni can effectively work with students, faculty, and off-campus allies. Today’s episode presents one of two panels recorded at the conference, headlined as "Free Speech Barriers and Legal Remedies: Changing the University." Moderated by Samantha Harris, attorney and partner at Allen Harris Law, the conversation features Joe Cohn, Legislative and Policy Director for the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE); Ilya Shapiro, senior fellow and director of constitutional studies at the Manhattan Institute; and Cherise Trump, executive director of Speech First. Together, these experts consider ways to improve the free speech climate on campus through potential legal solutions, both judicial and legislative. 

ACTA's Steven McGuire interviews Carole Hooven, whose book titled T: The Story of Testosterone, the Hormone that Dominates and Divides Us,  was published in 2021. Hooven is currently an associate at Harvard University and a nonresident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where she works on issues related to sex and gender, human evolutionary biology, health, and psychology — as well as the underpinnings of academic freedom in higher education. 

Jonathan Marks has been an educator for almost a quarter century, and is currently Professor and Chair of Politics and International Relations at Ursinus College. He has published on modern and contemporary political philosophy in journals like the American Political Science Review, the Journal of Politics, the Journal of American Political Science, and the Review of Politics. Professor Marks has written on higher education and other matters for Inside Higher Ed, the Chronicle of Higher Education, Commentary Magazine, the Washington Examiner, the Bulwark, the American Conservative, the Wall Street Journal, and other outlets. ACTA's vice president of public policy, Bradley Jackson, sat down with Professor Marks to talk about civic education, free expression on college campuses, and much more.

Higher Ed Now is pleased to launch a new series of student-driven podcast conversations issuing from the College Debates and Discourse (CD&D) Alliance – a national initiative led by ACTA, Braver Angels, and BridgeUSA. ACTA's program manager for the CD&D Alliance, Sadie Webb, will host the series to showcase students across the nation who are leading a movement to promote civil discourse, depolarizing debates, and free expression on college campuses.   In July 2023, the CD&D Alliance team gathered at the University of Denver for a symposium bringing together faculty leaders and student fellows from ten colleges and universities that are participating in a two-year $1.3 million research project, funded by the John Templeton Foundation. This multifaceted project explores the effects of Braver Angels debates and discourse on campus communities – and student leaders have a major role in driving it. Joining Ms. Webb in today’s episode are three student fellows in the Templeton project. They include Jordan Phillips from Duke University in North Carolina, Lucas Rice of Texas A&M University Corpus Christi, and Cheyanne Rider of Linn-Benton Community College in Oregon. The wisdom and insights of these students are inspiring and instructive for our politically fractured nation.

ACTA's president Michael Poliakoff and Higher Ed Now producer Doug Sprei interview Richard Haass, president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations, an independent, nonpartisan think tank and educational institution dedicated to helping people better understand the world and foreign policy choices facing the United States and other countries. His latest book, The Bill of Obligations: The Ten Habits of Good Citizens, was published by Penguin Press in January 2023 and became a New York Times best seller. Dr. Haass's extensive government experience includes service as special assistant to President George H.W. Bush and senior director for Near East and South Asian affairs on the staff of the National Security Council. He was also director of policy planning for the Department of State, serving as a principal advisor to Secretary of State Colin Powell. Confirmed by the U.S. Senate to hold the rank of ambassador, he served as U.S. coordinator for policy toward the future of Afghanistan and U.S. envoy to the Northern Ireland peace process.  Dr. Haass is the author or editor of fourteen books on American foreign policy, one book on management, and one on American democracy.