Higher Ed Now

Higher Ed Now producer Doug Sprei engages two academic leaders at Denison University: Adam Weinberg, the university's President, and Adam Davis, Professor of History and Director of the Lisska Center for Intellectual Engagement. Together they conceived a groundbreaking freshman orientation initiative - "Minds Wide Open" - which gave 700 incoming Denison students an immersive experience of civil discourse through Braver Angels campus debates. President Weinberg and Professor Davis elaborate on their vision and thinking behind this innovative program, which holds promise as an inspiring model for freshman orientation efforts around the nation.

In March 2022, the New York Times published a piece by Emma Camp, titled "I Came to College Eager to Debate. I Found Self-Censorship Instead." The story quickly went viral, and Emma was thrust into the spotlight as a compelling champion for the principles of open inquiry, viewpoint diversity, and constructive disagreement. For this episode, ACTA's Emily Burden Rees and Gabrielle Anglin interviewed Emma Camp just a few months after she graduated from the University of Virginia. She is currently an assistant editor at Reason, and her work has also appeared in Real Clear Politics and Persuasion.

Pano Kanelos, president of the University of Austin, returns to Higher Ed Now to explore the genesis of his institution with ACTA president Michael Poliakoff. This past summer, the University of Austin offered its first academic programming, designed for students who were  studying or starting out at other universities. "We wanted to be able to bring together students and faculty from across ideological boundaries," says Kanelos, "and throw in front of them some of the most vexing questions of the day, questions around empire, or gender, or race, and create a circle of trust where these students and faculty, who differ in so many ways, find what I call the highest common denominator." 

In this episode, Steve McGuire, ACTA’s Paul & Karen Levy Fellow in Campus Freedom, interviews Justin Dyer, executive director of the Civitas Institute, which was recently established at the University of Texas (UT)–Austin. The Civitas Institute advances research and teaching on individual rights, civic virtue, the rule of law, and free enterprise. In addition to running the Civitas Institute, Dr. Dyer serves as professor of government and the Jack G. Taylor Regents Professor. His impressive record of teaching and scholarship focuses on American political thought, jurisprudence, and constitutionalism. Dr. Dyer was previously the founding director of the Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy at the University of Missouri. He received his M.A. and Ph.D. in government from UT–Austin.

ACTA’s chief of staff, Armand Alacbay, interviews Dr. Lindsey Burke, Ph.D., the director of the Center for Education Policy at The Heritage Foundation. Dr. Burke is well known for her role overseeing Heritage's research and policy work on issues pertaining to higher education reform. In this conversation she discusses higher ed leadership in light of her recent appointment to the George Mason University Board of Visitors where, it’s safe to say, she’ll have ample opportunities to apply her education policy research experience in a practical setting.

Higher Ed Now producer Doug Sprei teamed up with Jack Golden, an ACTA summer intern and rising senior at Hillsdale College, to explore one of the nation's most compelling history podcasts.  History That Doesn't Suck, the brainchild of Professor Greg Jackson of Utah Valley University, combines rigorous research with virtuoso production values and a dynamic approach to storytelling. With over 100 episodes available and new ones issuing every two weeks, History That Doesn't Suck has reinvented the genre and built a loyal audience of hundreds of thousands of listeners. "We need to understand who our nation is," says Jackson. "What are our principles? How does our government function? How on earth can you make good selections as to who you're going to put into positions if you don't even understand what the position really is, how it's evolved, what it does? I think history is crucial to understanding all of that; and I wanted to present it in a very nonpartisan way."

ACTA's Steven McGuire sits down in a far reaching conversation with Erec Smith, co-founder and co-editor of Free Black Thought, a small group of citizens, scholars, technologists and parents determined to amplify vital Black voices that are rarely heard on mainstream platforms. Smith is the Associate Professor of Rhetoric at York College of Pennsylvania, and is the author of A Critique of Anti-Racism in Rhetoric and Composition: The Semblance of Empowerment.

ACTA's Michael Poliakoff delves into life-changing aspects of liberal arts education and study of the great books in conversation with Roosevelt Montas, the author of Rescuing Socrates: How the Great Books Changed My Life, and Why They Matter for a New Generation. Montas is a Senior Lecturer in American Studies and English at Columbia University. He was Director of the Center for the Core Curriculum at Columbia College from 2008 to 2018. He currently teaches Introduction to Contemporary Civiliation in the West, a year-long course on primary texts in moral and political thought, and is also Director of the Center for American Studies’ Freedom and Citizenship Program in collaboration with the Double Discovery Center.  As you’ll discover, Mr. Montas holds great reverence for the history, meaning, and future of liberal education.

Author and educator Colin Diver joins ACTA's president, Michael Poliakoff, to deconstruct the conventional model of college rankings (exemplified by U.S. News & World Report). During his distinguished career in higher education, Mr. Diver served as the Dean of the University of Pennsylvania Law School, and from 2002 to 2012 was the president of Reed College. His book, Breaking Ranks: How the Rankings Industry Rules Higher Education and What to Do about It, was published this year by Johns Hopkins Press. 

Jacob Mchangama is human rights lawyer in Denmark. He is the founder and executive director of Justitia, a think tank which aims to promote the rule of law and fundamental human rights and freedom rights both within Denmark and abroad by educating and influencing policy experts, decision-makers, and the public. From 2018-2020, Jacob hosted a podcast, “Clear and Present Danger: A History of Free Speech.” He is the author of “Free Speech: A History from Socrates to Social Media” published by Basic Books in 2022.  In today’s episode he sits down for a wide ranging conversation on free speech with Steve McGuire,  ACTA’s Paul and Karen Levy Fellow in Campus Freedom.