American Council of Trustees and Alumni

"The effect of an open letter of that sort is simply to deter anyone else from dipping their toes into the third rail topic [of transgender medicine]." MIT Philosophy Professor Alex Byrne discusses the reason behind the vague open letter singling him out for his contribution to an HHS report on gender dysphoria. Since it features little evidence and no concrete allegations, it can only serve one purpose: to intimidate him, and any other academic who contradicts campus orthodoxy, into silence. Watch the full interview with Professor Byrne on Radio Free Campus: https://lnkd.in/eae8q-7u

FDR's attempt to control the Supreme Court narrowly failed, but it was only made possible because the Constitution does not specify 9 justices on the Supreme Court. And yet only 25% of surveyed college students know that the Constitution doesn't specify a number. At any time a law could be passed to add more.

"More than half of accredited colleges fail to graduate half of their students," says Third Way Education's Emily Rounds in her recent appearance on ACTA's Higher Ed Now podcast. She adds that these same schools receive over $20 billion in annual student aid. If a university fails to graduate most of its students, it can't claim to be providing a high-quality education. Accreditation reform is urgently needed. https://lnkd.in/eMPPV5h6

Winston-Salem State University has added 'Foundations of American Democracy', a requirement for students to take a course in both U.S. History/Government as well as Composition, to the core curriculum. As such, What Will They Learn - which grades universities by the rigor of their core curricular requirements - has bumped their grade up. Well done Winston-Salem!

Curricular standards continue to sink. Rigorous core curricular requirements were once the standard, but data from ACTA's WWTL project paints a troubling trend:

"In terms of broad ambient knowledge, today’s college graduates function roughly at the level of 1950s high-school graduates. A recent American Council of Trustees and Alumni survey found that college students struggle with basic civic knowledge. (Consider the irony of demanding government reform, as campus protesters will, when you don’t even know why the government is set up as it is or how it functions.)" ACTA's civics survey cited in the Wall Street Journal: https://lnkd.in/ezhJrpux

We're #hiring a new Program Associate for Communications in Washington, District of Columbia. Apply today or share this post with your network.

Congratulations to UPIKE's excellent Center for Public Service. The initiative that Professor Syck leads not only educates students on responsible American citizenship, it also applies those lessons to address challenges in the Appalachia region.

ACTA's Nicholas Down, MPA is at the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), where leaders of every state and territorial government come together to discuss, collaborate, and coordinate. If you're in attendance, come stop by at Booth 943 to chat with Nick about higher ed governance and policy.

A new fund honoring John Preyer ’90, former member and chair of the #UNC Board of Trustees, will support visiting scholars at the UNC School of Civic Life and Leadership. Learn how the fund will create a continuing impact at the school https://unc.live/4lUreFW