Committed to academic excellence, academic freedom, and accountability in higher education. Support ACTA: https://nitter.cf/t.co/Sjs2QXamAI
Washington, DC
Joined June 2011
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"A Broadside for the Nation", assembled by ACTA’s National Commission on American History and Civic Education, makes the case for higher ed to restore a required course in US history and government in order to graduate - as well as how to make this vision a reality.
A Nation Born in a Day is a new collection of essays that counters the 1619 Project's distorted view of US history as a litany of racial grievances.
Instead, it shows how the Founding laid groundwork for the expansion of equal rights.
✍️ @ishapiro
📰 @LawLiberty
Read the great Ilya Shapiro's review of A Nation Born In a Day in Law & Liberty: lawliberty.org/book-review/t…
After grading almost 70 universities, ACTA’s Campus Freedom Initiative recognizes four universities for achieving the Gold Standard for Freedom of Expression™, a 20-point policy criteria demonstrating commitment to excellence, open inquiry, and the free exchange of ideas:
Read the full press release congratulating these four universities: goacta.org/2026/11/acta-reco…
goacta.org/2026/11/acta-reco…
On a recent ACTA webinar, UNC Chapel Hill trustee Marty Kotis explains that trustees can model vigorous and respectful debate on campus by... vigorously and respectfully debating the issues themselves.
Five North Carolina universities rank among the nation’s top 20 for campus free speech.
What is North Carolina getting right that the rest of American higher education can learn from?
jamesgmartin.center/2026/11/…
American Council of Trustees and Alumni retweeted
Colleges and universities should at the very least begin accepting the Classic Learning Test alongside the SAT and ACT.
I am speechless. Thomas Aquinas College just dropped a study on the rigor of the new SAT.
It compares the 1980/87 test with 2026. The findings should terrify every parent and teacher...
Vocabulary has collapsed.
Old SAT: 70.6% of questions tested vocab.
New SAT: 15%.
The old test forced students to know a wide range of words through analogies, antonyms, and sentence completions. The new test abandoned that. Most vocab questions now just ask students to fill in one blank from context.
Reading passages also got radically shorter (average ~97 words vs 300–340).
The new test uses short expository passages and hands you the necessary background knowledge inside the text. The older tests leaned much more heavily on argumentative and persuasive writing, assumed far more historical, scientific, and cultural knowledge, and penalized students who lacked it.
This is a redefinition of what "college readiness" means.
If you believe that kids should develop rigorous vocabulary, be capable of sustained reading, and possess background knowledge, I have bad news for you. The SAT no longer measures these.
If you want a future where children can actually read difficult texts and construct complex arguments, the SAT must be replaced now.
This cannot go on.
🔊 On Higher Ed Now, iconic American history professor Wilfred McClay explains the shocking collapse in the perceived value of a diploma - and how universities can re-earn the American people's trust.
Listen to the full episode of HEN featuring Professor McClay on Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/6IO…
open.spotify.com/episode/6IO…
ACTA has nothing against a nice glass of wine. But Stockton U offering gen-ed credits for a course that amounts to a bunch of field trips to wineries? We detect notes of blackberries and nonsense.
SUNY-Buffalo offers a course in math "for students who [are] uncomfortable with numbers/mathematics".
Fear not! If the order of operations didn't stick after 4th grade, then it can be relearned at the university level.
American Council of Trustees and Alumni retweeted
A new Johns Hopkins study confirms what we already knew: the SAT is not the test it used to be.
Four out of five findings “suggest that the newer SAT demands less of the test-taker” and a fifth suggests the opposite.
What’s certain is that the SAT (a) tests less vocabulary, (b) uses much shorter reading passages, and (c) focuses almost exclusively on expository rather than argumentative or persuasive texts.
The full report (linked below) notes that “reducing reliance on assumed background knowledge carries real equity advantages,” which surely explains the changes at least in part.
“The older SAT relied more on students' background knowledge and advanced vocabulary, which could
favor those already familiar with certain topics or perspectives. In contrast, the new SAT includes
context-rich passages that are generally more accessible to students regardless of their prior knowledge, which is likely to reduce the extent to which background familiarity shapes performance.
“In short, the older forms more often asked students to arrive already knowing information, whereas the
newer form more often supplies what a passage requires as it unfolds.”
We were concerned that the SAT has become a less reliable measure of student preparedness for a rigorous college curriculum.
So, we commissioned a study from Johns Hopkins University. What does this study tell us about the state of higher education?
The results are shocking. thaq.co/4iLThZ0
A phenomenal accomplishment, and kudos to Interim President @purduemitch for his sterling leadership.
🏆 Purdue joins the inaugural cohort of Gold Standard universities for its commitment to fostering a campus culture of free expression.
Ranked by the @goacta, we’re one of only four U.S. institutions to gain this recognition. 👇 purdue.university/4knN3zJ
ALT A bell tower with a pointed roof is surrounded by autumn leaves. A banner beside it reads, "ACTA Gold Standard for Freedom of Expression."
So much of ACTA's work is frustrated by the fact that college freshmen arrive far behind in practically every area. Fixing the universities also requires fixing K-12.
I am speechless. Thomas Aquinas College just dropped a study on the rigor of the new SAT.
It compares the 1980/87 test with 2026. The findings should terrify every parent and teacher...
Vocabulary has collapsed.
Old SAT: 70.6% of questions tested vocab.
New SAT: 15%.
The old test forced students to know a wide range of words through analogies, antonyms, and sentence completions. The new test abandoned that. Most vocab questions now just ask students to fill in one blank from context.
Reading passages also got radically shorter (average ~97 words vs 300–340).
The new test uses short expository passages and hands you the necessary background knowledge inside the text. The older tests leaned much more heavily on argumentative and persuasive writing, assumed far more historical, scientific, and cultural knowledge, and penalized students who lacked it.
This is a redefinition of what "college readiness" means.
If you believe that kids should develop rigorous vocabulary, be capable of sustained reading, and possess background knowledge, I have bad news for you. The SAT no longer measures these.
If you want a future where children can actually read difficult texts and construct complex arguments, the SAT must be replaced now.
This cannot go on.
FIRE and Trustee Balow are in the right. Listen to Mike Balow explain in his own words why the loyalty oath MSU demanded he signed was, in his view, not even legal:
LAWSUIT: We’re suing Michigan State University for punishing an elected trustee who refused to sign a speech code that restricts criticism of university leadership.
Michael Balow criticized MSU’s handling of the Larry Nassar sexual abuse scandal and its withholding of documents related to a $100 million athletics investment.
The board chair accused Michael and other trustees of “undermining the president” and MSU’s administration. The board then revised its ethics code, seen below, to require trustees to “uphold the university’s reputation” and support majority decisions.
When Michael refused to sign, MSU used the code to exclude him from university events and revoke his credentials, limiting his ability to carry out his duties.
Think about that. Elected officials tasked with overseeing a public university can be punished for questioning its leadership. And the very people they're supposed to hold accountable get to decide what criticism is permissible.
Trustees are supposed to provide independent oversight, not rubber-stamp university decisions. The First Amendment protects their right to dissent, even when the board majority doesn't like what they have to say.
Listen to the full podcast where Trustee Balow tells his side of the story: open.spotify.com/episode/3GG…
Blog Post: 140 years ago today, the Statue of Liberty was dedicated, a gift from her oldest ally: France.
The Statue represents the trans-Atlantic friendship based on shared ideals of liberty, but its history also carries a warning of how liberty can be ruined by factionalism.
Read the full blog post from ACTA's Monica Boryczewski:
goacta.org/2026/10/liberty-t…
