American
Council of Trustees and Alumni
ACTA, founded in 1995, has proven a consistent voice for alumni
interests, working "to ensure responsible management of higher
education resources, end grade inflation, establish a solid core
curriculum, and restore intellectual diversity on campus."
Its founding members included Lynne Cheney, Joseph Lieberman, and
Saul Bellow. ACTA has proven a reliable voice for the interests
of trustees and alumni in University affairs, with members from
over 400 colleges and universities. It produces a quarterly publication
Inside Academe.
Foundation
for Individual Rights in Education
FIRE, founded in 1998 by Alan Charles Kors and Harvey Silverglate
following the publication of their The Shadow University
is devoted to protection of "freedom of speech, legal equality,
due process, religious liberty, and sanctity of conscience"
at American universities. FIRE has two principal efforts, the Individual
Rights Defense Program and the Individual Rights Education Program.
The defense program provides legal and institutional support for
students' free speech rights. The education program is devoted to
appraising students of these rights. In both particulars FIRE is
active in campaigning against restrictive campus speech codes. It
publishes a yearly Spotlight on Speech Code, publicizing speech
restrictions at American universities, as well a several student
guides to free expression. The Spotlight, available online, profiles
the speech policies of some 200 colleges and universities.
Intercollegiate Studies
Institute
ISI was founded in 1953 by Frank Chodorov, with William F. Buckley
as first President to convey to students "an appreciation for
the values and institutions that sustain a free and virtuous society."
At present, ISI conducts a wide variety of educational programs,
providing conferences, lectures, and seminars, and offering Fellowships
for Graduate studies. It pursues a wide range of publishing, issuing
numerous books, including a noted College Guide, and three journals,
The Intercollegiate Review, Modern Age, and The
Political Science Reviewer. Its membership numbers over 50,000
students and faculty members.
I.S.I. additionally directs the Collegiate Network, which provides
"technical and financial assistance" to nearly 100 independent
publications at many American universities. It administers student
internships and fellowships, as well as an online publication, Campus
Magazine.com.
National Association
of Scholars
The NAS is an academic association of professors, graduate students,
trustees, and administrators pressing for "an informed understanding
of the Western intellectual heritage." Its prominent concerns
include "the substitution of social reform for the pursuit
of knowledge", "dogmatic hostility to Western civilization",
and the decline of core curricula and rise of "unscholarly
curricular innovations."
It publishes a quarterly journal Academic Questions, a quarterly
newsletter NAS Update, a general scientific publication,
Science Insights, and commissions occasional research and
surveys. Conferences and events are help by both the national organization
and local chapters. It has local chapters in 45 states and the District
of Columbia and a Canadian affiliate, with a membership in total
of something over 4,000
American
Academy for Liberal Education
The American Academy for Liberal Education is an association that
accredits institutions offering "quality general education
programs in the liberal arts." Their accreditation is premised
upon "demanding core studies in the arts, sciences, and humanities"
These distinctions are measures for parents and students seeking
challenging and comprehensive programs of studies. It is a U.S.
Department of Education-approved accreditor of Higher Education
institutions, with members such as St John's College, Thomas Aquinas
College, and the University of Dallas.
Association
for Core Texts and Courses
ACTC, founded at Temple University in 1994, is a liberal arts professional
association advocating the study of great texts and core curricula.
It promotes "the integrated and common study of world classics
and other texts of major cultural significance" through conferences,
and symposia, continuing research on the varying nature and direction
of core studies at U.S. Institutions. It possesses 66 "institutional
contributors" including Columbia, Emory, Hampden-Sydney, Pepperdine,
St. John's, and the University of Chicago.
Association
for the Study of Free Institutions and Free Societies
The Association is dedicated to the revival of the study of free
institutions and free societies in Higher Education. It works to
promote the study of such institutions and their histories, along
with ideological, totalitarian, or religious threats to their functioning.
Particular encouragement is provided to centers on the model of
the Madison Center at Princeton and the Colgate Center for Freedom
and Western Civilization.
Campus Watch
Campus Watch is a project of the Middle East forum dedicated to
the review of Middle East Studies in U.S. Higher Education. Its
principal focus is review for "analytical failures, the mixing
of politics with scholarship, intolerance of alternative views,
apologetics, and the abuse of power over students." Campus
Watch offers profiles of over fifty higher colleges and Universities,
and the details of such incidents occurring there.
Claremont Institute
The Claremont Institute's mission is "to restore the principles
of the American Founding to their rightful, preeminent authority
in our national life." Since 1979, it has engaged in a wide
variety of such activities, with many of them focused on higher
education. It hold frequent lectures and symposia, and publishes
both the Claremont Review of Books, a notable book review,
and The Proposition, which features excerpts of the work
of Claremont scholars. The Institute offers the Lincoln and Publius
Fellowship, educational programs focused on the American founding,
for students and professionals respectively.
Federalist Society
The Federalist Society is a legal association dedicated to "reordering
priorities within the legal system to place a premium on individual
liberty, traditional values, and the rule of law." Law schools'
advocacy of a "centralized and uniform society" has been
a prominent focus of their activities since their founding in 1982.
The Society has faculty and student divisions with some 5,000 members
at over 180 law schools. It holds numerous lectures, symposia, and
debates at member schools and engages in a wide variety of publishing,
from the ABA Watch to the Pre-Law Reading List.
Fund
for American Studies
The Fund for American Studies hosts nine institutes to provide
college students with an education in "the theory, practice
and benefits of a free society." Eight institutes are held
each summer, in Washington, Greece, Hong Kong, and the Czech Republic.
One institute is held in the spring and fall in Washington. The
Fund holds additional professor and journalism seminars. The institutes,
consisting of internships, coursework, and lectures, focus on such
particular topics as Political Journalism, Comparative Politics
and Economics, Business and Government Affairs, and Philanthropy
and Voluntary Service. It has some 7,500 alumni from 700 colleges
and universities in the US and worldwide.
Institute for
Humane Studies
IHS is dedicated to "change the current climate of opinion
to one more congenial to the principles and practice of freedom"
and pursues this goal through a variety of student programs and
fellowships. It awards over $400,000 in scholarships each year to
University students worldwide, for graduate or undergraduate study,
research, and filmmaking. Additional grants are available in essay
competitions and to support faculty research. Numerous student summer
seminars are held at colleges and universities across the country
on a range of topics concerning liberty, free societies, economics,
and journalism.
Liberty Fund
Liberty Fund is an educational foundation and publisher established
to "encourage the study of the ideal of a society of free and
responsible individuals." Founded in 1960 by Pierre Goodrich
it has since been devoted to publications and conferences devoted
to exploring the "dimensions of liberty." It publishes
around 20 volumes a year, many of them reprints of seminal works
of economic and political theory. It organizes some 160 related
conferences a year in Europe and the Americas.
National Endowment
for the Humanities
NEH is an "independent grant-making agency of the United States
government dedicated to supporting research, education, preservation,
and public programs in the humanities." It has been providing
support since 1963 to fellowships, research, publications, and education
in the humanities. It has supported such projects as Ken Burns'
Civil War and volumes on American history by Bernard Bailyn, Louis
Menand, and James McPherson. It publishes a bimonthly magazine,
Humanities.
John William
Pope Center for Higher Education Policy
The Pope Center, based in Raleigh, North Carolina, is dedicated to reform of
higher education, especially, but not exclusively, in North Carolina. It encourages
scholarly inquiry, responsible teaching, and student commitment to learning. It conducts
a variety of research, publishing inquiry papers and holding conferences on such topics
as governance, curriculum, financing, access, accountability, faculty research, and
administrative policies. It publishes a weekly email newsletter on higher education,
The Clarion Call, and the higher education section of The Carolina Journal.
Society for Academic Freedom and Scholarship
The Society for Academic Freedom and Scholarship is a Canadian organization
devoted to the maintenance of freedom and excellence in teaching, research and
scholarship. Its concerns include resistance against speech codes, discrimination on grounds
of thought, and unfair preferences. Its goal of "promoting reasoned debate
on issues of academic freedom and scholarship" is pursued through a variety
of advocacy activities. The Society publishes SAF Newsletter monthly.
Student Press Law
Center
SPLC is a legal assistance agency devoted to "educating high
school and college journalists about the rights and responsibilities
embodied in the First Amendment and supporting the student news
media in their struggle to cover important issues free from censorship."
The center provides legal advice and educational materials to students,
along with a network of 150 attorneys offering free representation
under most circumstances. It produces a quarterly report of Student
Journalism censorship cases.
Students
for Academic Freedom
SAF's mission is to "end the political abuse of the university
and to restore integrity to the academic mission as a disinterested
pursuit of knowledge." Founded by David Horowitz, a central
focus of SAF has been the promotion of an Academic Bill of Rights,
dedicated to ensuring non-political instruction and freedom of expression.
Students for Academic Freedom has over 200 College and University
chapters, dedicated to the removal of political concerns from academic
considerations.
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