Higher Ed Now

How does West Point prepare future military leaders to understand and defend the American constitutional republic?

On this episode of Higher Ed Now: Civics Edition, ACTA president Michael Poliakoff speaks with United States Military Academy (West Point) professors Hugh Liebert and Robert McDonald. Professors Liebert and McDonald co-direct West Point's American Foundations Project minor, an ACTA-recognized Oasis of Excellence.

The professors discuss how they instill in West Point cadets the importance of defending the American constitutional republic while avoiding both historical reverence and cynical presentism. Universities nationwide can learn from West Point's civic education model, which combines experiential learning, primary texts, oral exams, and a rigorous core curriculum.

A very special video version of this episode is available on YouTube now!

ACTA president Michael Poliakoff welcomes Wilfred McClay, the Victor David Hanson Chair in Classical History and Western Civilization at Hillsdale College and a member of ACTA's National Commission on American History and Civic Education, as well as a contributor to ACTA's new volume of essays on the true significance of the American Founding, A Nation Born in a Day. He and Dr. Poliakoff examine the historical foundations of American self-government, the failures of The 1619 Project, and how a clear, honest understanding of the American story is the antidote to the cynicism and apathy many young Americans feel towards their country.

ACTA President Michael Poliakoff welcomes Senior Judge Douglas Ginsburg of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and a member of ACTA's National Commission on American History and Civic Education. Also a civic educator, Judge Ginsburg recently released a PBS documentary entitled We Hold These Truths: The Global Search for Liberty. The documentary examines how the Declaration of Independence has both inspired worldwide struggles for independence and liberty, and also fueled domestic movements like abolitionism and women's suffrage. He and Dr. Poliakoff also explore the troubling decline of civic knowledge among college students and how the civics revival movement is successfully restoring the study of U.S. history and government to American universities.

ACTA Senior Research Fellow Kyle Beltramini welcomes back Emily Rounds, Senior Higher Education Policy Advisor at Third Way, to dissect the possibility of massive changes to accreditation. Mr. Beltramini and Ms. Rounds evaluate the proposed regulatory changes brought up during the meeting of the Department of Education's accreditation committee, NACIQI. They discuss and debate the nuances of key issues like the Trump Administration's attempt to revoke the American Bar Association's accrediting status, a proposal to allow universities to maintain multiple accreditors, a revamp of transfer credit rules, and more.

ACTA President Michael Poliakoff welcomes Ryan Bangert, Senior Vice President at the Alliance Defending Freedom and Visiting Instructor in Law at the University of Austin at Texas. He specializes in the American constitutional tradition of religious liberty. From the emergence of religious beliefs as an inalienable right, to the evolution of our understanding of freedom of religion 250 years into the American experiment, the conversation traces the past, present, and future of religious liberty in the United States.

ACTA President Michael Poliakoff welcomes Dr. Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, president emeritus of George Washington University and member of ACTA's National Commission on American History and Civic Education. A distinguished university leader, Dr. Trachtenberg examines the systemic breakdown of American history education in America. He and Dr. Poliakoff explore the potential for reform, highlighting how university leaders, law associations, and governing boards can reinstate essential history requirements while avoiding the pitfalls of heavy-handed legislative control.

On this episode of Higher Ed Now Civics Edition, ACTA President Michael Poliakoff moderates a bracing and illuminating conversation with Lt. General H.R. McMaster, the Fouad and Michelle Ajami Senior Fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution and former U.S. National Security Advisor, and Dr. John Hillen, Executive-in-Residence in Duke University's Political Science Department and Distinguished Lecturing Fellow at the university's Center for Politics. Our guests discuss American military history and strategic vision within the context of American self-governance and civilian control of the military. They emphasize that this understanding is the foundation of informed patriotism. Both are members of ACTA's National Commission on American History and Civic Education and contributors to an upcoming volume of essays on what every college student should know about American history and government.

A very special video version of this episode is available on YouTube now!

On this episode of Higher Ed Now Civics Edition, ACTA President Michael Poliakoff speaks with Vincent Phillip Muñoz, the Tocqueville Professor of Political Science and Concurrent Professor of Law at the University of Notre Dame as well as the Founding Director of Notre Dame's Center for Citizenship & Constitutional Government. Professor Muñoz is also the author of the 2022 book, Religious Liberty and the American Founding: Natural Rights and the Original Meanings of the First Amendment Religion. The lively conversation covers the conflicts over religion that shook the Founders, separation of church and state, and the perils of student self-censorship in today's academy.

A very special video version of this episode is available on YouTube now!

On this episode of Higher Ed Now Civics Edition, ACTA President Michael Poliakoff speaks with Michael Auslin, the Payson J. Treat Distinguished Research Fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution. Professor Auslin is the author of "National Treasure: How the Declaration of Independence Made America", a dual history of the Declaration of Independence. The new book details both the physical artifact's journey from dark storage rooms to the National Archives' centerpiece and how Jefferson's words and the spirit of the document inspired generations of Americans, from abolitionists to anarchists.

A very special video version of this episode is available on YouTube now!

In April 2026, Dr. Bryan Paul, Curricular Fellow for ACTA's College Debates and Discourse Alliance, joined Aimee Guidera, former Secretary of Education for the Commonwealth of Virginia, to organize and lead a student-driven civil debate at Harvard University. Sponsored by Harvard's Institute of Politics, where Secretary Guidera served as a Spring 2026 Resident Fellow, this Braver College Debate centered on a timely and critical question: "Has the United States lived up to its promises in the Declaration of Independence?" This episode captures Dr. Paul's conversation with Secretary Guidera immediately following the debate.