Ryan Bangert: The Arc of Religious Liberty in American History

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.

ACTA's Nick Down interviews Michigan State University (MSU) Board of Trustees member Mike Balow. The aftermath of an emergency meeting to revise MSU's trustee code of ethics has embroiled the Board in controversy. The revised ethics code includes a "loyalty pledge" that limits trustee speech, with threats to sanction and publicly censure any trustee who refuse to sign. Trustee Balow and one colleague refused to sign the loyalty pledge. Since then, the dissenting trustees have faced intense public pressure, including doxxing and social media threats. Trustee Balow tells his side of the story of what really happened at the emergency meeting, and why he categorically opposes the new mandate.  Note: Since this recording, MSU president Kevin Guskiewicz has reversed his decision to depart MSU and will remain on as the university's president. 

ACTA's chief of staff and SVP, Armand Alacbay, interviews Max Schanzenbach, the Seigle Family Professor of Law at Northwestern University School of Law. Professor Schanzenbach's work focuses on the intersection between economy and law, and he recently coauthored multiple papers on university divestment policies. In this conversation, he explains the crucial nuances that most discussions about universities divesting from Israel fail to consider. 

ACTA's Academic Affairs Fellow Veronica Bryant is joined by Dr. Mark T. Mitchell, Dean of Academic Affairs at Patrick Henry College as well as the author of numerous books on political theory. A small Christian school in Virginia, Patrick Henry College is one of only eight colleges in the country to receive an "A+" grade from ACTA's What Will They Learn?© project for its rigorous and high-quality core curriculum. Dr. Mitchell walks Veronica through the extraordinary structure of the classical liberal arts education offered at Patrick Henry College, as well as why this education is valuable today.

ACTA's Veronica Bryant welcomes David Rohrbacher, Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs and Professor of Classics at the New College of Florida. NCF made headlines after they skyrocketed from an "F" grade to a "B+" rating in ACTA's What Will They Learn? Project (WWTL), becoming this year's "most improved school." WWTL assigns letter grades based on the rigor of the core curriculum at over 1,100 American colleges and universities. This improvement was thanks to a total overhaul of their general education program in 2024. Professor Rohrbacher discusses how that change came about and the innovative academic reforms that engage NCF students in substantive, serious coursework.