American Council of Trustees and Alumni

Advocacy Group

American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA)

Background

According to the Center for Media and Democracy’s SourceWatch, ACTA is a right-wing advocacy group and a member of the “Project 2025” advisory board. It was launched by Lynne Cheney in 1995 to mobilize alumni and trustees around what she called campus “political intolerance.” The organization carries out advocacy that treats university trustees—not faculty—as the chief lever for changing higher education. A 2025 AAUP Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom report describes ACTA as a “behind-the-scenes force” that has engaged in a “quiet campaign to subdue faculty authority and shared governance.”

Advocacy

Advocacy for Civil Discourse and Viewpoint Diversity in Higher Education

In 2018, ACTA launched the “College Debates & Discourse Alliance.” This program is run in partnership with Braver Angels and BridgeUSA and its stated aim is to teach students and faculty to “honor ideological diversity” and “foster civil discourse.” More than 75 college campuses have reportedly hosted College Debates and Discourse programming.

Separately, ACTA representatives have actively lobbied for the creation of state-mandated “civic thought” centers around the country, including Ohio’s SB 117, Tennessee’s HB 291, and North Carolina’s HB 7. These centers have generated intense controversy over their perceived conservative orientation, as well as concerns that their creation and operation circumvent traditional faculty authority and shared governance.

Advocacy for Institutional Neutrality

In February 2024, ACTA launched a nationwide campaign urging colleges to adopt “strict institutional neutrality,” which it linked to “intellectual diversity.” In launching the campaign, ACTA argued that universities should refrain from taking institutional positions on social and political questions outside their academic mission, presenting neutrality as a safeguard for free expression and diversity of thought. ACTA has also used the principle of neutrality to argue that governing boards should reject pro-Palestine activists’ demands to divest from Israel.

While several institutions on the right have lobbied extensively for institutional neutrality, such policies are strongly opposed by the AAUP and many scholars. An October 2025 research paper by Curtis Brewer and Michelle D. Young found that institutional neutrality had been deployed to normalize institutional silence, marginalize dissent, and constrain forms of political expression. Similarly, a spring 2026 Inside Higher Ed investigation found that college administrators have increasingly used institutional neutrality policies to justify censoring students’ political speech.

Advocacy Against the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) Movement

In March 2017, ACTA published a report that framed opposition to BDS as a matter of safeguarding “institutional neutrality” and creating “a strong campus culture with diverse viewpoints.” This article summarizes the report’s recommendations under the headline “Fight BDS by promoting ‘intellectually-diverse views’ on Israel-Palestine.” In August 2024, ACTA released a trustee guide urging boards to reject BDS. The guide presented “strict institutional neutrality” as a defense against divestment demands.

Advocacy for Restrictions on Protester Face-Coverings

In March 2025, ACTA released a “Model University Anti-Masking Policy” that would prohibit people on university property from intentionally concealing their identities (with limited exceptions, including for health reasons). ACTA framed the measure as protection against masks used for “intimidation.” In related commentary about Palestine solidarity protests at Barnard College, ACTA argued that identifying masked protesters was necessary so universities could impose discipline and maintain a “safe and orderly campus.”

By contrast, representatives of the ACLU and its New York chapter have argued against bans on face covering, noting that peaceful protesters may wear masks as protection from surveillance and doxxing. Similar concerns about restrictions on protesters’ use of masks have been raised by the United Nations Human Rights Committee, Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International.

Advocacy Against Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs

In 2023, ACTA’s President and Chief of Staff both testified in support of Ohio’s DEI ban, SB 83. In September 2025, ACTA released “Achieving Common Dignity,” a trustee guide that calls on university boards to take an inventory of DEI programs, end bias-response teams, prohibit required diversity statements, and revise campus diversity policies to reflect “merit, fairness, and equality.” In the guide, ACTA’s president Michael Poliakoff describes DEI as “a failed experiment.” The guide’s anti-DEI prescriptions are presented in terms that echo the vocabulary of ACTA’s College Debates & Discourse Alliance (see above); for example, the guide asserts that the proposed changes will restore “freedom of expression, intellectual diversity, and respectful disagreement.”

Other Advocacy for Anti-Activist Policies

In August 2024, ACTA released “An EQUAL SPACE for ALL,” which furnishes campus protest guidelines for use by trustees. The authors criticize Palestine solidarity demonstrators for their “disregard for appeals to civil discourse.” They caution trustees against issuing “soft ultimatums” or “concessions” to demonstrators: “The optics of ‘de-escalation,’” they write, “are a recipe for long-term failure.” The guidelines also call for “videotaping protests to identify student protesters and enacting clear and ‘severe’ consequences.” ACTA argues that implementing these and other restrictions “serves free inquiry, civil discourse, and academic excellence.”

Notable People

Michael B. Poliakoff

President & CEO of ACTA

Poliakoff has led ACTA since 2016. He has called the Trump administration’s demands to end DEI “straightforward and reasonable.” He has stated that “tactics employed by the BDS movement clearly conflict with the principles of academic freedom that enable students and educators alike to engage in open discourse, inquiry, and learning.” Poliakoff is a longtime opponent of affirmative action.

Steven McGuire

Paul & Karen Levy Fellow in Campus Freedom at ACTA

McGuire co-hosts ACTA’s Radio Free Campus, which ACTA describes as focused on “free expression, intellectual diversity, and civil discourse.” In May 2026, he and American Enterprise Institute scholar Samuel Abrams argued that a University of Michigan professor’s pro-Palestinian commencement remarks were an “abuse of his position” and a “violation” of institutional neutrality.

Notable Funders

John Templeton Foundation

$1.26 million for College Debates & Discourse Alliance (2023-2024)

Established by billionaire investor John Templeton. The foundation was led from 2015 to 2025 by his granddaughter, Heather Templeton Dill. It is now headed by the former CEO of Christianity Today, which describes itself as a “globally minded evangelical magazine.” Templeton makes significant grants to conservative and right-wing advocacy organizations such as State Policy Network and Mercatus Center, and Atlas Network (all three of which are described by Greenpeace as “Koch Industries Climate Denial Front Groups”). The foundation also has documented ties to the Koch Network. See UNCIVIL’s June 2026 Funder Analysis for more details on Templeton’s giving.

Sarah Scaife Foundation

$385,000 (2022-2024)

Established by the late billionaire Richard Mellon Scaife. According to the Center for Media and Democracy’s SourceWatch, Scaife is “one of the largest foundations focused on supporting right-wing causes.” The foundation is a major donor to conservative groups like the Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society, as well as climate change denial groups like Global Warming Policy Foundation and the nativist/anti-immigrant group Federation for American Immigration Reform. See UNCIVIL’s June 2026 Funder Analysis for more details on Scaife’s giving.

Charles Koch Foundation/Stand Together Trust

~$280,000 (2009-2021)

Established by billionaire oil fortune heir Charles Koch, the foundation has been a major funder of right-wing infrastructure for several decades. Koch invests millions into the Heritage Foundation and other conservative groups, including climate change denial organizations such as CO2 Coalition. See UNCIVIL’s June 2026 Funder Analysis for more details on Koch’s giving.

Fred Maytag Foundation

$200,000 (2020-2024)

Maytag makes significant grants to conservative and right-wing groups such as the Manhattan Institute and the Hudson Institute, along with the Center for Immigration Studies (which SPLC describes as an “anti-immigrant hate group” that has platformed “white nationalist and antisemitic writers”). Refer to UNCIVIL’s June 2026 Funder Analysis for more details on Maytag’s giving.

See also: Manhattan Institute.

F. M. Kirby Foundation

$115,000 (2020-2024)

Kirby makes significant grants to conservative and right-wing groups such as the Manhattan Institute, American Enterprise Institute, and the Federalist Society, along with the anti-union advocacy group National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation. Refer to UNCIVIL’s June 2026 Funder Analysis for more details on Kirby’s giving.

Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation/Bradley Impact Fund

~$90,000 (2024)

According to the Center for Media and Democracy’s SourceWatch, the Bradley Impact Fund is a donor-advised fund “aligned with” the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation that makes significant grants to conservative and right-wing organizations. The fund is a major donor to conservative groups like the Heritage Foundation and Alliance Defending Freedom, as well as climate change denial groups like the Heartland Institute. Current and former Bradley Foundation board members, including Victor Davis Hanson and Art Pope, have documented ties to the Koch Network. See UNCIVIL’s June 2026 Funder Analysis for more details on Bradley’s giving.

Adolph Coors Foundation

$80,000 (2020-2023)

Established by Adolph Coors, Jr., the son of the founder of the Coors Brewing Company. A 2015 Forbes report estimated the Coors family’s combined wealth at $4 billion. The Coors Foundation’s chairman, Peter H. Coors, is a trustee of the right-wing American Enterprise Institute. The foundation makes significant grants to the State Policy Network, which the Center for Media and Democracy’s SourceWatch describes as “a web of right-wing ‘think tanks.’” The foundation also makes significant grants to conservative and right-wing groups like the Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society, as well as Turning Point USA. The Coors family is included on DeSmog’s list of “6 Billionaire Fortunes Bankrolling Project 2025.” See UNCIVIL’s June 2026 Funder Analysis for more details on Coors’ giving.

Achelis & Bodman Foundation

$50,000 (2021)

Makes significant grants to conservative and right-wing think tanks such as the Heritage Foundation, American Enterprise Institute, and Manhattan Institute. The foundation also supports climate change denial organizations such as CO2 Coalition. See UNCIVIL’s June 2026 Funder Analysis for more details on Achelis & Bodman’s giving.

The Barnes Family Foundation

Amount not identified; support for College Debates & Discourse Alliance documented here

Makes grants to conservative and right-wing groups such as the Manhattan Institute, PragerU (which SPLC describes as a “far-right propaganda” group), and Moms for Liberty (which SPLC describes as “a far-right organization” that has “advocated books bans”). For reference, see the Barnes Family Foundation’s tax filings for 2025, 2024, and 2023.

Considine Family Foundation

Amount not identified; support for College Debates & Discourse Alliance documented here

Established by real estate investor Terry Considine and his wife, Betsy Considine. Terry is a former board chair of the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation. In 2017, the Considine Family Foundation endowed the Antonin Scalia Professorship of Law at Harvard Law School and Terry praised the staunchly conservative Scalia's approach to constitutional interpretation. The foundation also makes significant grants to conservative groups such as Foundation for Excellence in Higher Education (FEHE), where the Considine’s president, Thalia Considine (daughter of Terry and Betsy) sits on the board, and the Jack Miller Center, where she serves on the National Civics Council. For reference, see the Barnes Family Foundation’s tax filings for 2024, 2023, and 2022.

The Albert & Ethel Herzstein Charitable Foundation

Amount not identified; support for College Debates & Discourse Alliance documented here

The foundation makes significant grants to conservative and right-wing organizations such as the Heritage Foundation, National Review Institute, as well as the climate change denial group Heartland Institute. Herzstein Charitable has also made grants to pro-Israel and Zionist organizations such as Friends of the Israel Defense Forces (which collects donations for IDF soldiers) and Birthright Israel.
For reference, see Herzstein’s tax filings for 2024, 2023, and 2022.