Heritage Foundation — UNCIVIL Website

Advocacy Group

The Heritage Foundation

Background

The Washington Post describes The Heritage Foundation as “a right-wing think tank.” It was founded in 1973 by conservative activists Edwin Feulner and Paul Weyrich, with early backing from right-wing donors Joseph Coors and Richard Mellon Scaife. Heritage credits its 1980 “Mandate for Leadership” with supplying the Reagan administration with a policy blueprint from which nearly two-thirds of roughly 2,000 recommendations were adopted. The organization remains a central institution of the modern right: the far-right “Project 2025,” whose recommendations substantially overlap with policies pursued during Trump’s second term, was developed primarily by Heritage Foundation staff and consultants. Several Project 2025 authors now serve in the Trump administration.

Advocacy

Advocacy for Civil Discourse and Viewpoint Diversity in Higher Education

In August 2026, Heritage released model state legislation to codify the Trump administration’s higher education compact. The bill includes a section entitled “Marketplace of Ideas and Civil Discourse,” which would require public campuses to assess a “broad spectrum of viewpoints” across teaching and research, and to encourage “civil speech and expression.” It would also require campuses to adopt “institutional neutrality,” preventing universities and their senior officers from expressing opinions on political and social issues.

The same model bill would require colleges to suspend or terminate enrollment when federal authorities report that a student’s immigration status is invalid; and, for public institutions with campus police, it would condition state funding on agreements allowing designated officers to perform ICE enforcement functions.

Advocacy for the Adoption of IHRA

The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism has been criticized by human rights groups and scholars for the risk that its Israel-related examples can be used to suppress criticism of Israel; Kenneth Stern, the definition’s lead drafter, has repeatedly opposed its use as a campus speech code.

By contrast, The Heritage Foundation used the IHRA definition in a 2021 report on university DEI staff members’ social media posts criticizing Israeli policy toward Palestinians; based on the IHRA definition, the authors described the posts as “antisemitic,” which furnished a justification for recommending a dramatic reduction in DEI staff and a reallocation of resources to “ideological diversity.”

In November 2023, The Heritage Foundation’s National Task Force to Combat Antisemitism—formed with conservative and right-wing groups including the America First Policy Institute, Family Research Council, Concerned Women for America, and the National Association of Scholars—and formally affirmed the IHRA definition.

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

Heritage’s formal anti-BDS advocacy is explicit in the same November 2023 task force statement referenced above. The statement condemns efforts to “delegitimize, boycott, divest, or sanction” Israel.

In October 2024, Heritage released a policy agenda called “Project Esther,” which characterizes prominent pro-Palestinian organizations—including Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace—as components of what it calls a “Hamas Support Network.” Project Esther calls for “dismantl[ing]” that network. For colleges and universities, Project Esther’s stated goals include purging what it calls pro-Hamas “propaganda” from curricula, removing or firing supportive faculty and staff, denying targeted organizations access to campuses, and restricting or denying permits for their demonstrations.

The Trump administration actions have closely tracked a number of Project Esther’s central recommendations. For example, in January 2025, Trump ordered federal agencies to identify civil and criminal authorities for combating campus antisemitism. In March 2025, his administration canceled roughly $400 million in federal grants and contracts to Columbia University in response to the school’s “inaction” on alleged campus antisemitism. By May 2025, a New York Times analysis found that the White House and other Republicans had called for, or acted on, more than half of Project Esther’s proposals.

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

As noted under the IHRA section above, The Heritage Foundation recommended, in a 2021 article, that university DEI staffs be “dramatically reduced” and that diversity infrastructure be redirected toward “ideological diversity.” By September 2025, Heritage was endorsing the Trump administration’s anti-DEI orders and urging federal officials to withhold funding from educational institutions found to be violating civil rights law; the foundation also accused universities of hiding or renaming DEI offices to evade scrutiny. In July 2026, Heritage senior fellow Mike Gonzalez told Congress that DEI had become a “governing ideology” embedded across American institutions.

Advocacy for Institutional Neutrality

In January 2026, Heritage endorsed institutional neutrality as one of the Trump higher education compact’s reforms that states and universities should consider adopting. In August 2026, Heritage translated that agenda into the model state legislation cited above (under “Advocacy for Civil Discourse in Higher Education”). The legislation’s “Marketplace of Ideas and Civil Discourse” section brings together proposed bans on DEI offices and requirements for viewpoint diversity alongside support for institutional neutrality.

By contrast, institutional neutrality 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 for Restrictions on Protester Face-Coverings

In December 2023, Heritage-affiliated scholars Mike Gonzalez and Jay P. Greene published an article calling for universities to enforce bans on face coverings by protesters. They especially criticized George Mason University for not enforcing Virginia’s anti-face-covering law against masked “anti-Israel” protesters. Heritage writers have also characterized masking by Palestine solidarity activists as a means of “intimidating” Jewish students (see here and here).

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.

Notable People

Adam Kissel

Visiting fellow for higher education reform at The Heritage Foundation

In May 2023, while serving as a Heritage visiting fellow, Kissel testified in his personal capacity in support of Ohio SB 117. He identified the “lack of viewpoint diversity on college campuses” as one of the two principal problems the legislation would address and argued for an Ohio State center “dedicated to viewpoint diversity around fundamental civic education.” Kissel especially praised the bill’s independence in faculty hiring, arguing that “progressive faculty dislike the idea of a neutral center that doesn’t try to indoctrinate students.” He noted approvingly that SB 117 would allow the Chase Center to hire its own tenure-track faculty. From June 2017 to September 2018, Kissel served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Higher Education Programs in the Trump administration’s Department of Education.

Hans A. von Spakovsky

senior legal fellow at The Heritage Foundation

Von Spakovsky is a longtime advocate of stricter voting rules. A 2024 Guardian investigation reported that he had spent decades advancing “unfounded allegations of widespread voter fraud.” In addition, in March 2025, von Spakovsky advocated for the criminal prosecution and deportation of masked campus demonstrators, whom he characterized as “Hamas agitators.” In September 2023, von Spakovsky was a guest speaker at the University of Pittsburgh’s “All Angles” speaker series.

See also: University of Pittsburgh.

Mike Gonzalez

Senior fellow at The Heritage Foundation

Gonzalez joined Heritage in 2009 after serving in the George W. Bush administration and now writes extensively on critical race theory, identity politics, and diversity. He co-authored Heritage’s September 2025 report urging federal officials to target universities that preserve or disguise DEI programs. In July 2026, Gonzalez told Congress that “DEI Is a Threat to the Republic.”

Notable Funders

Sarah Scaife Foundation

$7.75 million (2020-2024) 4.1

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 Foundation for Excellence in Higher Education (FEHE) 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

$604,000 (2020)

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.

Adolph Coors Foundation

$375,000 (2020-2024)

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 PragerU (which SPLC describes as a “far-right propaganda” group) 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.

Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation/Bradley Impact Fund

~$350,000 (2021-2024)

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 like Turning Point USA, 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.

John William Pope Foundation

$200,000 (2022-2023)

Chaired by Art Pope, whom Greenpeace describes as “a major funder of groups that deny climate change.” The foundation makes significant grants to conservative and right-wing advocacy groups like Manhattan Institute, Federalist Society, and the State Policy Network (which the Center for Media and Democracy’s SourceWatch describes as “a web of right-wing ‘think tanks’”). The Pope Foundation is included on IPS’s top ten funders of climate disinformation groups from 2020 to 2022. The foundation also has documented ties to the Koch Network. See UNCIVIL’s June 2026 Funder Analysis for more details on Pope’s giving.

Achelis & Bodman Foundation

$150,000 (2024-2025)

Makes significant grants to conservative and right-wing groups such as PragerU (which SPLC describes as a “far-right propaganda” group), 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.