National Association of Scholars

NAS was founded to confront the rise of campus political correctness.

We expect colleges to offer coherent curricula and programs of study. We uphold a view of institutional integrity that includes financial probity as well as transparency in the curriculum and classroom. We uphold the principles of academic freedom that include faculty members' and students' freedom to pursue academic research; their freedom to question and to think for themselves; and their freedom from ideological imposition.

We expect colleges and universities to prioritize education as academia's main purpose. And we understand education in our time and place to entail providing students with breadth of understanding of core subjects including Western civilization and American history. We recognize that the vitality of American education arises in large part out of the freedom of colleges and universities to experiment and to offer diverse curricula. That robust diversity, however, must be anchored in respect.

The NAS advocates for excellence by encouraging commitment to high intellectual standards, individual merit, institutional integrity, good governance, and sound public policy.

INTELLECTUAL STANDARDS
Ideas judged on their merits
Disinterested pursuit of truth
Fair and judicial examination of contending views
Rich and challenging reading assignments
Frequent and carefully assessed writing assignments
Well-rounded core requirements
Transmission of both the core content and core values of Western civilization
Rigorous and fair testing and examination
Coherent curricula within majors and programs of study

INDIVIDUAL MERIT
Individuals judged fairly, according to their abilities and accomplishments
Grades consonant with accomplishment

INSTITUTIONAL INTEGRITY
Thrift, faithful stewardship of gifts, and financial probity
Transparency in the curriculum and classroom
Scientific spirit in scholarly inquiry
Freedom of faculty members and students to pursue academic research
Freedom of faculty members to teach their academic subjects
Freedom of students to question and to think for themselves
Freedom from ideological imposition or suppression
Conservation of knowledge and intellectual achievement

GOOD GOVERNANCE
Leadership focused on academic mission
Appointment of officers and staff members who are genuinely qualified
Efficient organization
Transparent rules and procedures
Adherence to the rule of law
Restraint in response to fashionable movements and political, social, and ideological enthusiasms
Mindfulness of the history of higher education, the ethos of scholarship, and value of knowledge and free inquiry
Capacity and willingness to distinguish between the significant and the trivial
Commitment to civil debate and respect for dissenting opinions

SOUND PUBLIC POLICY
Prioritizing education as academia's main purpose
Minimal student indebtedness
Equal opportunity on the basis of individual merit
Access to college for all
Alternatives to college made available
Greater price competition among colleges and universities
Support for affordable tuition
Support for innovation and the creation of new colleges
Support for the developing market for online college degrees and vocational training
One set of standards applied to for-profit and not-for-profit institutions
Academic programs aligned with U.S. national interests
Funding for basic research
Reform of K-12 education

JOURNAL
We publish a quarterly journal, Academic Questions, which explores the vices and virtues of the contemporary university. Issues are often themed and include scholarly articles, book reviews, poetry, and items of academic interest. A subscription to Academic Questions is included in NAS membership. Read More

REPORTS
We regularly publish studies that examine curricula and other aspects of higher education policy and practice. These studies document trends in contemporary academia. They aim to stimulate improvements to the quality of education in our colleges and universities.

COMMENTARY
NAS's website presents daily opinion and commentary on developments and trends in higher education. A high-traffic destination linked by major online publications, NAS.org publishes substantial op-ed style articles by guest authors and NAS staff, along with debates and videos.

ADVOCACY
NAS and our members are involved in efforts to pass legislation for true and salutary higher education reform. We file friend-of-the-court briefs in legal cases, defending freedom of speech and conscience, and the civil rights of educators and students. We give testimony before congressional and legislative committees and engage public support for worthy reforms. We defend academics and scholars facing challenges to their academic freedom.

MEETINGS
NAS holds national and regional meetings that focus on important issues and public policy debates in higher education today. At these meetings and conferences, those concerned about higher education convene to discuss issues of the moment, propose reforms, and recognize individual achievements.

Recent accomplishments include:

Accomplishment #1
Sen. Marco Rubio cited Outsourced to China, NAS's April 2017 report on Confucius Institutes and China's use of soft power at American universities, in a letter urging Florida Confucius Institutes to close. NAS was invited to work with members of the U.S. House and Senate on draft legislation.

Accomplishment #2
NAS was invited to brief staff members at the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, the Senate Committee on Homeland Security, the GAO, and the White House on Confucius Institutes. This report has been featured in Foreign Affairs, Forbes, and NRO.

Accomplishment #3
In Feb. 2017, NAS published the Freedom to Learn Amendments to support healthy competition, individual excellence, and freedom from overregulation on American campuses. The HEA reauthorization (Dec. 2017), incorporated many of NAS's proposals, including some of our proposed language. Rep. Virginia Foxx reference our work during an address to Congress on the PROSPER Act.

Accomplishment #4
In 2016, NAS published The Disappearing Continent, the first systematic critique of the examination on European History. In 2017, the College Board made substantial revisions to the APEH course guide in response to our critiques.

Accomplishment #5
In April 2018, U-Penn Law Prof. Amy Wax was barred from teaching first-year courses when students demanded she be fired after she publicly expressed support for traditional marriage and opposition to affirmative action. NAS hosted a sold-out event to honor Prof. Wax for her academic courage.

Accomplishment #6
In April 2018, NAS launched our newest report, The Irreproducibility Crisis, in the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, D.C., at an event sponsored by Representative Lamar Smith (R-TX), Chairman of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. An op-ed by NAS President Peter Wood and Research Director David Randall was featured in the Wall Street Journal in conjunction with the launch.