RALEIGH, N.C. (December 4, 2025) The James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal, along with Defending Education and the Goldwater Institute, released the model policy: the American Higher Education Restoration Act.
America’s public universities were once defined by a commitment to teaching and the transmission of knowledge. Today, however, many institutions prioritize the production of academic “research” that few people ever read and that often does little to advance human understanding. This shift has carried a steep price. Taxpayers fund millions of dollars’ worth of research activity that, in far too many cases, has been shaped by ideological gatekeeping at academic journals, which determine what gets published and what does not.
“We need to change the incentives in higher education to emphasize teaching,” said Jenna Robinson, the president of the Martin Center.
The American Higher Education Restoration Act seeks to reverse these trends by restoring academic seriousness, intellectual diversity, and a renewed focus on classroom excellence. The policy places special emphasis on supporting scholars dedicated to American Constitutionalism and Western Civilization—fields essential to preserving our civic inheritance yet increasingly marginalized on today’s campuses.
Key provisions of the model policy would:
- Prioritize excellence in teaching as a core responsibility of publicly funded faculty.
- Restore ideological diversity and intellectual rigor in faculty hiring and promotion.
- End the automatic flow of taxpayer dollars to research projects that lack academic merit or serve ideological activism rather than genuine scholarship.
Together, these reforms would help rebuild a university system worthy of public trust, one that educates students, preserves America’s constitutional principles, and ensures that taxpayer resources support serious, mission-focused academic work.
Read more about the American Higher Education Restoration Act HERE.
For more information or to schedule an interview, please contact the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal.