The Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) is a nonprofit educational organization that promotes

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

thought on college campuses. It was founded in 1953 by

Frank Chodorov Frank Chodorov (February 15, 1887 – December 28, 1966) was an American member of the Old Right, a group of conservative and libertarian thinkers who were non-interventionist in foreign policy and opposed to both the American entry into World ...

with

William F. Buckley Jr. William Frank Buckley Jr. (born William Francis Buckley; November 24, 1925 – February 27, 2008) was an American public intellectual, conservative author and political commentator. In 1955, he founded ''National Review'', the magazine that stim ...

as its first president. It sponsors lectures and debates on college campuses, publishes books and journals, provides funding and editorial assistance to a network of conservative and libertarian college newspapers, and finances graduate fellowships.

History

In 1953,

founded ISI as the Intercollegiate Society of Individualists, with a young

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

graduate

as president.Gillian Peele, 'American Conservatism in Historical Perspective', in ''Crisis of Conservatism? The Republican Party, the Conservative Movement, & American Politics After Bush'', Gillian Peele, Joel D. Aberbach (eds.), Oxford:

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, 2011, p. 29 E. Victor Milione, ISI's next and longest-serving president, established publications, a membership network, a lecture and conference program, and a graduate fellowship program. ISI has been teaching various forms of intellectual conservatism on college campuses ever since.New York Times, ARMIES OF THE RIGHT; The Young Hipublicans
/ref> Past ISI president and former Reagan administration official T. Kenneth Cribb led the institute from 1989 until 2011, when Christopher G. Long took over. Cribb is credited with expanding ISI's revenue from one million dollars that year to $13,636,005 in 2005. John A. Burtka IV became president of ISI in September 2020. ISI lists its core beliefs as

limited government In political philosophy, limited government is the concept of a government limited in power. It is a key concept in the history of liberalism.Amy Gutmann, "How Limited Is Liberal Government" in Liberalism Without Illusions: Essays on Liberal Theo ...

individual liberty Civil liberties are guarantees and freedoms that governments commit not to abridge, either by constitution, legislation, or judicial interpretation, without due process. Though the scope of the term differs between countries, civil liberties may ...

personal responsibility In philosophy, moral responsibility is the status of morally deserving praise, blame, reward, or punishment for an act or omission in accordance with one's moral obligations. Deciding what (if anything) counts as "morally obligatory" is a princi ...

, the

rule of law The rule of law is the political philosophy that all citizens and institutions within a country, state, or community are accountable to the same laws, including lawmakers and leaders. The rule of law is defined in the ''Encyclopedia Britannica ...

free-market economics In economics, a free market is an economic system in which the prices of goods and services are determined by supply and demand expressed by sellers and buyers. Such markets, as modeled, operate without the intervention of government or any ot ...

, and traditional

Judeo-Christian The term Judeo-Christian is used to group Christianity and Judaism together, either in reference to Christianity's derivation from Judaism, Christianity's borrowing of Jewish Scripture to constitute the "Old Testament" of the Christian Bible, or ...

values.

Programs and activities

ISI runs a number of programs on college campuses, including student societies and student papers. It publishes a series of "Student's Guide to..." books, such as ''A Student's Guide to Liberal Learning''. It hosts conferences and other events featuring conservative speakers and academics, and provides funding for students to attend. In this funding capacity ISI is affiliated with the Liberty Fund. ISI administers the

Collegiate Network The Collegiate Network (CN) is a program that provides financial and technical assistance to student editors and writers of roughly 100 independent, conservative and libertarian publications at colleges and universities around the United States. M ...

, which provides editorial and financial outreach to conservative and libertarian student journalists.

Publications

Periodicals issued by ISI include: *''The Intercollegiate Review'' () *''The Academic Reviewer'' () *''The Political Science Reviewer'' () In the fall of 2006, ISI published the findings of its survey of the teaching of America's history and institutions in higher education. The Institute reported, as the title suggests, that there is a "coming crisis in citizenship."

ISI Books

Intercollegiate Studies Institute operates ISI Books, which publishes books on conservative issues and distributes a number of books from other publishers. Its focus is largely on the humanities and the foundations of Western culture, and perceived challenges from left-wing

progressivism Progressivism holds that it is possible to improve human societies through political action. As a political movement, progressivism seeks to advance the human condition through social reform based on purported advancements in science, tec ...

. In the summer of 2005, ISI Books published '' It Takes a Family: Conservatism and the Common Good'', by Pennsylvania Republican Senator

Rick Santorum Richard John Santorum ( ; born May 10, 1958) is an American politician, attorney, and political commentator. A member of the Republican Party, he served as a United States Senator from Pennsylvania from 1995 to 2007 and was the Senate's thir ...

. The book premiered at #13 on the

New York Times Best Seller list ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list is widely considered the preeminent list of best-selling books in the United States. John Bear, ''The #1 New York Times Best Seller: intriguing facts about the 484 books that have been #1 New York Times ...

. Passages from it generated controversy during Santorum's 2006 reelection campaign and his 2012 presidential campaign.

References

External links