| From | Intercollegiate Review <[email protected]> |
| Subject | Truth Fights Off Fiction; Fiction Supports Truth |
| Date | June 27, 2025 6:29 PM |
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Conservatism’s Sharpest Voices, Curated Weekly | ISI’s Intercollegiate Review brings you the best in serious conservative thought.
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Note from the Editor: The Intercollegiate Review will be moving to Substack this Summer.
Substack offers a more convenient and accessible experience to you as the reader and will allow us to reach a wider audience.
We are grateful for your support of the Intercollegiate Review and are committed to keeping your subscription completely free as we move to Substack.
[link removed]
CATEGORY: LAW (11 MIN)
Skrmetti and States' Power to Protect Children
[link removed]
Last week, in one of the most highly anticipated decisions of this term, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a Tennessee law protecting children from transgender surgeries. The case, U.S. v. Skrmetti, saw the six Republican-appointed Justices in the majority against the three Democratic appointees. In particular, Chief Justice John Roberts’s opinion found that the state law could be reviewed under the less stringent test of rational basis review.
For Law & Liberty
[link removed]
, James R. Rogers uses Skrmetti to analyze the Supreme Court’s balance between protection of federal rights and the ability of states to govern themselves. Rogers recalls the 2022 overturning of Roe v. Wade in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which returned the issue of the legality of abortion to the states.
Since Rogers considers the freedom of state legislatures to decide important policy issues a vital aspect of “collective self-government,” he sees Skrmetti as a sign that the Court is protecting American citizens’ votes.
Rogers delves into the three levels of scrutiny that govern jurisprudence under the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause. Two of them, strict scrutiny and intermediate scrutiny, make it hard for laws that classify based on race or sex to survive. The third, rational basis, makes it easier for laws that don’t classify on those protected bases. The Court here applied rational basis, which allows states to address the transgender issue as their voters so choose.
Rogers suggests the Court may be “moving the line back in the direction of deferring more to democratic decision-making.” Read more of his article here
[link removed]
.
Read Now
[link removed]
Weekly Poll
Should states, like Tennessee, ban transgender surgeries for minors?
[A] Yes
[B] No
[link removed]
[C] Unsure
[link removed]
RESULTS: 6/26/2025
Who better explains today's political crisis: Francis Fukuyama or Leo Strauss?
[A] Fukuyama: liberal democracy has essentially won - 5.4%
[B] Strauss: we still need classical wisdom to guide us - 89.2%
[C] Unsure - 5.4%
[link removed]
CATEGORY: LITERATURE (20 MIN)
Literacy's Lethargy: Where Will Books Go?
[link removed]
Americans consume more information every day than they have at potentially any time in history. Yet one of the most popular sources of media—the book—has declined. Rather than spending hours with pages in our hands, we scroll through hundreds if not thousands of bite-sized pieces of information. Our shelves grow dusty while our screens get smudged.
Wessie Du Toit, writing in First Things
[link removed]
, analyzes the past, present, and future of reading. Du Toit notes that the prevalence of reading in the 1900s was not typical for most of world history. Instead, he traces the development of a “dramatic growth in the practice of reading” in the back half of the 1800s. Du Toit especially discusses the rise in literacy and in general interest in books among the lower and middle classes.
But Du Toit then moves to the other side of the curve, as reading began to wane with the development of digital alternatives. The television began the trend, and social media has launched it into hyperdrive. Du Toit cites studies showing that fewer than half of Americans now read at least one book per year. It’s not just America. He points to other Western and Eastern countries showing the same results.
Finally, Du Toit deals with the consequences of these changes. He considers whether the average person’s literacy (at least in relation to books) is truly necessary for free self-government. And he hypothesizes that only the media has really changed; that “the appeal of reading for much of the population was similar to that of the audiovisual media that later supplanted it.”
Du Toit hopes that literature can still flourish among the “literate minority” today. What do you think? Read more here
[link removed]
.
Read Now
[link removed]
[link removed]
CATEGORY: VIDEO
Newt Gingrich on America's Comeback: A Conversation with Caroline Downey
[link removed]
Join former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich in an exclusive conversation with Caroline Downey of National Review and The Conservateur, hosted by ISI's Collegiate Network. Held at D.C.'s acclaimed venue Butterworth’s, this evening brought together students, young professionals, and alumni to explore the path to America’s cultural and political revival.
Drawing on insights from his latest book and decades in public service, Speaker Gingrich outlines a bold vision for America’s comeback—through freedom, virtue, and leadership. From historical lessons to the future of conservatism, this wide-ranging dialogue offers inspiration and clarity for a rising generation.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel here
[link removed]
.
Watch Now
[link removed]
Because our student editors and writers are bravely bringing conservative ideas to their campuses, we’re highlighting their efforts here.
The Return of Stanford Football Under Andrew Luck
[link removed]
via The Stanford Review
“2025 marks a new era for Stanford football, with the first full calendar year of Andrew Luck at the helm as the inaugural general manager for the Stanford football team. Luck previously played at quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts and Stanford from 2008 to 2011, leading the team to both the Orange Bowl and Fiesta Bowl. Luck was widely regarded by scouts as one of the best draft picks in modern NFL history, selected as the first pick in the 2012 draft. In years since, Stanford football has slowly collapsed, with four straight 3-9 seasons.”
Rationale of DDS Changes, Future Changes to Expect
[link removed]
via The Dartmouth Review
“As the student body continues to voice frustrations with DDS and its leadership, it’s important to understand the reality behind DDS operations, many of their recent decisions, and the future changes that we should expect. After a series of changes, most notably to the Courtyard Café (the Hop), the student body has almost unanimously decried every new feature (all except the addition of burritos to Late Night). But while there are some legitimate complaints that DDS should be expected to shortly address, many of the new and seemingly inconvenient features were imposed for valid reasons.”
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan Is Running For Governor As An Independent. Does He Actually Have a Shot?
[link removed]
via The Michigan Review
“Much like how things often operate in the political sphere, once one election cycle is over, we immediately shift to the next. The 2026 midterms have already received substantial attention, and for good reason. Currently, Republicans hold a trifecta — the House, Senate, and Presidency — but this could be impacted by the 2026 midterms. However, even outside of the House and Senate elections, other statewide elections have already received heavy interest and intrigue. This includes the 2026 gubernatorial elections, and given Michigan’s reputation as a swing state, the Michigan gubernatorial election has already gained attention.”
Cornell History Professor Barry Strauss Wins a Bradley Prize
[link removed]
via The Cornell Review
“On May 29, the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation presented Barry S. Strauss ‘74, an esteemed classicist, military and naval historian, and best-selling author, with a 2025 Bradley Prize. Strauss received the award at the Bradley Prizes ceremony at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, DC. Now in its 21st year, the Bradley Prize is awarded to individuals whose extraordinary work exemplifies the Foundation’s mission to restore, strengthen, and protect the principles and institutions of American exceptionalism and honors the ideals of the Western tradition.”
Dartmouth Names Santiago Schnell as David Kotz’s Successor as Provost
[link removed]
via The Dartmouth Review
“On July 1, Dartmouth College will welcome its new provost, Santiago Schnell, who is succeeding outgoing Provost David Kotz ’86. Schnell is currently the William K. Warren Foundation Dean of the College of Science at the University of Notre Dame. His appointment came after a nationwide search in an attempt to choose an individual who could navigate Dartmouth’s changing academic landscape."
CATEGORY: EDUCATION (9 MIN)
Restoring Our Literary "Great Traditional Inheritance"
[link removed]
The progressive movement and its effect on education have inflicted severe negative repercussions on generations of American children. Many classical truths that every child in our nation once learned have been relegated to the library at best and the dustbin at worst. Perhaps if they had been replaced by modern works focused on objective truth, education might be in a better place—but no.
For this week’s article from the Modern Age
[link removed]
website, M.D. Aeschliman takes a journey through the history of classical thinkers to highlight the importance of teaching our progeny about our past. Aeschliman starts with the Greek greats like Plato and Aristotle and moves on to Augustine, Dante, and the English rhetoricians. He argues that a thread of “ethical instruction,” especially a focus on speaking and writing, persisted throughout all of these academics’ times.
Aeschliman says this thread came to a head in the work of Edmund Burke, who discussed the “moral imagination” and its importance to a working free society. But French, English, and American secularists turned away from this tradition and focused on humanism and individualism to the destruction of memory and religion.
“The consequences for high school and college literary studies are massive,” Aeschliman writes. “Modernist literary classics are no longer ‘ethical’ or ‘humanistic,’ the words themselves sounding nostalgic and ironic; they are about self-expression as the summum bonum—'songs of myself’ everywhere.”
In response, Aeschliman suggests a pairing of great literature with true historical context as a way to reclaim traditional education for American youth. Read more here on the Modern Age
[link removed]
website.
Read Now
[link removed]
Thought of the Day:
“A house without books is like a room without windows.”
- Horace Mann
Join ISI’s new Alumni Giving Club
It’s never been easier for you to support our mission—and stay part of our community—with ISI’s new Alumni Giving Club!
For just $19.53 a month, you can join the fight and “pay it forward” by educating the next generation for ordered liberty.
Join the Club
[link removed]
Follow on Twitter Friend on Facebook Forward to Friend
Copyright © 2025, All rights reserved.
Our mailing address is:
Intercollegiate Studies Institute
3901 Centerville Road
Wilmington, DE 19807
unsubscribe from all emails
[link removed]
update subscription preferences
[link removed]
Email not displaying correctly?
View it in your browser
[link removed]
.
Note from the Editor: The Intercollegiate Review will be moving to Substack this Summer.
Substack offers a more convenient and accessible experience to you as the reader and will allow us to reach a wider audience.
We are grateful for your support of the Intercollegiate Review and are committed to keeping your subscription completely free as we move to Substack.
[link removed]
CATEGORY: LAW (11 MIN)
Skrmetti and States' Power to Protect Children
[link removed]
Last week, in one of the most highly anticipated decisions of this term, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a Tennessee law protecting children from transgender surgeries. The case, U.S. v. Skrmetti, saw the six Republican-appointed Justices in the majority against the three Democratic appointees. In particular, Chief Justice John Roberts’s opinion found that the state law could be reviewed under the less stringent test of rational basis review.
For Law & Liberty
[link removed]
, James R. Rogers uses Skrmetti to analyze the Supreme Court’s balance between protection of federal rights and the ability of states to govern themselves. Rogers recalls the 2022 overturning of Roe v. Wade in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which returned the issue of the legality of abortion to the states.
Since Rogers considers the freedom of state legislatures to decide important policy issues a vital aspect of “collective self-government,” he sees Skrmetti as a sign that the Court is protecting American citizens’ votes.
Rogers delves into the three levels of scrutiny that govern jurisprudence under the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause. Two of them, strict scrutiny and intermediate scrutiny, make it hard for laws that classify based on race or sex to survive. The third, rational basis, makes it easier for laws that don’t classify on those protected bases. The Court here applied rational basis, which allows states to address the transgender issue as their voters so choose.
Rogers suggests the Court may be “moving the line back in the direction of deferring more to democratic decision-making.” Read more of his article here
[link removed]
.
Read Now
[link removed]
Weekly Poll
Should states, like Tennessee, ban transgender surgeries for minors?
[A] Yes
[B] No
[link removed]
[C] Unsure
[link removed]
RESULTS: 6/26/2025
Who better explains today's political crisis: Francis Fukuyama or Leo Strauss?
[A] Fukuyama: liberal democracy has essentially won - 5.4%
[B] Strauss: we still need classical wisdom to guide us - 89.2%
[C] Unsure - 5.4%
[link removed]
CATEGORY: LITERATURE (20 MIN)
Literacy's Lethargy: Where Will Books Go?
[link removed]
Americans consume more information every day than they have at potentially any time in history. Yet one of the most popular sources of media—the book—has declined. Rather than spending hours with pages in our hands, we scroll through hundreds if not thousands of bite-sized pieces of information. Our shelves grow dusty while our screens get smudged.
Wessie Du Toit, writing in First Things
[link removed]
, analyzes the past, present, and future of reading. Du Toit notes that the prevalence of reading in the 1900s was not typical for most of world history. Instead, he traces the development of a “dramatic growth in the practice of reading” in the back half of the 1800s. Du Toit especially discusses the rise in literacy and in general interest in books among the lower and middle classes.
But Du Toit then moves to the other side of the curve, as reading began to wane with the development of digital alternatives. The television began the trend, and social media has launched it into hyperdrive. Du Toit cites studies showing that fewer than half of Americans now read at least one book per year. It’s not just America. He points to other Western and Eastern countries showing the same results.
Finally, Du Toit deals with the consequences of these changes. He considers whether the average person’s literacy (at least in relation to books) is truly necessary for free self-government. And he hypothesizes that only the media has really changed; that “the appeal of reading for much of the population was similar to that of the audiovisual media that later supplanted it.”
Du Toit hopes that literature can still flourish among the “literate minority” today. What do you think? Read more here
[link removed]
.
Read Now
[link removed]
[link removed]
CATEGORY: VIDEO
Newt Gingrich on America's Comeback: A Conversation with Caroline Downey
[link removed]
Join former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich in an exclusive conversation with Caroline Downey of National Review and The Conservateur, hosted by ISI's Collegiate Network. Held at D.C.'s acclaimed venue Butterworth’s, this evening brought together students, young professionals, and alumni to explore the path to America’s cultural and political revival.
Drawing on insights from his latest book and decades in public service, Speaker Gingrich outlines a bold vision for America’s comeback—through freedom, virtue, and leadership. From historical lessons to the future of conservatism, this wide-ranging dialogue offers inspiration and clarity for a rising generation.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel here
[link removed]
.
Watch Now
[link removed]
Because our student editors and writers are bravely bringing conservative ideas to their campuses, we’re highlighting their efforts here.
The Return of Stanford Football Under Andrew Luck
[link removed]
via The Stanford Review
“2025 marks a new era for Stanford football, with the first full calendar year of Andrew Luck at the helm as the inaugural general manager for the Stanford football team. Luck previously played at quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts and Stanford from 2008 to 2011, leading the team to both the Orange Bowl and Fiesta Bowl. Luck was widely regarded by scouts as one of the best draft picks in modern NFL history, selected as the first pick in the 2012 draft. In years since, Stanford football has slowly collapsed, with four straight 3-9 seasons.”
Rationale of DDS Changes, Future Changes to Expect
[link removed]
via The Dartmouth Review
“As the student body continues to voice frustrations with DDS and its leadership, it’s important to understand the reality behind DDS operations, many of their recent decisions, and the future changes that we should expect. After a series of changes, most notably to the Courtyard Café (the Hop), the student body has almost unanimously decried every new feature (all except the addition of burritos to Late Night). But while there are some legitimate complaints that DDS should be expected to shortly address, many of the new and seemingly inconvenient features were imposed for valid reasons.”
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan Is Running For Governor As An Independent. Does He Actually Have a Shot?
[link removed]
via The Michigan Review
“Much like how things often operate in the political sphere, once one election cycle is over, we immediately shift to the next. The 2026 midterms have already received substantial attention, and for good reason. Currently, Republicans hold a trifecta — the House, Senate, and Presidency — but this could be impacted by the 2026 midterms. However, even outside of the House and Senate elections, other statewide elections have already received heavy interest and intrigue. This includes the 2026 gubernatorial elections, and given Michigan’s reputation as a swing state, the Michigan gubernatorial election has already gained attention.”
Cornell History Professor Barry Strauss Wins a Bradley Prize
[link removed]
via The Cornell Review
“On May 29, the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation presented Barry S. Strauss ‘74, an esteemed classicist, military and naval historian, and best-selling author, with a 2025 Bradley Prize. Strauss received the award at the Bradley Prizes ceremony at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, DC. Now in its 21st year, the Bradley Prize is awarded to individuals whose extraordinary work exemplifies the Foundation’s mission to restore, strengthen, and protect the principles and institutions of American exceptionalism and honors the ideals of the Western tradition.”
Dartmouth Names Santiago Schnell as David Kotz’s Successor as Provost
[link removed]
via The Dartmouth Review
“On July 1, Dartmouth College will welcome its new provost, Santiago Schnell, who is succeeding outgoing Provost David Kotz ’86. Schnell is currently the William K. Warren Foundation Dean of the College of Science at the University of Notre Dame. His appointment came after a nationwide search in an attempt to choose an individual who could navigate Dartmouth’s changing academic landscape."
CATEGORY: EDUCATION (9 MIN)
Restoring Our Literary "Great Traditional Inheritance"
[link removed]
The progressive movement and its effect on education have inflicted severe negative repercussions on generations of American children. Many classical truths that every child in our nation once learned have been relegated to the library at best and the dustbin at worst. Perhaps if they had been replaced by modern works focused on objective truth, education might be in a better place—but no.
For this week’s article from the Modern Age
[link removed]
website, M.D. Aeschliman takes a journey through the history of classical thinkers to highlight the importance of teaching our progeny about our past. Aeschliman starts with the Greek greats like Plato and Aristotle and moves on to Augustine, Dante, and the English rhetoricians. He argues that a thread of “ethical instruction,” especially a focus on speaking and writing, persisted throughout all of these academics’ times.
Aeschliman says this thread came to a head in the work of Edmund Burke, who discussed the “moral imagination” and its importance to a working free society. But French, English, and American secularists turned away from this tradition and focused on humanism and individualism to the destruction of memory and religion.
“The consequences for high school and college literary studies are massive,” Aeschliman writes. “Modernist literary classics are no longer ‘ethical’ or ‘humanistic,’ the words themselves sounding nostalgic and ironic; they are about self-expression as the summum bonum—'songs of myself’ everywhere.”
In response, Aeschliman suggests a pairing of great literature with true historical context as a way to reclaim traditional education for American youth. Read more here on the Modern Age
[link removed]
website.
Read Now
[link removed]
Thought of the Day:
“A house without books is like a room without windows.”
- Horace Mann
Join ISI’s new Alumni Giving Club
It’s never been easier for you to support our mission—and stay part of our community—with ISI’s new Alumni Giving Club!
For just $19.53 a month, you can join the fight and “pay it forward” by educating the next generation for ordered liberty.
Join the Club
[link removed]
Follow on Twitter Friend on Facebook Forward to Friend
Copyright © 2025, All rights reserved.
Our mailing address is:
Intercollegiate Studies Institute
3901 Centerville Road
Wilmington, DE 19807
unsubscribe from all emails
[link removed]
update subscription preferences
[link removed]
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