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.

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CATEGORY: EDUCATION (6 MIN)

BREAKING: Washington Post Article from ISI’s Collegiate Network—Chinese Spies in American Schools

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In a technological race reminiscent of the Cold War era, the United States and China have each sought to stay atop the development of artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and other cutting-edge areas. The stakes of this race are high—high enough to incentivize theft. And if you’re looking to find information on American research and development, what better (or more accessible) place to look than our nation’s universities?

The student-run Stanford Review, a flagship member of ISI’s Collegiate Network, broke a huge story

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earlier this summer on the Chinese Communist Party’s “widespread academic espionage campaign at Stanford.” Shortly thereafter, Marc Thiessen at the Washington Post

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picked up the CN piece, calling it a “stunning investigative report,” while describing President Donald Trump’s new efforts to cut off visas for Chinese students connected to the CCP.

Thiessen interviewed the Stanford Review writers, Garret Molloy and Elsa Johnson, for his podcast and discussed their conversation in his article for WaPo. Molloy and Johnson told Thiessen that students at Stanford working with the CCP met with handlers to share how their home country could utilize research they conducted in Palo Alto.

But not all participation was voluntary. The CN writers noted Chinese laws that required their citizens abroad to work with the nation’s intelligence community, so there were repercussions for those who wouldn’t cooperate. Molloy told Thiessen that the CCP would threaten students’ families if they refused to comply with the party’s wishes.

As Thiessen writes, the Trump administration is now taking action to limit Chinese infiltration. To learn more, read Thiessen’s piece here

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(including a link to the Stanford Review article

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Read Now

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Weekly Poll

Results: July 10th, 2025

Has the development of AI been a net good or net bad for society?

[A] Good - 13%

[B] Bad - 42.6%

[C] Neutral - 22.2%

[D] Not sure - 22.2%

Should U.S. universities tighten visa rules for Chinese nationals working in sensitive research fields?

[A] Yes

[B] No

[C] Not Sure

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CATEGORY: EDUCATION (10 MIN)

Universities Unchained: Holding Administrators Accountable

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Despite longstanding conservative arguments, much of America refused to believe that the most prestigious schools in our nation had become one-sided breeding grounds for progressivism and identity politics. And even if many have now come around to that inconvenient truth, few have developed successful solutions. The bureaucracy of higher education became entrenched, making change a tall task.

It may be tall, but it’s not impossible. Writing in The Free Press

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, Christopher Rufo, the winner of ISI’s 2024 Conservative Book of the Year Award, introduces the Manhattan Statement on Higher Education. The new document is signed by scores of notables, including ISI’s own Daniel McCarthy, and it introduces six guidelines for meaningful educational reform. Rufo and the other signers’ goal is to urge President Trump to require universities to adopt these principles as a condition of receiving taxpayer money.

The first principle emphasizes “merit-based decision-making” to promote “truth over ideology.” The second eliminates collegiate participation in social activism. The third, which links to much of Rufo’s work, demands the dismantling of the DEI bureaucracy and an end to racial discrimination in all facets of university administration.

The remaining three principles call for enhanced protection of free speech, crackdowns on those who disrupt or block such speech, and increased transparency on all campus operations. Rufo hopes that the document will force universities to “honor their end of the bargain” with American taxpayers, who, he argues, have justifiably lost faith in once-great institutions.

Read Rufo’s article and the Manhattan Statement on Higher Education here

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Read Now

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CATEGORY: VIDEO

Why Are Young Voters Turning to Trump? | Newt Gingrich Explains

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In this 4-min. clip

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, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich breaks down the political, cultural, and economic forces driving a growing number of young voters toward Trump in 2024 and 2025. Gingrich shares his perspective on what traditional politicians are missing and why this shift matters for the future of the conservative movement.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel here

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Watch Now

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Because our student editors and writers are bravely bringing conservative ideas to their campuses, we’re highlighting their efforts here.

INVESTIGATION: Uncovering Chinese Academic Espionage at Stanford

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via The Stanford Review

“This summer, a CCP agent impersonated a Stanford student. Under the alias Charles Chen, he approached several students through social media. Anna*, a Stanford student conducting sensitive research on China, began receiving unexpected messages from Charles Chen. At first, Charles's outreach seemed benign: he asked about networking opportunities. But soon, his messages took a strange turn. Charles inquired whether Anna spoke Mandarin, then grew increasingly persistent and personal. He sent videos of Americans who had gained fame in China, encouraged Anna to visit Beijing, and offered to cover her travel expenses. He would send screenshots of a bank account balance to prove he could buy the plane tickets. Alarmingly, he referenced details about her that Anna had never disclosed to him.”

Religious Freedom and Parental Choice — The Victory of the Mahmoud v. Taylor Ruling

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via The Contrarian

“On June 27th, the Supreme Court decided Mahmoud et al. v. Taylor et al.

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, giving conservative and right-wing education scholars a major victory in the K–12 realm. In their landmark decision, the Court sided with the petitioners (a group of parents from Maryland and associated interest groups under Tamer Mahmoud et al.), who argued that the Montgomery County Board of Education (Thomas W. Taylor et al.) violated their constitutional rights by rescinding an opt-out option. This option had allowed parents to remove their children during readings of a set of LGBTQIA+-themed books.”

A Step Toward Virtue: The Significance of Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton

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via The American Postliberal

“Following the sexual revolution, what was once seen as reprehensible is now celebrated and even at the forefront of pop culture. Completely vulgar descriptions of sexually libertine behavior can be found in mainstream music, circulating memes on X and Instagram, and all too frequently in popular TV series. Expectedly, this same culture labels men and women hoping to lead chaste lives as ‘prudish’ and ‘incels.’ Anyone who objects to sexually libertine behavior is met with the belabored quips liberals spout when met with opposition; indeed, such reactions are necessary in order to uphold the ideology.”

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CATEGORY: CONSERVATISM (24 MIN)

Edmund Burke: “One of Those Dead Who Give Us Energy”

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Providentially, there is no lack of important thinkers who have shaped the conservative movement. Each modern luminary has their muse, and each of those who inspires today was inspired before. In a time when we daily face a glut of less-helpful information on paper and on screens, how ought we to decide which of the great minds to give our attention to?

For this week’s article from the Modern Age

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website, we republish an article by Russell Kirk from the 1986 edition of Modern Age. Kirk made his case for the remarkable importance of Edmund Burke, the man probably most well-known for his Reflections on the Revolution in France. Kirk explored Burke’s tremendous influence on America’s Founders, who were his contemporaries.

Kirk called Burke a “principal defender of that world of reason, and order, and peace, and virtue in which the United States participated.” Kirk also recounted his own encounter with the work of the Irishman, discussing his mother’s handwritten notes in one of Burke’s books that she read in school.

Kirk included an optimistic note in the midst of his ode to Burke, signaling his hope that our nation’s future might still be bright.

“American society retains considerable recuperative powers; cheerfulness will keep breaking in; and the capital of the United States begins to mend itself,” Kirk wrote. “Such recuperation of the body politic results, in part, from the institutions that Burke praised and the principles Burke expounded.”

Read more of Kirk’s piece on Burke here

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on the Modern Age website.

Read Now

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Thought of the Day:



“Good order is the foundation of all

good things.”

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- Edmund Burke

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