Event details

John Sailer is the director of higher education policy and a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, where he regularly produces investigative reporting examining ideological capture in higher education. In this talk, Sailer will discuss his reporting on the ways that universities, private foundations, and federal agencies have embedded ideological priorities into faculty hiring and professional advancement. The discussion will unpack the causes and implications of this “scholar-activist pipeline,” as well as prospects for reform.

John D. Sailer is the director of higher education policy and a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. His research and investigations cover issues of academic freedom, free speech, and ideological capture in higher education.

Sailer’s work has been published in the Wall Street Journal, the Free Press, Tablet Magazine, and more. He has been cited in the New York Times, on CNN, and in the Chronicle of Higher Education. His investigations have led to significant policy changes at universities across the country.

He holds a master’s degree in philosophy and education from Columbia University, Teachers College, and a bachelor’s degree in politics, philosophy, and economics from The King’s College. Prior to joining the Manhattan Institute, he was a senior fellow at the National Association of Scholars.

Greg Conti is an associate professor of politics at Princeton University. He is a political theorist and intellectual historian. His research focuses on the history of modern political thought, especially on questions of liberalism, democracy, and representative government. His first book, Parliament the Mirror of the Nation: Representation, Deliberation, and Democracy in Victorian Britain, was released from Cambridge University Press earlier in 2019.