Intercollegiate Studies Institute

{{other uses|ISI (disambiguation){{!}}ISI}}

{{infobox organization

| name = Intercollegiate Studies Institute

| logo = Intercollegiate Studies Institute logo 2021.svg

| caption =

| image =

| image_size =

| abbreviation = ISI

| formation = {{nowrap|{{start date and age|22 June 1953||df=y|p=y}}}}

| founders = {{plainlist|

}}

| type = nonprofit

| status = 501(c)(3)

| tax_id = 23-6050131

| purpose = Education

| headquarters = {{plainlist|

3901 Centerville Rd
{{nowrap|Wilmington, Delaware 19807-1938}}, U.S.

}}

| leader_title = President

| leader_name = John A. Burtka IV{{efn|Burtka became president on 21 September 2020}}

| leader_title2 = Chairman

| leader_name2 = Thomas E. Lynch

| expenses = $6,195,894{{efn|name=irs2020|IRS Form-990 yr2020}}

| expenses_year = 2020{{efn|name=fiscal2020|Fiscal-Year-Ending 30 June 2021}}

| revenue = $7,078,238{{efn|name=irs2020}}

| revenue_year = 2020{{efn|name=fiscal2020}}

| website = {{official URL}}

}}

The Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) is a nonprofit educational organization that promotes conservative thought on college campuses.{{cite web |last=Honan |first=William H. |author-link=William H. Honan |date=September 6, 1998 |title=A Right-Wing Slant on Choosing the Right College |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/09/06/us/a-right-wing-slant-on-choosing-the-right-college.html |access-date=January 5, 2025 |newspaper=The New York Times}}{{cite news |last=Clymer |first=Adam |date=November 9, 2014 |title=Philip M. Crane, Former Illinois Congressman and Conservative Leader, Dies at 84 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/10/us/politics/philip-m-crane-former-illinois-congressman-and-conservative-leader-dies-at-84.html |access-date=January 5, 2025 |newspaper=The New York Times}} It was founded in 1953 by Frank Chodorov with William F. Buckley Jr. as its first president.{{cite web |title=ISI – About |url=https://isi.org/about-us/ |access-date=2023-05-11 |website=Intercollegiate Studies Institute}} It sponsors lectures and debates on college campuses, publishes books and journals, provides funding and editorial assistance to the Collegiate Network, a support program conservative and libertarian college newspapers, and finances graduate fellowships.{{cite book|last1=Wood|first1=Kate|last2=Binder|first2=Amy|title=Becoming Right: How Campuses Shape Young Conservatives|date=2013|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0691145372|pages=104–111|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1nkZy0ikBGwC&q=becoming+right%3A+how+colleges+shape+young+conservatives|access-date=25 March 2015}}

Some financial information about the organization is published on their website (for {{abbr|FYE|Fiscal-Year-Ending}} 30 June 2021);{{cite web |title=ISI – Financials |url=https://isi.org/financials/ |access-date=2023-05-11 |website=Intercollegiate Studies Institute}} however, their financials shown on their website differ somewhat from their filed IRS Form-990.{{cite web |date=2022-03-14 |title=ISI – Form-990 yr2020 |url=https://isiorg.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Form_990_ISI_Public_Disclosure_FY2021.pdf |access-date=2023-05-11 |website=Intercollegiate Studies Institute}} For their fiscal year ending 30 June 2021,{{efn|name=irs2020}} their donations were $5,809,831, their revenue was $7,078,238, and their expenses were $6,195,894.

History

In 1953, Frank Chodorov founded ISI as the Intercollegiate Society of Individualists, with a young Yale University graduate William F. Buckley Jr. as president.{{cite book |last1=Nash |first1=George |title=The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America Since 1945 |date=2014 |publisher=Open Road Media |isbn=9781497636408}}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, 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.{{cite magazine

|first=John

|last=Colapinto

|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/25/magazine/armies-of-the-right-the-young-hipublicans.html?smid=pl-share

|website=New York Times Magazine

|title=ARMIES OF THE RIGHT; The Young Hipublicans

|date=2003-05-25

|access-date=2023-05-10

}} In the 1980s, ISI and its journal Continuity, edited by Paul Gottfried, were known to feature some neo-Confederate views.{{Cite book |title=Neo-Confederacy: A Critical Introduction. |publisher=University of Texas Press |year=2009 |editor-last=Sebesta |editor-first=Edward H. |location=United States |pages=31 |editor-last2=Hague |editor-first2=Euan |editor-last3=Beirich |editor-first3=Heidi}}

Past ISI president and former Reagan administration official T. Kenneth Cribb led the institute from 1989 until 2011,{{Cite web|title=T. Kenneth Cribb, Jr.|url=https://www.yaf.org/staff/t-kenneth-cribb-jr/|access-date=2020-08-28|website=Young America's Foundation|language=en}} 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.{{citation needed|date=January 2019}} John A. Burtka IV became president of ISI in September 2020.{{Cite web|title=Johnny Burtka Appointed as New President of ISI|url=https://isi.org/johnny-burtka-new-isi-president|date=2020-08-31|access-date=2021-07-21

|website=ISI|language=en}} ISI lists its core beliefs as limited government, individual liberty, personal responsibility, the rule of law, free-market economics, and traditional Judeo-Christian values. ISI is a member of the advisory board of Project 2025,{{Cite web |title=Advisory Board |date=2 February 2023 |url=https://www.project2025.org/about/advisory-board/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231119034220/https://www.project2025.org/about/advisory-board/ |archive-date=November 19, 2023 |access-date=July 8, 2024 |publisher=The Heritage Foundation}} a collection of conservative and right-wing policy proposals from the Heritage Foundation to reshape the United States federal government and consolidate executive power should the Republican nominee win the 2024 presidential election.{{Cite news |last=Mascaro |first=Lisa |date=August 29, 2023 |title=Conservative Groups Draw Up Plan to Dismantle the US Government and Replace It with Trump's Vision |url=https://apnews.com/article/election-2024-conservatives-trump-heritage-857eb794e505f1c6710eb03fd5b58981 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230922112031/https://apnews.com/article/election-2024-conservatives-trump-heritage-857eb794e505f1c6710eb03fd5b58981 |archive-date=September 22, 2023 |access-date=July 8, 2024 |work=Associated Press News}}

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.[http://isi.org/books/bookdetail.aspx?id=c4130aec-1f9a-4b8b-9668-5a326493eba1 Student's Guide to the major disciplines] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120825190437/http://www.isi.org/(S(ao52wo45duo3ew3ggiop0245))/books/bookdetail.aspx?id=c4130aec-1f9a-4b8b-9668-5a326493eba1 |date=2012-08-25 }} Intercollegiate Studies Institute.{{third-party-inline|date=March 2015}} 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.{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}} ISI administers the Collegiate Network, which provides editorial and financial outreach to conservative and libertarian student journalists.{{cite book|last1=Beer|first1=Jeremy|last2=Jeffrey|first2=Nelson|last3=Frohnen|first3=Bruce|title=American Conservatism: An Encyclopedia|date=May 20, 2014|publisher=Open Road Media|isbn=978-1497651579|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T1yOAwAAQBAJ&q=collegiate+network&pg=PT263|access-date=25 March 2015}}{{cite news |last1=Alonso |first1=Johanna |title=Creating an Outlet for Conservative Student Voices |url=https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2023/02/08/new-generation-conservative-student-newspapers |access-date=3 March 2023 |work=Inside Higher Ed |date=8 February 2023 |language=en}}

Publications

Periodicals issued by ISI include:

The Intercollegiate Review ({{issn|0020-5249}}){{cite magazine |last1=Kirk |first1=Russell |title=Magazines |magazine=Library Journal |date=1 June 1968 |volume=93 |issue=11 |page=2221 |url=https://archive.org/details/libraryjournal93apr/page/2220/mode/2up}}
The Academic Reviewer ({{issn|0567-6487}}){{cite journal |last1=Troy |first1=Tim |title=Review Sources |journal=Serials Review |date=October 1977 |volume=3 |issue=4 |pages=32–33 |doi=10.1080/00987913.1977.10763030}}
The Political Science Reviewer ({{issn|0091-3715}}){{cite journal |last1=Pilachowshi |first1=David |title=Book Reviewing Tools |journal=Serials Review |date=July 1976 |volume=2 |issue=3 |page=86 |doi=10.1080/00987913.1976.10762983}}

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."{{cite web|url=http://chronicle.com/article/Most-College-Graduates-Flun/1357/|title=Most College Graduates Flunk 'Civic Literacy,' Group Says|work=The Chronicle of Higher Education|date=21 November 2008 }}{{cite web|url=http://chronicle.com/article/College-Makes-Students-More/64040|title=College Makes Students More Liberal, but Not Smarter About Civics|work=The Chronicle of Higher Education|date=5 February 2010 }}{{verify inline|date=March 2015}}

=ISI Books=

Until 2023, the Intercollegiate Studies Institute operated ISI Books, which published books on conservative issues and distributed a number of books from other publishers.{{cite news | url=https://isi.org/isi-books/| title=ISI Books | publisher=Intercollegiate Studies Institute |year= 2021 | access-date =2021-07-21}} Its focus was largely on the humanities, the foundations of Western culture, American history, and conservative political themes. In 2023, ISI Books was acquired by Regnery Publishing.{{cite web

|url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/industry-deals/article/91645-regnery-publishing-buys-isi-books.html

|title=Regnery Publishing Buys ISI Books

|date=2023-02-23

|access-date=2023-05-09

|website=Publishers Weekly

}}{{cite web |title=ISI Books |url=https://www.regnery.com/books/isi-books/ |website=Regnery Publishing |access-date=1 May 2023}}

In the summer of 2005, ISI Books published It Takes a Family: Conservatism and the Common Good by Pennsylvania Republican Senator Rick Santorum. The book premiered at No. 13 on the New York Times Best Seller list. Passages from it generated controversy during Santorum's 2006 reelection campaign and his 2012 presidential campaign.{{cite news

|url=https://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/03/rick-santorum-was-warned-that-2005-book-could-become-fodder-for-political-attacks/

|title=Rick Santorum Was Warned That 2005 Book Could Become Fodder For Political Attacks

|publisher=ABC News

|date=2012-03-17

|first=Michael