AGENDA
K to Campus:
How the education reform movement can reshape higher ed
October 23 & 24, 2024 ● Malibu, California ● Pepperdine University
ABOUT THE CONFERENCE
The K-12 educational reform movement is now decades old, and efforts to reform higher education have been at play for at least as many years. While we have seen significant successes at the K-12 level in the last generation (despite fierce resistance), there is a sense that reform efforts on university campuses have yet to bear fruit. During our fourth annual Givers, Doers, & Thinkers conference, we’ll explore what we’ve learned from the K-12 ed reform movement, and how those lessons can be applied in higher education reform. We’ll ask: Can the majority of campuses be saved? And is it time to take a significantly different approach to reforming higher education?
OCTOBER 23
Welcome Reception — 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm
Victor Davis Hanson Has Some Tough Medicine for Higher Education — 6:00 pm – 6:45 pm
In a conversation with Jack Fowler, the esteemed historian, classics professor, and social critic will assess the state of American colleges and lay out various reforms that colleges and universities must enact or have placed upon them.
OCTOBER 24
REGISTRATION & BREAKFAST — 7:30 AM – 8:15 AM
Opening REmarks — 8:15 am – 8:30 am
Featured Speaker: Hanna Skandera — 8:30 am – 9:00 am
BREAK — 9:00 AM – 9:15 AM
The 50 States of Education: An Overview of the American Educational Landscape — 9:15-10:15 AM
- Panelists: Tim Collins, Gene Crume, Richard Corcoran, and Jennifer Nolan
- Moderator: Jeremy Beer
Imparting wisdom and teaching truth to the young at a time of aggressive ideology and regulation and incredible expense—and what about lockdowns?!—is no picnic. Should we despair? Yes, some states and municipalities are nightmares and impediments to education, but others embrace the lyrics of the popular tune, “teach your children well.” Our trio of experts will give a lay of the vast K-through-Higher-Ed landscape, pointing to examples that will give us reasons to tear, but more so, reasons to cheer.
BREAK WITH REFRESHMENTS — 10:15 AM – 10:45 AM
The Tip of the Spear: K-12 Reform and the Campus Effect — 10:45 AM – 11:45 AM
- Panelists: Nancy Padberg, Bruno Manno, Shaka Mitchell, and Christy Wolfe
- Moderator: Jack Fowler
Despite being hamstrung by ideologues, lockdowns, union extremism, and failed learning methodologies, K-12 schools, buoyed by recent reform efforts, are proving successful. And this success is critical to sustaining America's beleaguered colleges and universities. Charter, choice, homeschooling . . . this panel will discuss the key ingredients comprising the secret sauce for K-12 success (that help them defy modern trends and outrageous government mandates). Then, from the perspective of high-ed institutions and their benefactors, they will discuss how K-12 reform is vital to the restoration of America's colleges and universities.
LUNCH — 11:45 PM – 12:45 PM
Keynote Speaker: Mark Bauerlein — 12:45 PM – 1:30 PM
BREAK — 1:30 PM – 1:45 PM
You’re Canceled! Free Speech, Campus Protest, the Loss of Open Debate—and Fighting Back — 1:45 PM – 2:45 PM
- Panelists: Cherise Trump, Carl Neuss, Rebecca Richards, and Panayiotis Kanelos
- Moderator: Kyle Vander Meulen
Isn’t it strange that the “Free Speech Movement,” a thing born on campuses, is disdained in the classroom and on the quad? Stranger: Students are expected to learn while open discussion risks cancellation for those who disagree. Central to the essence of education, free speech will be the focus of this expert trio, who will suss out its importance to academic freedom, the peril of being an invited speaker, the role of administrators and students in fostering free speech, what groups are fighting to preserve this First Amendment right, and how donors can and should influence policies surrounding speech.
BREAK — 2:45 PM – 3:00 PM
Campus Redemption: How Can Higher Education Be Saved? — 3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.
- Panelists: Jenna Robinson, Ryan Streeter, and Josh Dunn
- Moderator: Pete Peterson
Long before the recent spate of campus protests, Americans held higher education in ever-decreasing esteem, seeing campus as more a place for high-priced indoctrination than learning (a thing that many studies suggest isn’t happening). We can grade on a curve, or we can ask for unvarnished assessments, and the latter is precisely what our expert panel—brimming with ideas on how to reform higher education to better serve students and regain the trust of the American public—will provide.
AFTERNOON COFFEE BREAK — 4:00 PM – 4:15 PM
Philanthropy on Campus: Do Donors Have to Help Colleges Find Their Way? — 4:15 PM – 5:15 PM
- Panelists: Fred Clark, Carol Wallace, and Berni Neal
- Moderator: Cecilia Diem
At this moment of turmoil in academia, an obligation has emerged: That donors must play an increased, active, and even public role in higher-ed-reform. Because it is not enough to consider withholding support—a very valid position, indeed—our panel of philanthropists will discuss various means to help stop the madness and course-correct our schools. They will cover the right ways to enter into gift agreements with university fundraisers, and how to interact with trustees and administrative leadership to ensure that colleges fulfill their mission to truly educate students.