Why do we teach U.S. history and government to students? The answer is simple: to prepare students for engaged and informed citizenry, the essential ingredient for preserving the American republic. Unfortunately, ACTA's most recent "What Will They Learn?"® survey of the core curricula at over 1,100 colleges and universities found that…

The euphemism that Florida, the nation's third most populous and politically powerful state, is a battleground is an apt description--and more than just every four years. Every year, every day in the state's capital, Florida has become high ground for pro-corporate, special-interest lobbyists who seek to instill a far-right legislative and social…

On April 16, 2007, a student at Virginia Tech University, known to be mentally ill, went on a rampage shooting 49 people on campus before taking his own life. When it was over, 32 people were dead, and the concept of a safe campus was forever changed. The incident revealed the inherent conflicts between campus safety concerns and students' civil…

In 2008, in the case of the "District of Columbia vs. Heller," which involved a district law banning most handguns, the U. S. Supreme Court declared that the Second Amendment protects citizens' rights to self-defense and that the federal government cannot prohibit guns in homes. Two years later, the Court further made clear that the…

The question of whether guns should be permitted on college and university campuses in the United States reflects the tension between two competing perspectives. America has both a robust gun culture and an equally robust (if less well known) gun-control culture. The gun culture is as American as apple pie: There may be as many as 300 million…

Crimes on college campuses can "strike fear" into the lives of those in higher education and a shooting is one of the crimes that ranks at the top of the most feared acts of violence. Maybe more direct counseling for clients who have weapons with regard to anticipatory guidance on firearms is needed. However, the debate continues with proposed…

On March 18th 2011 an independent jury of experts convened in Antwerp, Belgium, to select the laureate of the first Evens Prize for Peace Education from a shortlist of eleven organizations from all over Europe. After a long day of intense discussions, the jury agreed unanimously to award the prize to the "Escola de Cultura de Pau"…

The Supreme Court's landmark ruling overturning Washington, D.C.'s handgun ban could have implications for colleges that prohibit firearms on their campuses. Last month the court declared for the first time that the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment protects an individual's right to keep a gun, not just the right of states to maintain armed…

People can bring guns most places in Arizona, but the state's Board of Regents has long banned all weapons from public college campuses. Now some lawmakers are trying to change that. State Senator Karen S. Johnson, a Republican, proposed a bill in January that would trump the regents' ban, allowing anyone with a concealed-weapons permit to carry a…

This article describes a new syllabus offered at University of Toledo that focuses on guns and gun policy. The course provides students with learning opportunities on how to arm themselves with propaganda from both sides of the debate over how to apply the Second Amendment, the act that establishes "the right of the people to keep and bear…