Dear friends,?

The American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) has the privilege of partnering with a member of our board, Paul S. Levy, and the Palm Beach Synagogue to sponsor the Levy Forum for Open Discourse in Palm Beach, Florida. Now in its second season, the Levy Forum is dedicated to fostering a spirit of fearless inquiry into the most urgent social and communal topics of our times.??

Thank you to those who joined us on February 6 for Glenn Loury’s lecture, “What Has Become of the Partnership Between Blacks and Jews?”?Dr. Loury is the Merton P. Stolz Professor of the Social Sciences at Brown University, a social commentator, and the host of the podcast The Glenn Show.?

In his lecture, he highlighted the alliance between Black and Jewish communities during the civil rights movement and the contemporary tension between the communities that affirmative action “brings to the fore.”?

He remarked, “The policy of racial preference forces blacks and Jews to confront our very different understandings of the American experience.” Watch his full lecture on .?

I was delighted to interview Professor Loury on ACTA's podcast??alongside Paul S. Levy. In our discussion about defending the cultural inheritance of the liberal arts, he said, “There’s no one-size-fits-all formula, but serious depth of exploration of the inherited intellectual bequest from our forebears should be what we’re getting.” I hope you find our conversation as interesting as I did.?

In my last email, I promised to include the link to ACTA’s podcast interview with George Will, who spoke at the Palm Beach Synagogue on January 10. You can now listen to Mr. Will’s podcast on or anywhere you find your podcasts.

Warm regards,

Michael Poliakoff?
President