The Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) is a nonprofit educational organization that promotes conservative thought on college campuses. It was founded in 1953 by Frank Chodorov with William F. Buckley Jr. as its first president. 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.
Some financial information about the organization is published on their website (for FYE 30 June 2021); however, their financials shown on their website differ somewhat from their filed IRS Form-990. For their fiscal year ending 30 June 2021, 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. 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. In the 1980s, ISI and its journal Continuity, edited by Paul Gottfried, were known to feature some neo-Confederate views.
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. 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. ISI administers the Collegiate Network, which provides editorial and financial outreach to conservative and libertarian student journalists.
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."
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. 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.
^"ISI – Financials". Intercollegiate Studies Institute. Retrieved 11 May 2023.
^"ISI – Form-990 yr2020"(PDF). Intercollegiate Studies Institute. 14 March 2022. Retrieved 11 May 2023.
^Nash, George (2014). The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America Since 1945. Open Road Media. ISBN9781497636408.
^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
^Sebesta, Edward H.; Hague, Euan; Beirich, Heidi, eds. (2009). Neo-Confederacy: A Critical Introduction. United States: University of Texas Press. p. 31.