# ‘The Navy SEALs of Western Civilization’

**By:** Tunku Varadarajan  
**Published:** 2026-10-30T20:55:00.000Z  
**Source:** [The Wall Street Journal](https://www.wsj.com/opinion/the-navy-seals-of-western-civilization-2db992f2)

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https://www.wsj.com/opinion/the-navy-seals-of-western-civilization-2db992f2

## The leaders of Ralston College attempt to revive our culture by teaching ancient Greek to their humanities grad students.

![image](https://opinion-images.wsj.net/im-99237337/)

Stephen Blackwood and Joseph Conlon Ken Fallin

_Dimitsana, Greece_

When Marco Rubio stood before the Acropolis in Athens on Oct. 7 and delivered a speech in defense of Western civilization, his most avid listeners were two dozen American graduate students steeped in the study of ancient Greek at a tiny, private liberal arts college in Savannah, Ga.

“I thought it was remarkable,” Stephen Blackwood says in an email after the secretary of state has spoken in praise of “the Western mind” and classical traits that define the West. Mr. Blackwood, 50, is the founding president of Ralston College, which sits in the heart of antebellum Savannah and specializes in the study of Western humanities, sweeping from Plato to T.S. Eliot. “Not in my lifetime,” Mr. Blackwood writes, “have I heard such a clearsighted account of our civilization’s origins from any major political figure.”

Ralston College was founded in 2006 but didn’t begin holding classes until 2022, when a benefaction from Paul Marshall, a British philanthropist and media mogul, enabled the college to launch its first cohort of 24 students on a one-year M.A. in humanities. (It still admits only 24 students a year.) The $25 million gift allows most Ralston students to attend tuition-free. Ralston has other benefactors, including the Marcus Foundation, established by [Home Depot](https://www.wsj.com/market-data/stock/hd?mod=article_chiclet) founder Bernie Marcus. Philanthropic support helps the college “to remain free of federal funding,” Mr. Blackwood says.