Conspiracy theories have played a role in American culture and politics for decades. In the course "Conspiracy Rhetoric: Power, Politics, and Pop Culture" at Bates College, students closely examine what propels those theories. Stephanie Kelley-Romano, a professor of rhetoric, film, and screen studies, says many students begin her course with a basic understanding of conspiratorial thinking. Often, she said, those students seek to understand how some people — sometimes people they love — can fall under its thrall. While students learn what to say to a true-believing friend or relative, the course also teaches them how to recognize narrative framing, conduct their own research, and identify trends in language, media, and storytelling that fuel conspiracy theories.

Guest

Stephanie Kelley-Romano, professor of rhetoric, film and screen studies at Bates College

For more on today’s episode, visit chronicle.com/collegematters. We aim to make transcripts available within a day of an episode’s publication.

After 16 months in a federal prison camp, William (Rick) Singer has had time to reflect on his role as the architect of a college-admissions bribery scheme that became known as Varsity Blues. The college consultant has apologized for concocting a plot that helped wealthy families, including some Hollywood celebrities, secure admission for their children to prestigious universities. But he isn’t slinking into the shadows. Singer says he’s already back in the consulting business. And he has come out of prison swinging, blasting the FBI, the college-admissions system, and anyone who might question the credentials of the students he represented.

Related Reading:

‘It’s an Aristocracy’: What the Admissions-Bribery Scandal Has Exposed About Class on Campus (The Chronicle)

Higher Ed’s Bribery Scandal Is Decadent and Depraved. Here Are 8 Truly Tasteless Allegations (The Chronicle)

We, the Privileged Parents That Matter, Applaud the Netflix College-Admissions Scandal Doc (The Chronicle)

Admission Through the ‘Side Door’ (The Chronicle)

Guest:

William (Rick) Singer, college consultant 

For more on today’s episode, visit chronicle.com/collegematters. We aim to make transcripts available within a day of an episode’s publication.

More than two years after Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis installed a slate of conservative members to its governing board, New College of Florida has seen transformations large and small. In some of the first shots of what became a wider war on “woke” education, New College’s trustees ditched gender studies, endorsed a curriculum focused on the Western canon, and made the Sarasota, Fla. campus inhospitable to some faculty and students. New College is more appealing now to jocks, and it's flush with money appropriated by Florida’s Republican-controlled legislature. But what does all this mean for the quirky institution that had long been known as “Barefoot U.”?

Related Reading

The College That Conservatives Took Over (The Chronicle) 

A Professor at New College Quits in Dramatic Fashion. Here’s Why He Felt He Had to Go. (The Chronicle) 

Why I Am Joining the Reconquista: Taking back power from the academic left depends on storming the public institutions, not fleeing from them. (The American Conservative) 

Will a Small, Quirky College Become ‘DeSantis U.’? (The Washington Post) 

Guest:
Emma Pettit, senior reporter at The Chronicle of Higher Education

On paper, student teaching evaluations make a lot of sense. Who is better positioned to say whether a professor did a good job than the students who took the course? But dig a little deeper, and there’s good reason to question whether colleges should be relying on teaching evaluations to inform big decisions about an instructor’s promotion, pay, or even continued employment. So what’s wrong with this system? And why do colleges still cling to it, despite research that shows it’s flawed?

Related Reading: 

Sign up for The Chronicle’s Teaching Newsletter (The Chronicle) 

Teaching Evaluations are Broken. Can They Be Fixed? (The Chronicle)

A University Overhauled Its Course Evaluation to Get Better Feedback. Here’s What Changed. (The Chronicle)  

Meta-analysis of faculty’s teaching effectiveness: Student evaluation of teaching ratings and student learning are not related. (ScienceDirect)

Guest:

Beckie Supiano, senior writer at The Chronicle of Higher Education

For more on today’s episode, visit chronicle.com/collegematters.

In this special episode, recorded live at the ASU+GSV Summit, Future U. hosts Jeff Selingo and Michael Horn dive into the rapidly evolving higher ed landscape in President Trump’s second term. They discuss massive cuts at the U.S. Department of Education, mounting challenges around international student enrollment, and looming threats to federal research funding. They examine the broader, longer-term implications of these shifts for colleges and draw from their recent research to discuss how leaders can nurture positive campus culture during these challenging times. This episode is made with support from Ascendium Education Group and the Gates Foundation.

Links We Mention

Mark Schneider: Blowing Up Ed Research is Easy. Rebuilding it is ‘What Matters’

Chapters

0:00 - Intro

7:32 - Cuts to the Department of Education

20:40 - Targeting International Students

23:48 - Withholding of Federal Research Grants

39:25 - Our Favorite Higher Ed Commentary

46:31 - Changing Campus Culture

Connect with Michael Horn:

Sign Up for the The Future of Education Newsletter

Website

LinkedIn

X (Twitter)

Threads

Connect with Jeff Selingo:

Sign Up for the Next Newsletter

Website

X (Twitter)

Threads

LinkedIn

Connect with Future U:

Twitter

YouTube

Threads

Instagram

Facebook

LinkedIn

Submit a question and if we answer it on air we'll send you Future U. swag!

Sign up for Future U. emails to get special updates and behind-the-scenes content.

Nothing animates conservative college students today quite like Turning Point USA. Founded by Charlie Kirk, the right-wing provocateur, the group thrives on an “owning the libs” mentality that is often trained on left-leaning professors. But this brand of conservatism, while big on bellicose taunts, is short on the foundational ideas that have made conservatism such a lasting intellectual tradition. At least that’s the view of Jon Shields, a right-leaning professor of American politics at Claremont McKenna College. For conservatism to thrive in the future, Shields argues, professors of all political stripes should help teach the MAGA crowd about Edmund Burke and the other big thinkers who have long provided the conservative movement with meaningful ballast.

Related Reading: 

These Professors Help Students See Why Others Think Differently (The Chronicle)  

Liberal Professors Can Rescue the G.O.P. (The New York Times) 

Inside a Stealth Plan for Political Influence (The Chronicle) 

The Battle for the Bros (The New Yorker) 

Guest:

Jon Shields, professor of American politics at Claremont McKenna College

For more on today’s episode, visit chronicle.com/collegematters. We aim to make transcripts available within a day of an episode’s publication.

Donald Trump campaigned on a promise to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education, an agency that Republicans say is too wasteful and too woke. Through a series of layoffs and buyouts, the Trump administration has reduced the agency’s work force by roughly half. The broader goal, administration officials say, is to return more power to the states and to cut down on government waste. But the cuts have left many people concerned about the department’s capacity to carry out its vital functions, like enforcing civil-rights laws. The great purge at the agency has spread fear among employees, upended hundreds of lives, and left some to conclude that the whole point of this operation has been to intimidate and control government workers.

Related Reading:

‘Breathtakingly Irresponsible’: Former Workers Decry Decimation of Education Dept.’s Data Warehouse 

What the Education Dept.’s Job Cuts Could Mean for Financial Aid

Protesters Rally Against Education Dept. Cuts

Guests:

Anthony Badial-Luna, management and program analyst at the Education Department 

Kaitlyn Vitez, higher-education liaison at the Education Department 

Christopher Madaio, former director of the Investigations Group in the Education Department’s enforcement unit; senior adviser at The Institute for College Access & Success

Elizabeth Morrow, a deputy director at the Office of Public Engagement for Non-Discrimination in the Office for Civil Rights 

For more on today’s episode, visit chronicle.com/collegematters. We aim to make transcripts available within a day of an episode’s publication.

On the campaign trail, Donald Trump promised to deport student protesters. In recent weeks, the president has delivered on that pledge. The Trump administration has revoked hundreds of international students' visas across the country, spreading fear on college campuses and inviting constitutional challenges from lawyers and activists. Eric Lee, an immigration lawyer, says the administration’s actions are unconstitutional. One of his clients, Momodou Taal, a Cornell University graduate student and pro-Palestinian activist, recently decided to leave the United States rather than face detention and deportation. What’s happening, Lee says, is a threat to the free speech rights of citizens and noncitizens alike.

Related Reading:

Tracking Trump’s Actions on Student Visas 

Pro-Palestinian Activists Shut Down a Job Fair. One Student’s Punishment Could Get Him Deported. 

Trump has Revoked Student Visas at Dozens of Colleges. Here’s What That Means.

Guest:

Eric Lee, immigration lawyer

For more on today’s episode, visit chronicle.com/collegematters. We aim to make transcripts available within a day of an episode’s publication.

Over the past decade, centers and institutes devoted to the study of Western civilization and American civics have popped up on numerous public university campuses. Typically backed by conservative lawmakers, versions of this concept have taken root at universities in Arizona, Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, and Tennessee. In Texas, an entirely new private university, the University of Austin, now offers students a curriculum steeped in the study of Western thought.

At a recent live taping at SXSW EDU, Jack Stripling, host of College Matters, talked with Jacob Howland, the University of Austin’s provost, and Pauline Strong, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin, about what this growing trend says about the politics of higher education.

Related Reading: 

How a Center for Civic Education Became a Political Provocation (The Chronicle) 

We Can’t Wait for Universities to Fix Themselves. So We’re Starting a New One. (Free Press) 

Billionaires Back New ‘Anti-Woke’ University (The Wall Street Journal) 

A New Birth of Freedom in Higher Education: Civics Institutes at Public Universities (AEI)  

Guests:

Jacob Howland, provost and dean of intellectual foundations at the University of Austin

Pauline Strong, director of the Program in Native American and Indigenous Studies and a professor of anthropology at the University of Texas at Austin. Strong is president of the American Association of University Professors' chapter at UT Austin.

For more on today’s episode, visit chronicle.com/collegematters. We aim to make transcripts available within a day of an episode’s publication.

Buckle up, and get ready to lay on your horn. We’re taking a drive through the enraging, labyrinthine, and often misunderstood world of college-campus parking. Along the way, we’ll meet a college instructor who complained about parking fees, only to pay more than he’d ever imagined; a parking administrator who promises she’s not evil; and a writer who may have unmasked the real villain in higher ed’s tortured parking story.

Related Reading: 

A History Instructor Complained About Parking Fees. It Cost Him His Job.

He lost His Job After Complaining About Parking. Now He’s Been Reinstated.

Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World   

Guests:

Nell Gluckman, senior reporter at The Chronicle of Higher Education 

Adrienne Tucker, director of parking and transportation at Kansas State University 

Henry Grabar, staff writer at Slate and author

For more on today’s episode, visit chronicle.com/collegematters. We aim to make transcripts available within a day of an episode’s publication.