As president of Princeton University, Christopher Eisgruber is among the highest-profile college leaders to publicly criticize the Trump administration for its attacks on higher education. He is a defender of the sector, arguing that colleges are far better at upholding free speech and more welcoming of diverse viewpoints than critics would suggest. The recent killing of Charlie Kirk, a conservative activist, has energized a national debate about the state of free speech on college campuses — both for conservatives like Kirk, and for faculty who have been sanctioned for speaking ill of Kirk in the wake of his death. None of this, though, changes Eisgruber’s fundamental view that colleges, for the most part, are actually quite good at facilitating tough conversations at a particularly polarized moment. It’s an argument Eisgruber lays out methodically in a new book, Terms of Respect: How Colleges Get Free Speech Right.

Related Reading

Terms of Respect: How Colleges Get Free Speech Right, by Christopher Eisgruber (Basic Books)

With Charlie Kirk’s Killing, a New Chapter of the Campus Speech Wars Has Begun (The Chronicle)

The Elite-University Presidents Who Despise One Another (The Atlantic)

At Yale, Painful Rifts Emerge Over Diversity and Free Speech (The Chronicle)

The Trump administration is hitting universities where it hurts, terminating thousands of research grants in areas it deems wasteful or ideologically driven. Many scientists who study vaccine hesitancy, gender identity, and climate change, have either lost grant money or been put on notice that their federal funding could soon disappear. What does this mean for the U.S. academic-research enterprise, which seeks to cure diseases, understand societal problems, and even save the planet? And how might a highly politicized approach to doling out federal research money change the nature of science itself?

Related Reading: 
The Scientists Who Got Ghosted by the NIH (The Chronicle) 

An NIH Grant Is Restored, With a Catch: Cut a Study on Trans Youth (The Chronicle) 

The NIH is Requiring Grantees to Follow Trump’s Anti-Trans Executive Order (The Chronicle) 

Their NIH Grants are Back. But Nothing is Back to Normal. (The Chronicle) 

Guest

Stephanie M. Lee, senior writer at The Chronicle of Higher Education. 

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

Christopher F. Rufo, a conservative activist, is on what he might call a winning streak. Long before it was fashionable to do so, Rufo, a senior fellow at the right-leaning Manhattan Institute, was leading the charge against diversity, equity, and inclusion programs on college campuses. Now, many universities — by law or by choice — are ditching DEI programs as fast as they can. Beyond that, Rufo has waged numerous online pressure campaigns against college leaders, leading to the resignations or scuttled appointments of those who’ve extolled the virtues of DEI. His airing of plagiarism allegations against Claudine Gay, the former president of Harvard University, contributed to her leadership downfall in 2024. But what is really behind Rufo’s philosophy? What would the “colorblind equality” he prescribes for colleges actually look like in practice? And how far does he think President Trump should go to upend higher education?

00:00 - 7:40: Rufo’s path to conservatism
7:40 - 14:51: Politics of DEI
14:51 - 19:48 : Race and admissions
20:03 - 24:51: ‘Meritocracy’
24:51 - 31:02: Do you think race matters?
31:01 - 32:58: The Manhattan Institute
32:58 - 35:25: Harvard’s Claudine Gay
35:25 - 46:26: Sinking Santa Ono at U. of Florida
46:26 - 50:32: Rufo’s influence / George Mason U.
50:32 - 53:19: Calling in the troops

Related Reading:  

They Have a Common Criticism of Higher Ed. And They’re Arguing. (The Chronicle)

How a Conservative Activist Invented the Conflict Over Critical Race Theory (The New Yorker) 

An Inside Job at George Mason? (The Chronicle/ProPublica)  

Santa Ono Wanted a College Presidency. He Became a Pariah. (The Chronicle) 

Guest:
Christopher F. Rufo, a senior fellow and director of the initiative on critical race theory at the Manhattan Institute

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

The fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk, whose political movement targeted liberal faculty and pushed the boundaries of free speech, immediately took on powerful symbolic resonance as a pivotal event in higher education’s long-running culture wars. Kirk, who founded Turning Point USA, a provocative right-leaning group popular on college campuses, was killed on Wednesday during a campus speaking engagement at Utah Valley University. His death shocked the country, lending a dark gravity to already-contentious debates about political polarization, intolerance, and free expression on college campuses.
Related Reading 
Making of a Martyr: Charlie Kirk’s Killing Silences a Conservative Voice. His Movement Could Grow Louder. (The Chronicle) 

Inside a Stealth Plan for Political Influence (The Chronicle) 

Was an Instructor's Firing a Violation Academic Freedom? Or an Example of 'Academic Responsibility' (The Chronicle)

Charlie Kirk Was Practicing Politics the Right Way (The New York Times) 

Guest
Nell Gluckman, senior reporter at The Chronicle of Higher Education

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

Higher education is at the center of the biggest stories in the country today, and College Matters is back to make sense of it all. Tune in for new weekly episodes starting on September 11.

Catch up on previous popular episodes:

Is Reading Over for Gen Z Students?

Why Faculty Hate Teaching Evaluations

Mr. Varsity Blues Claps Back

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

For decades, Bruce Springsteen’s songs about fast cars, working-class dreamers, and loves lost and found have helped to define a quintessentially American notion of freedom and rebellion. But do the music and lyrics of “The Boss” speak to the college students of Gen Z? Louis P. Masur, a distinguished professor of American studies and history at Rutgers University, thinks they do. After years of teaching a course titled “Springsteen’s American Vision,” Masur says he is as convinced as ever that the rock icon’s songs are as timeless as Huck Finn and as durable as a “big old Buick.”

Guest: Louis P. Masur, distinguished professor of American studies and history at Rutgers University
Related reading

Runaway Dream: Born to Run and Bruce Springsteen’s American Vision (Louis P. Masur)

The Boss in the Classroom (Chronicle)

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 the loss of a pet, many people wonder whether they'll ever see their beloved companions again. In her course, "Do All Dogs Go to Heaven?", Chelsea Jordan King, an assistant professor of Catholic studies at Sacred Heart University, presses her students to answers that provocative question. To do so, King encourages students — believers and nonbelievers alike — to use critical thinking and research to articulate and defend their positions. Along the way, students learn about the Roman Catholic Church's position on evolution, what makes human beings special, and how to better appreciate their natural surroundings.

Guest
Chelsea Jordan King, assistant professor of Catholic studies at Sacred Heart University

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

Food shapes our daily lives in profound ways, yet it's often taken for granted or misunderstood. In the course "Sociology of Food" at Texas Christian University, students learn how food functions as sustenance, commodity, and a sociocultural force. The course covers food from its starting point to its end — tracing its path as an agricultural product and a commodity to be traded, marketed, shopped for, prepared, and finally consumed. Edgar Jesus Campos, an assistant professor of sociology at TCU, says some of his students enroll in the course to better understand their own bodies and consumption patterns. While they gain that knowledge, they also leave with a deeper understanding of how global economic and political forces play into their personal diets.

Guest
Edgar Jesus Campos, assistant professor of sociology at Texas Christian University

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

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.