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Glenn and John host Sean Stevens of FIRE to discuss the organization's College Free Speech Rankings and the methodology behind measuring campus speech climates, alongside concerns about administrations overreaching under the guise of safety—particularly around Israel-Palestine speech. The show then moves to audience Q&A, covering the earlier Nathan Cofnas conversation, race and IQ discourse, Ketanji Brown Jackson, AI's impact on labor and education, and rising interest rates. In the final segment, Ian Rowe of AEI joins to discuss Nikole Hannah-Jones's essay on regretting her daughter's schooling, arguing her experience makes the case for universal school choice rather than an isolated lesson.

The Glenn Show is almost entirely audience-supported, so to those of us who are already full subscribers, let me extend a heartfelt thank you. And if you’re not yet a full subscriber, please consider becoming one. The Glenn Show can only do what it does through the generosity of viewers and listeners. For a mere $6/month or $50/year, you’ll get access to weekly livestreams, monthly Q&A episodes with John McWhorter, commenting privileges, access to the full Substack archives, and other exclusive bonus content.

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Glenn welcomes economist Roland Fryer—his former student and a John Bates Clark Medal and MacArthur "Genius" Grant recipient—for a wide-ranging conversation. Fryer discusses the Carob Trust Prize, a new $1 million award he co-founded with Bill Ackman (on whose selection committee Glenn sits) to reward independent, courageous social science research. The two also revisit Fryer's path into economics, Glenn's early mentorship of him, the conditions for effective DEI policy, the economics of addiction, and the controversy surrounding Fryer's use of cash incentives to boost student learning.

Recorded Friday, September 18, 2026

The Glenn Show is almost entirely audience-supported, so to those of us who are already full subscribers, let me extend a heartfelt thank you. And if you’re not yet a full subscriber, please consider becoming one. The Glenn Show can only do what it does through the generosity of viewers and listeners. For a mere $6/month or $50/year, you’ll get access to weekly livestreams, monthly Q&A episodes with John McWhorter, commenting privileges, access to the full Substack archives, and other exclusive bonus content.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit glennloury.substack.com

Support The Glenn Show at https://glennloury.substack.com

Glenn welcomes economist Roland Fryer—his former student and a John Bates Clark Medal and MacArthur "Genius" Grant recipient—for a wide-ranging conversation. Fryer discusses the Carob Trust Prize, a new $1 million award he co-founded with Bill Ackman (on whose selection committee Glenn sits) to reward independent, courageous social science research. The two also revisit Fryer's path into economics, Glenn's early mentorship of him, the conditions for effective DEI policy, the economics of addiction, and the controversy surrounding Fryer's use of cash incentives to boost student learning.

The Glenn Show is almost entirely audience-supported, so to those of us who are already full subscribers, let me extend a heartfelt thank you. And if you’re not yet a full subscriber, please consider becoming one. The Glenn Show can only do what it does through the generosity of viewers and listeners. For a mere $6/month or $50/year, you’ll get access to weekly livestreams, monthly Q&A episodes with John McWhorter, commenting privileges, access to the full Substack archives, and other exclusive bonus content.

Support The Glenn Show at https://glennloury.substack.com

John McWhorter and Glenn talk with Nathan Cofnas, a philosopher of biology who exposed Jason Arday's plagiarism, for a discussion of that affair and Cofnas's own "race realist" views—that racial IQ differences are real and largely innate. McWhorter voices skepticism, questioning whether Cofnas has reckoned with the implications of his position. Glenn argues society lacks evidence to treat these differences as fixed, while maintaining the topic itself must remain open to discussion.

Full version

The Glenn Show is almost entirely audience-supported, so to those of us who are already full subscribers, let me extend a heartfelt thank you. And if you’re not yet a full subscriber, please consider becoming one. The Glenn Show can only do what it does through the generosity of viewers and listeners. For a mere $6/month or $50/year, you’ll get access to weekly livestreams, monthly Q&A episodes with John McWhorter, commenting privileges, access to the full Substack archives, and other exclusive bonus content.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe

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Glenn and John McWhorter reflect on 9/11 twenty-five years on, weighing the pride felt in its aftermath against more ambivalent views of America's subsequent military response. The episode then turns to Nathan Cofnas, a philosopher of biology who exposed Jason Arday's plagiarism, for a discussion of that affair and Cofnas's own "race realist" views—that racial IQ differences are real and largely innate. McWhorter voices skepticism, questioning whether Cofnas has reckoned with the implications of his position. Glenn argues society lacks evidence to treat these differences as fixed, while maintaining the topic itself must remain open to discussion.

The Glenn Show is almost entirely audience-supported, so to those of us who are already full subscribers, let me extend a heartfelt thank you. And if you’re not yet a full subscriber, please consider becoming one. The Glenn Show can only do what it does through the generosity of viewers and listeners. For a mere $6/month or $50/year, you’ll get access to weekly livestreams, monthly Q&A episodes with John McWhorter, commenting privileges, access to the full Substack archives, and other exclusive bonus content.

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On this episode of The Glenn Show, Ian Rowe, Bradford Wilcox, and Delano Squires argue that children generally fare best when raised by two married parents in the same household, and that this discussion is too often avoided. Ian and Brad point to a recent American Enterprise Institute report arguing that the National Assessment of Educational Progress should publish the family-structure data it already collects. Ian, Brad, and Delano contend that preparing kids for eventual marriage starts in childhood, through honest information about which choices improve life outcomes. But the debate is far from settled.

The Glenn Show is almost entirely audience-supported, so to those of us who are already full subscribers, let me extend a heartfelt thank you. And if you’re not yet a full subscriber, please consider becoming one. The Glenn Show can only do what it does through the generosity of viewers and listeners. For a mere $6/month or $50/year, you’ll get access to weekly livestreams, monthly Q&A episodes with John McWhorter, commenting privileges, access to the full Substack archives, and other exclusive bonus content.

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In this bonus episode of The Glenn Show, Glenn and TGS co-producer Robert Patton-Spruill talk about Sabrina Salvati's documentary Removed: Black Erasure in Boston, and how his own attempt to build affordable housing in Boston's Roxbury neighborhood. According to Rob, redlining isn't the cause of present-day housing problems for black Bostonians. It's often the community itself that stands in the way.

The Glenn Show is almost entirely audience-supported, so to those of us who are already full subscribers, let me extend a heartfelt thank you. And if you’re not yet a full subscriber, please consider becoming one. The Glenn Show can only do what it does through the generosity of viewers and listeners. For a mere $6/month or $50/year, you’ll get access to weekly livestreams, monthly Q&A episodes with John McWhorter, commenting privileges, access to the full Substack archives, and other exclusive bonus content.

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Earlier this summer, I had Tess Chakkalakal, professor of Africana Studies and English at Bowdoin College and author of A Matter of Complexion, a wonderful biography of the writer Charles Chesnutt, on the livestream. That stream was for full subscribers here on the Substack, but today I’m releasing this fascinating conversation for all to enjoy.

If you don’t know who Chesnutt is, you’re not alone. Chesnutt was a pathbreaking African American novelist and short story writer publishing in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. Despite his accomplishments, his work fell into semi-obscurity after his death in 1932. Yet he is arguably the first major African American novelist. A subtle ironist and a significant figure in turn-of-the-century race debates, he was part of the first generation of black Americans to come of age post-Emancipation. His life and work provide a fascinating window into a period—“Post-Bellum, Pre-Harlem,” as he calls the era in his last speech—that has received comparatively little attention in the literary history of African American literature.

So why don’t you know who he is? Tess talks John McWhorter and me through his work, his life, and his afterlife, and explain how this great writer fell out of favor and why he’s the object of renewed interest.

The Glenn Show is almost entirely audience-supported, so to those of us who are already full subscribers, let me extend a heartfelt thank you. And if you’re not yet a full subscriber, please consider becoming one. The Glenn Show can only do what it does through the generosity of viewers and listeners. For a mere $6/month or $50/year, you’ll get access to weekly livestreams, monthly Q&A episodes with John McWhorter, commenting privileges, access to the full Substack archives, and other exclusive bonus content.

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Last Friday, with Glenn still on the other side of the world, John McWhorter slid into the host chair for the weekly livestream. The major topic under discussion was the career and death of Jason Arday. As most of you probably know, we cut a segment on Arday from last week’s episode, because it was recorded the day before news of Arday’s death broke. Though British officials have not yet made public a cause of death, most commentators speculate that Arday took his own life. It’s a tragic end to a story that bordered on farce. We’re going to be talking about this for some time. In this episode, John weighs in with his early thoughts and takes questions on the subject from the Substack and YouTube chats. Near the end of the episode, we introduce some lighter topics, like John’s self-described Jewish-adjacency and whether bilingual people’s personalities change depending on which language they’re using.

Note: There was a glitch in Mark's audio recording that we could not get rid of during post-production. Apologies for the sub-optimal listening experience.

The Glenn Show is almost entirely audience-supported, so to those of us who are already full subscribers, let me extend a heartfelt thank you. And if you’re not yet a full subscriber, please consider becoming one. The Glenn Show can only do what it does through the generosity of viewers and listeners. For a mere $6/month or $50/year, you’ll get access to weekly livestreams, monthly Q&A episodes with John McWhorter, commenting privileges, access to the full Substack archives, and other exclusive bonus content.

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Due to travel, I wasn’t able to offer my thoughts on the Jason Arday affair as its sad final chapter unfolded. In lieu of a full-length conversation—which I hope to have soon—I want to offer these brief comments on Arday, meritocracy, and the academy.