If the Supreme Court rules against affirmative action for certain racial groups, as expected, how will colleges and other institutions create diverse student bodies and address racial disparities? 

Guest: Richard Kahlenberg, non-resident scholar at Georgetown University's McCourt School of Public Policy
If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What Next: The Liberal Case Against Affirmative Action

A feed from the Slate podcast network featuring episodes with enlightening conversations, opposing views, and plenty of healthy disputes. You'll get a curated selection of episodes from programs like What Next, The Waves, and the Political Gabfest, with deep discussions that go beyond point-counterpoint and shed light on the issues that matter most.

Society & Culture

Personal Journals

History

Philosophy

Places & Travel

News

On today’s episode of Hear Me Out: don’t scare me like that, colonizer.

Understanding the legacy of colonialism is a project relatively few Americans have undertaken — and most have done so only relatively recently, at that.

But understanding the forces that led to the foundation of this country, and the creation of modern racism as we know it, is an important project. And it’s one that is also increasingly hard to bring into schools — especially in places like Florida.

Barry Mauer of UCF joins us once again to argue for teaching the ongoing project of colonialism… in the name of stopping it.

If you have thoughts you want to share, or an idea for a topic we should tackle, you can email the show: hearmeout@slate.com

Podcast production by Maura Currie.

Want more Hear Me Out? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/hearmeoutplus to get access wherever you listen.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hear Me Out: Colonialism Never Ended

On today’s episode of Hear Me Out: live from Seattle.

Hear Me Out had its first-ever live show on May 4, 2024 — and it was such a great conversation that we wanted to make sure our podcast listeners heard it, too. 

The Cascade PBS Ideas Festival was full of smart, unconventional thinkers on the biggest issues facing this country… so what better place to have a conversation about Donald Trump, and the future of this country? 

It’s tempting to think of the MAGA ideology as an unprecedented threat to democracy. But is it? Or are the authoritarian, anti-democratic ideas percolating into our mainstream politics a feature, rather than a bug?

Historian and author Heather Cox Richardson joined us in Seattle.

If you have thoughts you want to share, or an idea for a topic we should tackle, you can email the show: hearmeout@slate.com

Podcast production by Maura Currie.

Want more Hear Me Out? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/hearmeoutplus to get access wherever you listen.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hear Me Out: Trump Isn’t a Bug. He's a Feature.

On today’s episode of Hear Me Out: prosecuting parents.

Ethan Crumbley’s parents didn’t pull the trigger that killed 4 students in 2021 — but they’ve been sentenced to prison time for it all the same. 

School shootings are devastatingly common in this country, but punishing the parents of the killer is a new tactic of handling the aftermath. Even if you think the Crumbleys were bad parents, though, the questions should be posed: why are we punishing them under the law? And is this the best way to address, or even prevent, mass tragedies?

Professor, writer, and legal contributor for ABC News Kim Wehle joins us to urge for a look at the bigger picture.


If you have thoughts you want to share, or an idea for a topic we should tackle, you can email the show: hearmeout@slate.com

Podcast production by Maura Currie.

Want more Hear Me Out? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/hearmeoutplus to get access wherever you listen.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hear Me Out: Punishing A Shooter’s Parents Misses The Point

On today’s episode of Hear Me Out: solidarity?

College campuses across the country are grappling with protests and occupations in the name of a free Palestine. Many hundreds of students, faculty, and outside community members have been arrested in tense clashes with police — called onto campuses by the universities themselves. 

Student protestors have shaped public discourse on matters like war and the environment for many decades. But without a clear, sympathetic goal, they can also lead to political backlash that far outlasts a four-year degree. 

So are today’s student protestors instigating change in Gaza… or teeing up a crackdown on speech and protest here at home? 

Prof. Steven Mintz of UT Austin joins us, and urges a cautionary look at the history books. 

If you have thoughts you want to share, or an idea for a topic we should tackle, you can email the show: hearmeout@slate.com

Podcast production by Maura Currie.

Want more Hear Me Out? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/hearmeoutplus to get access wherever you listen.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hear Me Out: Student Protests Can Backfire (Badly)

As some members of Congress call for crackdowns, how do college administrators ensure the safety of their entire student body – while also respecting its right to free speech? 

Guest: Peter Beinart, Editor-at-Large at Jewish Currents and the author of “The Beinart Notebook” on Substack.

Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen.

Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme and Rob Gunther.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What Next: The Liberal Case Against Affirmative Action

Download our free app to listen on your phone