
American Campus Podcast
on the social and political history of higher education
Episodes
23 episodes
The American Psychological Association and the War on Terror with Roy Eidelson
On the APA's collaboration with CIA to develop 'enhanced interrogation techniques' for the U.S. War on Terror. Plus, Eidelson's advice for how we can hold our academic and professional organizations accountable when they violate their stated mi...
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36:06

University Archives and Black Market Ancient Artifacts with Roberta Mazza
For centuries, academics and university archivists have participated in and benefitted from the illicit trade of ancient artifacts. Roberta Mazza discusses this history and the academy's role in restoring and repatriating ill-gotten collections...
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33:11

Intellectual Diversity and Campus Misinformation with Brad Vivian
Bradford Vivian unpacks calls for "intellectual diversity" and "free speech," explaining how these seemingly fair-minded demands work to undermine true diversity in the classroom and on campus.Bradford Vivian. 2022.
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27:33

Student Surveillance in the Digital Age with Lindsay Weinberg
Alexa in the dorm room. ProctorU monitoring exams. TurnItIn helping* faculty grade. Tech services are omnipresent on and off campus, and they come with a cost. Lindsay Weinberg offers a critical analysis of today's Smart Universities.
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20:00

Experience, Empire, and the Politics of Knowledge with Tamson Pietsch
In 1926, an NYU professor took to the high seas with 500 undergraduates on a worldwide learning voyage. The experimental "Floating University" docked for excursions at nearly 50 ports, where students were introduced to world leaders Mussolini, ...
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31:58

Kingfish U: Huey Long and LSU with Robert Mann
Huey Long, Louisiana's notorious Depression-era governor and rumored presidential challenger to FDR, doesn't get enough recognition for his role in the expansion of LSU's campus throughout the 1930s. Listen as Bob Mann recounts Long's legacy at...
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25:46

Safe Spaces and Trigger Warnings with Kendall Gerdes
Kendell Gerdes unpacks popular depictions of "sensitive students" throughout the 2010s. She tackles safe spaces, trigger warnings, #BlackOnCampus, and other student calls for accessibility over the last few years, showing how these matters are ...
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26:06

Affirmative Action and Students for Fair Admissions (2023) with Mike Collins
This is Part II of an earlier discussion with Mike Collins about Supreme Court affirmative action cases affecting higher education, including Lau (1974), Bakke (1978), Fisher (2016), and Students for Fair Admissions (2023). For more, check out ...
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23:17

Affirmative Action and UC Regents v Bakke (1978) with Mike Collins
This is Part I of a two-part interview with Mike Collins about Supreme Court affirmative action cases affecting higher education, including Bakke (1978), Fisher (2016), and Students for Fair Admissions (2023). For more, check out Collin's recen...
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24:44

The Carter Administration's Threats to Deport Iranian Student Activists with Will Teague
The ICE disappearance of Columbia student protestor Mahmoud Khalil in March 2025 followed in the wake of Trump's promise to deport campus activists. But 50 years ago, the Carter administration set the stage for student deportations. Will Teague...
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26:11

College movies of the 2000s, millennials, and The Abercrombie Age with Myles Ethan Lascity
Abercrombie and Fitch is back, millennials and gen x-ers! Ethan Lascity takes us for a walk down memory lane in a discussion ofLegally Blonde, Drumline, Van Wilder, and other college movies of the aughts.Myles Ethan Lascity...
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22:14

The time we tried free college for all? Andrew Stone Higgins on the California Master Plan
In 1960, California experimented with tuition-free college for all public campuses in the state. As Andrew Higgins explains in Higher Education for All (UNC Press, 2023), the California Master Plan actually worked to make higher educat...
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29:04

The Cancel Culture Panic with Adrian Daub
Adrian Daub explains the recent history of the cancel culture moral panic.Adrian Daub. 2024. The Cancel Culture Panic: How an American Obsession Went Global. Stanford University Press.
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24:40

Who governs the college? A history of boards of trustees with Asheesh Siddique
Asheesh Siddique discusses the colonial creation of college trustee boards and explains how trustees govern our institutions today.Asheesh Siddique. 2024. The Archive of Empire: Knowledge, Conquest, and the Making of the Early M...
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28:27

Black Women, Ivory Tower with Jasmine L. Harris
Jasmine Harris discusses the historic experiences of Black women students and faculty at predominantly white colleges.Jasmine L. Harris. 2024. Black Women, Ivory Tower: Revealing the Lies of White Supremacy in American Education...
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29:27

McCarthyism and the Universities with Ellen Schrecker
Ellen Schrecker discusses the post-World War II Red Scare and its consequences for American higher education. She walks us through her 1986 book, No Ivory Tower: McCarthyism and the Universities. Nearly four decades after publication, ...
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40:35

Krebiozen, Pseudoscience, and the Ethics of Academic Medicine with Matthew C. Ehrlich
Matthew C. Ehrlich tells the story of krebiozen, a fraudulent cancer cure, and the frenzy it wrought through the University of Illinois in the 1950s. His book, The Krebiozen Hoax, helps us contextualize decades of conflicts surrounding...
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28:04

College Women and the 19th Amendment with Kelly Marino
Kelly L. Marino discusses college women's role in the suffrage movement. Listen to hear more about her new book, Votes for College Women: Alumni, Students, and the Woman Suffrage Campaign (New York University Press, 2024).K...
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18:32

A History of College Radio with Kate Jewell
Katherine Rye Jewell "hits" the high notes of the history of college radio. Listen to her discuss her new book, Live from the Underground: A History of College Radio (University of North Carolina Press, 2023).katherinejewel...
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26:36

The End of College Football with Nathan Kalman-Lamb and Derek Silva
Nathan Kalman-Lamb and Derek Silva discuss their book, The End of College Football: On the Human Cost of an All-American Game (University of North Carolina Press, 2024).Follow Nathan, Derek, and their co-host Johanna Mellis on ...
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30:40

Segregation Scholarships and the Debt Owed to HBCUs with Crystal Sanders
Crystal Sanders discusses her book, A Forgotten Migration: Black Southerners, Segregation Scholarships, and the Debt Owed to Public HBCUs (University of North Carolina Press, 2024).Crystal R. Sanders. 2024. A Forgotten ...
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21:18

Spying on Students: The FBI, Red Squads, and Student Activists in the 1960s South with Gregg Michel
Gregg Michel discusses his book, Spying on Students: The FBI, Red Squads, and Student Activists in the 1960s South (Louisiana State University Press, 2024).Gregg L. Michel. 2024. Spying on Students: The FBI, Red Squads,...
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21:32
