Uploaded October 2025 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Lately, calls for “intellectual diversity” are all the rage. From President Trump, to right-wing think tanks, to college presidents, arguments abound for adding more conservative voices to the professoriate. But are these arguments being made in good faith? How liberal are faculty, really? And what does a push for a narrowed, classics-driven curriculum mean for the canon-expanding courses that some colleges now offer on subjects as diverse as the Grateful Dead and Taylor Swift?
Related Reading:
Higher Education Needs to Embrace a Diversity of Beliefs (foxnews.com/opinion/ive-been-college-president-higher-education-needs-embrace-diversity-beliefs) (Fox News/ Gordon Gee)
Viewpoint Diversity is a MAGA Plo (chronicle.com/article/viewpoint-diversity-is-a-maga-plot) t (chronicle.com/article/viewpoint-diversity-is-a-maga-plot?sra=true) (The Review / Lisa Siraganian)
How One State’s 'Intellectual Diversity' Law Has Changed Professors’ Teaching (chronicle.com/article/changing-the-course) (The Chronicle)
Guest
Brock Read (chronicle.com/author/brock-read) , deputy managing editor of The Chronicle of Higher Education
For more on today’s episode, visit chronicle.com/collegematters (chronicle.com/collegematters) . We aim to make transcripts available within a day of an episode’s publication.
Lately, calls for “intellectual diversity” are all the rage. From President Trump, to right-wing think tanks, to college presidents, arguments abound for adding more conservative voices to the professoriate. But are these arguments being made in good faith? How liberal are faculty, really? And what does a push for a narrowed, classics-driven curriculum mean for the canon-expanding courses that some colleges now offer on subjects as diverse as the Grateful Dead and Taylor Swift?
Related Reading:
Higher Education Needs to Embrace a Diversity of Beliefs (foxnews.com/opinion/ive-been-college-president-higher-education-needs-embrace-diversity-beliefs) (Fox News/ Gordon Gee)
Viewpoint Diversity is a MAGA Plo (chronicle.com/article/viewpoint-diversity-is-a-maga-plot) t (chronicle.com/article/viewpoint-diversity-is-a-maga-plot?sra=true) (The Review / Lisa Siraganian)
How One State’s 'Intellectual Diversity' Law Has Changed Professors’ Teaching (chronicle.com/article/changing-the-course) (The Chronicle)
Guest
Brock Read (chronicle.com/author/brock-read) , deputy managing editor of The Chronicle of Higher Education
For more on today’s episode, visit chronicle.com/collegematters (chronicle.com/collegematters) . We aim to make transcripts available within a day of an episode’s publication.
