We saw this clip of Columbia University History Professor Christopher Brown and wanted to share it far and wide. Dr. Brown delivered these remarks on Monday, April 20 at a faculty-led “Rally to Support our Students and Reclaim our University.”

Diversity Is Great, DEI, Inc. Isn't.

Mar 31st, 2024 31m 10s

We recently appeared on "How Do We Fix It?", a wonderful podcast in search of constructive and practical ideas to address the many problems that plague our age. We had a fantastic time talking to the hosts Richard Davies and Jim Meigs about fre

"Entitled to Judge"

Nov 30th, 2023 19m 29s

Celebrated as the bedrock of democracy, freedom of expression is often seen as an American or western value. Yet the concept has a rich and global history. In the spring of 2023 I offered a course on the global history of free expression. The c

The Sunshine State Descends into Darkness (Again)

Jan 23rd, 2023 13m 42s

Worse than McCarthyism? In this episode of Banished, we explore the all-out assault on academic freedom in higher education in Florida. Turns out there’s a long history of campus witch-hunts in the state. We spoke with Robert Cassenello (histor

Will Florida's "Stop WOKE Act" Hold Up in Court?

Nov 1st, 2022 21m 15s

Banished returns with a special episode on the status of a lawsuit challenging Florida’s “Stop WOKE Act.” To understand how this law threatens open inquiry and academic freedom, Amna talked to the two co-plaintiffs, University of South Florida

Whose Tacos?

Jun 12th, 2022 33m 22s

Tucker Carlson claimed that tacos are American. Rick Bayless was attacked for appropriating Mexican cuisine. Jamie Oliver hired a team of cultural appropriation specialists to advise him when writing recipes, to make sure he didn’t run afoul of

'Shakespeare, Thou Hast Been Cancelled'

May 27th, 2022 28m 33s

Amna Khalid talks with Laura Bates, Professor of English at Indiana State University and founder of Shakespeare in Shackles — a prison program for those in solitary confinement — about the Bard’s decline in the modern curriculum. This is a pub

"Oh Danny, Is This the End?"

May 11th, 2022 24m 30s

One of the most popular musicals of all time, Grease seems to have fallen from grace. Most recently, two schools in Australia were planning to stage a joint production of the musical this year, but shelved it when students complained that the c

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: St. Olaf College Punishes Professor for Inviting Peter Singer to Campus

Apr 27th, 2022 29m 31s

Earlier this year, St. Olaf College’s Institute for Freedom and Community invited controversial bioethicist Peter Singer for a virtual conversation titled “The Point of View of the Universe.” This was an invitation in keeping with the mission o

In the Eye of the Storm

Apr 20th, 2022 51m 16s

In fall 2021, the philosophy department at Rhodes College invited the bioethicist Peter Singer to speak to the school. A controversial and important figure, the New Yorker has called Singer the “world’s most influential living philosopher,” and

COVID-19: Lab Leak Or Natural Leap?

Apr 7th, 2022 30m 6s

In February 2020, The Lancet, a leading British medical journal, published a statement by more than two dozen scientists condemning the hypothesis that COVID-19 had leaked from a Chinese lab — effectively halting scientific inquiry along those

Napoleon in Exile

Mar 31st, 2022 25m

If you’re a solver of crossword puzzles, you probably know that Napoleon was exiled to the island of Elba. But that was just the beginning. Historians Peter Hicks and Rafe Blaufarb tell us the full story. This is a public episode. If you’d like

The Skeptic

Mar 10th, 2022 18m 55s

Michael Shermer, founding publisher of Skeptic magazine and host of the podcast The Michael Shermer Show, was a regular writer for Scientific American for 18 years. With more than 200 monthy columns under his belt, he was hoping to match Stephe

The Cartoon is Mightier Than the Sword

Feb 24th, 2022 29m 35s

Badiucao is a Chinese political dissident and artist who self-exiled to Australia in 2009. In the buildup to the Beijing Olympics, he was catapulted into the limelight for a series of protest posters that at first glance seem like advertisement

Does Free Speech Discriminate?

Feb 10th, 2022 32m 18s

Over the past five years or so, free speech — like so many other topics — has been weaponized for use in the culture wars. Far right media sources have embraced the free speech mantle, arguing that liberals and progressives who dominate higher

Common Sense, Unmasked

Feb 5th, 2022 27m 45s

Michael Phillips has taught history at Collin College in Texas for the past 14 years, but after speaking out about the school’s anti-masking policy his contract was not renewed. Which makes him the fourth faculty member to lose his job there si

The Subversiveness of Humor

Jan 28th, 2022 36m 4s

During her visit back to Pakistan in December, Banished host Amna Khalid spoke with Salima Hashimi — artist, curator, activist and former principal of the National College of Arts, the premier Art school of Pakistan. They discussed the state of

Why the Seuss Estate Pulled Six of Its Own Books

Jan 13th, 2022 35m 31s

In the age of “cancel culture,” it comes as no surprise that the publishing industry is cowering before demands to remove “problematic” books. Dr. Seuss’s estate recently announced that it will no longer allow the publication and licensing of s

The Bother With Baby

Dec 30th, 2021 20m 7s

Broadway-bound songsmith Frank Loesser wrote “Baby It’s Cold Outside” as a call-and-response duet for he and his wife to perform at parties. Several years later, the tune made its way into a movie and soon took the Christmas canon by storm. But

Should More Colleges Drop the ACT and SAT?

Dec 22nd, 2021 28m 34s

Last week, Harvard announced it will extend its test-optional admissions policy for at least another four years. The stated reason is that the pandemic has reduced access to test sites — but this decision has added grist to the test-elimination

Out of Darkness, Into the Fire

Dec 8th, 2021 28m 5s

Author and professor Ashley Hope Pérez gained prominence for her novel Out of Darkness, which explores themes of segregation, love and family against the backdrop of the 1937 New London School explosion. The book won rave reviews from critics a

Fear and Scapegoating in the Time of Pandemics

Nov 17th, 2021 33m 22s

Scapegoating particular communities during an epidemic — be it tuberculosis, HIV or COVID-19 — is nothing new. Outbreaks of disease are often accompanied by the demonizing of some portion of humanity that is supposedly the source of the contagi

Temptations of the West Reconsidered

Nov 3rd, 2021 24m 56s

If you’ve been listening to Banished, you’ll recall that in just a few short months we’ve talked about attempts to abolish artwork, to repudiate literature and even to eliminate entire curricula throughout the United States. But you may wonder,

The Cancellation of Dorian Abbot

Oct 21st, 2021 36m 43s

Dorian Abbot, associate professor of geophysical sciences at University of Chicago, was invited to give the prestigious Carlson Lecture at MIT this month. He was going to speak about the insights gained from studying Earth’s climate and how tho

Rethinking the Canon: What Makes a Classic?

Oct 14th, 2021 26m 52s

This is the second in our occasional series on Rethinking the Canon. Is there value in reading the classics at a time when they are increasingly viewed as unrepresentative texts that don’t speak to the diverse experiences of modern students? Th