References and suggested readings:

• Alan Blinder. February 16, 2026. Epstein’s Ties With Academics Show the Seedy Side of College Fund-Raising. New York Times.
• William Callison and Quinn Slobodian. January 12, 2021. Coronapolitics from the Reichstag to the Capitol. Boston Review.
• Melinda Cooper. February 14, 226. Epstein Family Values. Equator.
• Luke Darby. August 19, 2019. Private jets, parties and eugenics: Jeffrey Epstein's bizarre world of scientists. The Guardian.
• Moira Donegan and Adrian Daub. February 10, 2026. “Episode 121–Moira's in the Epstein Files.” In Bed with the Right podcast.
• Charlie Eaton. 2022. Bankers in the Ivory Tower: The Troubling Rise of Financiers in Us Higher Education. University of Chicago Press.
• Francois Furstenberg. February 19, 2026. The Misuses of the University. Public Books.
• Virginia Heffernan. February 13, 2026. The billionaires' eugenics project: how Epstein infiltrated Harvard, muzzled the humanities and preached master-race science. The Nerve.
• Brian Herman. February 20, 2026. Individual donors provide only a small slice of university research funding – but Jeffrey Epstein’s ties with academics show why screening matters. The Conversation.
• Andy Hines, ed. 2025. University Keywords. Johns Hopkins University Press.
• Christopher Marquis. February 20, 2026. Why are so many academics in the Epstein files? It’s not just about money. The Guardian.
• Fred Turner. 2008. From Counterculture to Cyberculture: Stewart Brand, the Whole Earth Network, and the Rise of Digital Utopianism. University of Chicago Press.
• Ramon Antonio Vargas. February 3, 2026. Newly released files shed new light on Chomsky and Epstein relationship. The Guardian.

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Sort of.

References and suggested readings:

• Julie J. Park. 2026. Race, Class, and Affirmative Action: College Admissions in a New Era. Harvard Education Press.
• Class Action website: joinclassaction.edu
• Ingrid A. Nelson. 2024. Yet Another Costume Party Debacle: Why Racial Ignorance Persists on Elite College Campuses. University of Chicago Press.
• Belle Burden. 2026. Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage. The Dial Press.
• Julie J. Park’s website, faculty page, LinkedIn
• College Admissions Futures Co-Laborative

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A homegrown science.

References and suggested readings:

• Mark A. Torres. 2025. Long Island and the Legacy of Eugenics: Station of Intolerance. The History Press.
• Rebecca Brenner Graham. 2025. Dear Miss Perkins: A Story of Frances Perkins's Efforts to Aid Refugees from Nazi Germany. Citadel.
• Mark Torres’s website marktorresauthor.com
• Follow Mark on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook @MarkTorresAuthor1

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Get in touch! Email Lauren at shephell@iu.edu. You can also anonymously request an episode or give feedback on the show.

References and suggested readings:

• Hope Pisoni. January 30, 2026. Campus conservatism rebounds in the wake of Charlie Kirk, targeting LGBTQIA+ communities. Gay Times.
• Strphany Matat. October 28, 2025. DeSantis warns schools, partners with Turning Point USA to create more Florida chapters. Tallahassee Democrat.
• Jaden Edison. December 8, 2025. Texas launches plan to open Turning Point USA chapters in every high school. Texas Tribune.
• Robby Korth, Graycen Wheeler, Lionel Ramos, OPMX. September 23, 2025. State superintendent calls for Turning Point USA chapter at every high school in Oklahoma. KGOU.org.
• Uncloseted Media
• Hope Pisoni’s Substack
• Torrey Peters. 2021. Detransition, Baby. One World.
• Nakatani Nio. 2017. Bloom Into You. Seven Seas.

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References and suggested readings:

• Julie L. Reed. 2026. Land, Language, and Women: A Cherokee and American Educational History. University of North Carolina Press.
• Jennifer Raff. 2023. Origin: A Genetic History of the Americas. Twelve.
• Lisa Wingate. 2025. Shelterwood. Ballantine Books.
• Daniel H. Wilson. 2025. Hole in the Sky. Doubleday.
• Daniel Wilson. 2012. Robopocalypse. Vintage.
• Julie Reed’s faculty page
• Follow Julie Reed on Bluesky and Threads: @jreedmo

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Get in touch! Email Lauren at shephell@iu.edu. You can also anonymously request an episode or give feedback on the show.

References and suggested readings:

• Linda M. Perkins. 2024. To Advance the Race: Black Women's Higher Education from the Antebellum Era to the 1960s. University of Illinois Press.
• Crystal R. Sanders. 2024. A Forgotten Migration: Black Southerners, Segregation Scholarships, and the Debt Owed to Public HBCUs. University of North Carolina Press.
• Marybeth Gasman and Levon T. Esters. 2024. HBCU: The Power of Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Johns Hopkins University Press.
• Noliwe Rooks. 2024. A Passionate Mind in Relentless Pursuit: The Vision of Mary McLeod Bethune. Penguin Random House.
• Linda Perkins’ faculty page

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Get in touch! Email Lauren at shephell@iu.edu. You can also anonymously request an episode or give feedback on the show.

How colleges collect our data.

References and suggested readings:

• Andrew Guthrie Ferguson. 2026. Your Data Will Be Used Against You: Policing in the Age of Self-Surveillance. New York University Press.
• Andrew Guthrie Ferguson and Jonathan Yusef Newton. 2020. The Law of Law School: The Essential Guide for First-Year Law Students. New York University Press.
• Andrew Guthrie Ferguson. 2019. The Rise of Big Data Policing: Surveillance, Race, and the Future of Law Enforcement. New York University Press.
• John Warner and Matt Seybold. February 3, 2026. The Technology That's Taking Your Freedom. Academic Freedom On the Line.
• Brian Hochman. 2022. The Listeners: A History of Wiretapping in the United States. Harvard University Press.
• Andrew Guthrie Ferguson’s faculty page, LinkedIn, and Bluesky

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One of our favorite culture warriors, Dr. Cheney.

References and suggested readings:

• Mark Hlavacik. 2025. Willing Warriors: A New History of the Education Culture Wars. University of Chicago Press.
• Mark Hlavacik. 2016. Assigning Blame: The Rhetoric of Education Reform. Harvard University Press.
• Emma Whitford. January 7, 2026. Plato Censored as Texas A&M Carries Out Course Review. Inside Higher Ed.
• Texas A&M, Under New Curriculum Limits, Warns Professor Not to Teach Plato. New York Times.
• Lynne V. Cheney. October 20, 1994. The End of History. The Wall Street Journal.
• Lynne V. Cheney. January 24, 1995. Kill My Old Agency, Please.
• Andrew Hartman. 2019. A War for the Soul of America: A History of the Culture Wars, second edition. University of Chicago Press.
• Lynne Cheney, Pat Buchanan, Eric Foner, and Michael Kinsely. March 20, 1995. Crossfire, Part I and Part II
• Mark Hlavacik’s faculty page

Support the show

Browse the American Campus bookshelf

Get in touch! Email Lauren at shephell@iu.edu. You can also anonymously request an episode or give feedback on the show.