Hey there, it's Stephen Dubner.

Before today's episode, a quick announcement.

We are about to launch a new project, a video show that we've been working on for a while.

You could think of it as an indie TV talk show on YouTube.

We are very excited about it, and we're looking for Freakonomics Radio listeners who want to pre-screen episodes and share their feedback.

We will select 100 people to take an early look.

If you are interested in being an extension of our production crew, please go to the link in the show notes and sign up.

We will have a lot more to say very soon about this new show.

And now here is today's episode of Freakonomics Radio.

Right now is a hard time to lead just about any institution.

And leading a university is particularly hard.

You've got your campus protests, your financial pressures, including federal funding cuts.

You've got legal pressure from the Trump administration, which contends that universities

have become captured by left-wing ideologies. And it's not like the American people are

rushing to support you. According to Gallup surveys, public trust in higher education is near

a historic low. A lot of university leaders have

crumbled under all this pressure. Many have been pushed out. But some campus leaders are,

let's put it bluntly, they're winning. Over the next two episodes, we will talk to two of these

winners. First up, my name is Daniel Diom Amira. I'm the Chancellor of Vanderbilt

is a major research university in Nashville, Tennessee, with about 7,300 undergraduates and 6,300

graduate and professional students. Its graduate programs in medicine and education are world-class.

Its business and law schools are also very well-regarded.

...