Daniel Diermeier on Why Universities Are Their Own Worst Enemies

The Good Fight

Yascha Mounk

News

4.7 • 963 Ratings

🗓️ 14 February 2026

⏱️ 58 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Yascha Mounk and Daniel Diermeier examine how elite institutions created the backlash that now threatens their future. Daniel Diermeier is Chancellor of Vanderbilt University, where he has served since 2020. In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Daniel Diermeier discuss why American universities are simultaneously world-leading and losing public trust, whether elite higher education creates dangerous separation between the professional class and ordinary Americans, and how the shift from regional to national universities has reshaped American society. Polarization is at an all-time high. It can feel daunting—perhaps even misguided—to engage in meaningful dialogue with those holding starkly different views. What does it mean to champion pluralism in such a moment? Persuasion’s new series on the future of pluralism, generously supported by the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, features essays and podcast interviews that make the case for civic dialogue and highlight inspiring examples of it in practice. You can find past installments here. If you have not yet signed up for our podcast, please do so now by following ⁠⁠⁠this link on your phone⁠⁠⁠. Email: leonora.barclay@persuasion.community Podcast production by Jack Shields and Leonora Barclay. Connect with us! ⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠Apple⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠Google⁠⁠⁠ X: ⁠⁠⁠@Yascha_Mounk⁠⁠⁠ & ⁠⁠⁠@JoinPersuasion⁠⁠⁠ YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠Yascha Mounk⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Persuasion⁠⁠⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠⁠⁠Persuasion Community⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode is brought to you by Indeed.
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0:21.9	at Indeed.com slash SPANUK. Terms and conditions apply. If you've ever been in a battle like that,
0:30.3	it's personal, you're being attacked as sexist, racist, whatever it is, it's painful. And so people
0:37.1	don't do it.
0:38.2	And so the typical experience
0:40.3	for a university president
0:41.6	like mine is you go,
0:42.9	you know,
0:43.2	you have a kind of contentious debate
0:44.7	where only one cycle speaking
0:46.8	and then you go into the elevator
0:48.3	and your faculty member says,
0:49.7	I totally agree with you.
0:50.9	Did you do a great job?
0:52.7	And now the good fight with Yasha Monk.
1:02.0	One of the jobs I have to say that I would least like to have these tastes is to lead
1:07.0	a major American university.
	...

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