Welcome to The Lost Debate, a show for politically eclectics. I'm Robbie Gupta. So in this episode,

we're going to talk about higher education with a particular deep dive on one institution, the University of

Michigan, and that entire system. But really, what we're going to unearth are larger debates and

patterns, not just about the higher education systems all across America,

but around ideologies that have been long a feature of contemporary political debates,

like everything from DEI to identity politics to critical race theory. And what you will find is a tangible set of circumstances that will give you an opportunity to decide for yourself, do I like the direction of these things?

Do I think they're performing a meaningful service?

Are there flaws that need to be addressed?

Are they more than flaws?

I suspect that you could come out thinking,

wow, there's something tremendously different about the way that universities

and perhaps other important institutions in society are operating than what I assumed coming in.

And I have to say, as somebody who's been talking about this stuff for a long time in this podcast, the scope of what I've learned in these two interviews in this podcast around what's happening at the University of Michigan and universities across the country is even more dramatic than I thought. And we have probably done 20 plus episodes on various subjects related to this over the course of the past few years.

What you're going to hear is first an interview with Nick Confessore, who wrote a Long New York Times magazine piece about the University of Michigan and its DEI efforts.

This is going to blow your mind.

And then I talked to Jordan Acker, who is an elected member of the University of Michigan

Board of Regents, the body that oversees universities there. He has been subject to both

personal attack and has been in the middle of a vigorous debate about the direction of that institution.

You are going to love this episode. It's going to make you think as we head to the

holidays. It perhaps will give you fodder for some of these conversations around the dinner table

at your family gatherings at the holidays. Let's jump in.

Nick, welcome to the podcast.

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