Welcome to the report card with Nat Moufus, the Education Policy podcast from the American Enterprise Institute.

Over the past year, the Trump administration has rewritten the playbook

for how Washington interacts with higher education, especially elite universities.

How should universities respond to the Trump administration's efforts? Have the Trump administration's

actions been legal? And how can universities better serve the American

public? To discuss these questions and more, I invited Lee Bollinger onto the podcast.

Lee Bollinger is the Seth Lowe professor at Columbia University and the author of a new book,

University, A Reckoning. Previously, he was president of Columbia University

and president of the University of Michigan. Lee Bollinger, welcome to the report card.

Thank you. I'm glad to be with you. Lee, you were the president of Columbia University from 2002 to 2023.

And that makes you one of the longest tenured Ivy League presidents in the post-World War II era.

So what was your secret for longevity?

Good question.

I mean, I think the answer is that I love the job.

I mean, I think it's one of the greatest jobs in the world. These are spectacular institutions. They have their flaws. I'm sure we will talk about some of them. But on the whole, they are really wonderful places to be part of, to help lead.

And, you know, it's great to have young people every single year come in and be part of this.

It's all exciting.

So I love the role.

And, of course, before that, I'd been president of the University of Michigan for five years.

So really a quarter century of my life has been devoted to being a president.

And then the rest of the time, I've been a dean and a law professor, and now I'm a law professor and a university professor again.

What would you say was your biggest success as Columbia's president?

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