Independent Institute Podcast Independent Institute

Why are all the campus protests so ideologically one-sided? Was Claudine Gay the tip of the iceberg on plagiarism? Is scientific objectivity passé among the faculty? And will all this educational malpractice lead to financial problems that will put colleges out of business?

Campuses are overtaken by protest encampments, Jewish students are targeted, and higher ed leaders can’t manage to condemn antisemitism while protecting free speech. But the problems go deeper—like the plagiarism that university faculty would never tolerate in their students. On other fronts, what’s up with all these bans on lab-grown meat? And does the Biden administration understand how money works? Graham Walker, Phillip Magness, and Williamson Evers discuss all this and more on this episode of Independent Outlook.

Trump tried tariffs, he wants to try them some more, in order to help workers; what’s wrong with that? California wants to help workers by enforcing a new “fast food” wage law; what could go wrong? Hint in both cases: things can backfire. Did RFK, Jr. get the hint? Probably not, but he’s sure railing loudly against the perils of Big Government. These issues and more animate the conversation among Graham Walker, Phillip Magness, and Williamson Evers.

When a state, like Texas or Florida, tries to protect people’s free speech rights against biased social media companies, is the state then violating the free speech rights of the social media companies? How’s President Biden doing at shrinking inflation? And what’s going on with Alabama’s IVF laws?

Ever wonder why California gas prices are perpetually higher than in other states? Or why residential real estate in California is overwhelmingly more expensive than elsewhere? Or why wildfires got so out of control in recent years? Or why a visit to a California DMV office has been such an ordeal—but is maybe a bit better in recent years?

What’s behind the ugly antisemitism on campuses and elsewhere that surged up after the Hamas attack on Israel in October 2023? The viciousness against Jews took a lot of people by surprise, but it did not surprise Dr. Benjamin Ginsberg, author of The New American Anti-Semitism. He talks with Independent’s Graham Walker about the book in this episode of Independent Conversations.