Pod and Man at Yale

Buckley Institute
Pod and Man at Yale

Pod and Man at Yale is the official podcast of the Buckley Institute, the only organization dedicated to promoting intellectual diversity and free speech at Yale. Pod and Man at Yale skips the pundits and highlights student voices on the issues facing campus and the country. 

  1. JUN 4

    From the Military to Yale: Yale Students and Faculty Discuss Their Own Transition Stories

    On the last episode of the spring semester, Pod and Man at Yale brought two military veterans, Valerie Calderon-Meyer ’27 and Galen Jones MPH/MBA '26, to talk about post-military life at Yale:  Calderon-Meyer: “Most of my friends are graduates or PhD students who are within my age group. I think I feel deeper connections in that way.” Jones: “The school of management, I’ve had a very, I think, easy time fitting in. 10% of the student body are veterans. So, it’s a very high percentage, and I think it’s increasing.”Jones: “People don’t know oftentimes how to handle the military experience but they’re very open to learning about it. And it doesn’t actually pose a barrier between friendships at all.”Calderon-Meyer: “I think in my experience, Yale College, for the most part, has been really accommodating, with student accessibility and accommodations for one. They welcome veterans. They understand that well…I think Yale’s making some big strides for veterans.”Jones: “I know also Yale has brought in not only new roles but a new office over by Mory’s, and have shown pretty real dedication to increasing the veterans support and community across campus.”Jones: “More often than not, we’re not in situations where (military experience) does add value. But when it does, I do try and make a concerted effort to go outside, I guess, my own comfort zone of saying these things, because it is another perspective that needs to be told and shared. And there are a lot of times that there is a large value add.”Peter Dutton, military veteran and Senior Research Scholar in Law and Senior Fellow for the Paul Tsai China Center at Yale Law School, joined the podcast to talk about his own transition from military to civilian life and to look at the China challenge:  Dutton: “The transition from being active duty to civilian, you know, the strongest thing in it was the something I didn’t expect, was the sense of, I just wasn’t responsible for everything anymore. As a naval officer, it’s just sort of ingrained in you that you are responsible for the outcome of the mission of the organization that you are a part of. Period. End of discussion.”Dutton: “Probably the average student in the military is somewhat more conservative than the average student here at Yale or at NYU. But it may in part have to do with age and experiences. Because what you really see in the military is a pretty significant reflection of the diversity of American society.”Dutton: “A lot of people sort of stereotype Yale as leaning hard to the left and I find in the student body so far in my interactions, that’s an oversimplification.”Dutton: “There’s a lot of worry that China is becoming a global military power. I think it’s too soon to begin to seriously worry about that…America has a global military with global focuses. China has a very focused military, and yet China’s military is very strong.” Dutton: “America should be concerned about China and there are senses in which China can be a threat to the United States.”        Subscribe to get all Buckley Institute updates at buckleyinstitute.com. Follow us on Twitter @BuckleyInst

    43 min
  2. APR 30

    Conservative at Yale; Buckley Biographer Lawrence Perelman on William F. Buckley, Jr., The Man

    On the newest episode of Pod and Man at Yale, Anshul Guha ’25 and Kevin Baisden LAW ’25 talked about what it means to be conservative at Yale:  Guha: “I think the most important thing for me, as a conservative on campus at that time, was to make sure that I was continuing to speak out…and making sure that my views were heard just so that there was this opposing view on campus.”Baisden: “I didn’t self-censor. None of my closest friends at the law school self-censored. Even in classes—I’m just thinking back to my federal courts class, which is taught by a very famous constitutional scholar who is definitely liberal—I would have no issue espousing or endorsing a conservative viewpoint leading up to the election.”Guha: “A couple years ago, the whole idea that young people can plausibly be conservative in large numbers was just not a thing and so even the discussion [about conservative policies] wouldn’t happen. So, I’m just happy that the discussion is now happening.”Baisden: “If I’m being candid, I expected more critical thought and critical discussions from both directions before I got to Yale Law School.” Baisden: “As a conservative, I’m defense counsel every time I walk into the law school.”Lawrence Perelman, a close friend of William F. Buckley, Jr., recently published a new bio of the iconic conservative thinker, American Impresario: William F. Buckley, Jr. and the Elements of American Character. He joined the podcast to talk about his new book, his relationship with Buckley, and how music shaped their lives and relationship:  Perelman: “I knew of Bill–not only knew of, but he was a hero of mine growing up in the 1980’s as a vehement anticommunist, as a philosemite, as someone had pushed the antisemites out of the conservative movement. And for me and my parents—my parents fled the Soviet Union in 1975, so 50 years ago—he always stood as a beacon of hope and inspiration.”Perelman on Finding a Mentor: “Getting through the door the first time can be tough. But getting through the second time is even tougher. You have to really prove yourself.”  Perelman: “After my parents, he was the most important person in my life. There is no question…In terms of my formative life, to understand generosity, to understand the importance of communication, of staying in touch, of actually responding to someone’s letter, there’s no one that shines brighter for me. Those acts actually changed the course of my life.”Perelman: “He was just a pleasure to be around. He was nice. He was fun. He was warm. He was, for me at that age, probably more grandfatherly…It was just a real grasp and respect for the young people around him.”Subscribe to get all Buckley Institute updates at buckleyinstitute.com. Follow us on Twitter @BuckleyInst

    49 min
  3. APR 7

    The Yale Political Union and the Death of Debate on Campus; Jamie Kirchick on the Failure of the Media and the New Censorious Generation

    On the newest episode of Pod and Man at Yale, Abhinay Lingareddy ’26, Will Flanigan ’27, and John Byler ’28 discuss the storied Yale Political Union, its conservative bent, and the state of debate on Yale’s campus:  Byler ’28: “On the left, in the party of the left, the progressive party, I would be shocked to find a single trump voter. But in the Federalist Party, and I what I presume to be other conservative parties as well, there’s a pretty even split between Republican and Democrat voters.”Lingareddy ’26: “A lot of the conservatives on campus are conservative on campus but not necessarily right wing on a national scale.”Will Flanigan ’27: “Coming to Yale as a conservative, you kind of understand that that’s more unique and so you naturally want to search out opportunities to engage with people that agree with you broadly…There aren’t that many other places to go, one of the few others being the Buckley Institute itself, of which, the vast majority of political union members, certainly on the right, are members as well.”Lingareddy  ’26: “There’s also a perception that the union isn’t the safest space for the left, which I think is sometimes true but not all the time.”Independent journalist Jamie Kirchick ’06 talked about the more censorious new generation of journalists and the decline of campus dialogue:  Kirchick ’06: “It seems that things have gone in a bad direction in that there’s less debates going on between people of different opinions, that people sort of cocooned into their ideological corners.”Kirchick ’06: “It’s often the more elite and prestigious the school is, the worse it is when it comes to free expression.”Kirchick ’06: “The mainstream media are usually right. They’re usually reporting the facts. But there have been major stories, major themes that they’ve gotten wrong over the years and they’ve refused to apologize for.”Kirchick ’06: “I do think it is up to leaders in these media institutions to stop bowing down to the 25-year-olds who work for them and are demanding all these radical changes.”Subscribe to get all Buckley Institute updates at buckleyinstitute.com. Follow us on Twitter @BuckleyInst

    48 min
  4. MAR 12

    “Students… Should Not Have Oversight Over Police”: Yalies on a YPD Oversight Board

    Yale College Council Senators Will Barbee ’26 and David Fleming ’26 join Yale Daily News columnist Joshua Danziger ’28 to talk about the new YCC call for student oversight of the Yale Police Department: Will Barbee’26: “I do think it’s important to keep it in our minds, and, you know, always make sure that we’re giving them the adequate resources they need to keep us safe.”  Joshua Danziger ’28: “Students, I think, recognize that the campus needs police, and New Haven needs police, and that it’s important to have a positive relationship with the department.” Danziger: “Students and graduate students and faculty are not law enforcement. They have not been trained in protecting civilian populations. They shouldn’t have oversight over police matters.”David Fleming ’26: “It didn’t work great to have student representatives in the past, not to say it can’t in the future, but I think they should be erring more towards faculty representatives on that board.” Barbee: “…[Police are] people too, and they’re people doing a job that’s important for your life.”The Manhattan Institute’s Rafael Mangual talked about the dangers of the defund the police movement and the hypocrisy of many its biggest proponents: Mangual: “A lot of the resource constraints are often created by people who share this ideology. And the ideology is really rooted in a fundamental disagreement with the idea that a functioning civil society requires institutions of law enforcement to flourish. I think that’s true. Police abolitionists…don’t.”Mangual: “We should take note of the fact that a lot of the people offering the most extreme kind of reforms don’t stand to pay any of the price should things go south…They have no skin in the game.”Mangual: “I always ask people who say police need more oversight, where is the lack of oversight? I never really get a good answer.”Mangual: “There’s no reason to believe that a handful of students and faculty members at Yale, as great a university as it is, are well-positioned to direct or redirect the decisions being made by professional police.”Subscribe to get all Buckley Institute updates at buckleyinstitute.com. Follow us on Twitter @BuckleyInst

    1h 3m
  5. JAN 30

    “Like an Additional Extracurricular”: Students Discuss Religion on Campus; Notre Dame’s Rick Garnett on Church and State in Modern America

    In the newest episode Pod and Man at Yale, Will Barbee ’26, and Raleigh Adams DIV ’26, discuss being religious on campus, how Yale interacts with and teaches religion, and the ways a religious lifestyle build on and improves the campus experience: Adams ’26: “You kind of are on the back foot in being that minority of being a traditionally religious student.” Barbee ’26: “In terms of just perceptions of religion from the student body, I would say that the biggest problem that I’ve seen with it, is that students view religion as almost like an additional extracurricular rather than something that’s obviously much deeper than just a club.”Barbee ’26: “Speaking specifically to Yale’s campus, I think there is just the plague of too much business all the time with undergraduates… I think a lot of them are looking for a place that religion can offer, which is a place to center yourself, a place to find some sort of deeper connection than just the day-to-day aspects of life.”Adams ’26: “If you have to accept anyone’s truth, it kind of loosens the grip that you have on your own. I think even just being here a semester, I’ve watched multiple people come in relatively firm in their faith practices then kind of just lost a grip on that as they are focused on and forced to kind of grapple with these questions more.”Barbee ’26: “I think [Yale] definitely could prioritize, if not religious conversation or religious inculcation in the students, at least some sort of a sense of a deeper moral and spiritual life.”  University of Notre Dame’s Richard Garnett LAW ’95 talked about religion in the public square, America’s past persecution of Catholics, and Notre Dame’s position as an icon of Catholic life—on the football field and around the country: Garnett: “For long, long time on the Supreme Court, there was this sense that you could have one Catholic justice and one Jewish justice, but no more. The Supreme Court belonged to White guys who have gone to Harvard.”Garnett: “There are people in public commentary who have various theories about how the justices are doing certain things because they are Catholic… I think those complaints are unfounded… they don’t vote to bring about the Catholic legal position any more than Justice Kagan votes to bring about the Jewish legal position.” Garnett: “I think a lot of the attacks on the Supreme Court are unfair and unfounded.” Subscribe to get all Buckley Institute updates at buckleyinstitute.com. Follow us on Twitter @BuckleyInst

    1h 6m
  6. JAN 16

    “The consequences of not having free speech”: Free Speech Gains Support, Debating Shoutdowns; Alec Torres on Good Speechwriting

    On the first episode of Pod and Man at Yale of the year, Hilda Barragan-Reyes ’26, Abhinay Lingareddy ’26, and Eric Arabadzhiev ’28  talk about new Yale student survey results pointing to an increase in support for free speech. They also debate the free speech value of shout downs and whether institutional neutrality really matters for free speech.  Arabadzhiev ’28: “I think, across the board, that sort of censorious behavior is not one that we should be welcoming onto a campus that supposedly its mission is to seek truth.”Lingareddy ’26: “I’m not endorsing shouting down as productive. I don’t think the form of speech should always be productive. I don’t think that’s the only value of speech. I think speech is often a form of expression.”Barragan-Reyes ’26: “I think it’s hard to discount the consequences of expressing certain views on campus, as we saw during the Israel conflict that’s still going on.”Lingareddy ’26: “Yale has power. Yale has money. What is all that money for. What is all that power for and influence for if we’re just going to be institutionally neutral.”Alec Torres ’13, past speech writer for President Donald Trump, J.D. Vance, and Kevin McCarthy walks through what it means and what it takes to write a great speech:  Torres '13: “What makes a great speech is the unity of having a moment worthy of greatness and then meeting the moment with something beautiful and something profound.” Torres '13: “In any craft, if you’re good enough at it over time, and devote yourself to it, you’ll hit those flow points where it’s almost like you’re not working… the creative aspect of it can flow through you freely without blockages. The ancients would call it the muse. Maybe an inspiration of the Spirit in more Christian terms.”  Torres '13: “I try to unlock in my own mind why I personally should care about what I’m writing about. Why does it actually matter?” Torres '13: “Too zealously guarding one’s reputation and fearing malign influences of other people is a recipe for unhappiness and, in my opinion, ultimate failure professionally too.”Subscribe to get all Buckley Institute updates at buckleyinstitute.com. Follow us on Twitter @BuckleyInst

    56 min

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
7 Ratings

About

Pod and Man at Yale is the official podcast of the Buckley Institute, the only organization dedicated to promoting intellectual diversity and free speech at Yale. Pod and Man at Yale skips the pundits and highlights student voices on the issues facing campus and the country. 

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