Course Catalog: Decoding — and Fighting — Conspiracy Theories
Conspiracy theories have played a role in American culture and politics for decades. In the course "Conspiracy Rhetoric: Power, Politics, and Pop Culture" at Bates College, students closely examine what propels those theories. Stephanie Kelley-Romano, a professor of rhetoric, film, and screen studies, says many students begin her course with a basic understanding of conspiratorial thinking. Often, she said, those students seek to understand how some people — sometimes people they love — can fall under its thrall. While students learn what to say to a true-believing friend or relative, the course also teaches them how to recognize narrative framing, conduct their own research, and identify trends in language, media, and storytelling that fuel conspiracy theories.
Guest
Stephanie Kelley-Romano, professor of rhetoric, film and screen studies at Bates College
For more on today’s episode, visit chronicle.com/collegematters. We aim to make transcripts available within a day of an episode’s publication.
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31:59
Mr. Varsity Blues Claps Back
After 16 months in a federal prison camp, William (Rick) Singer has had time to reflect on his role as the architect of a college-admissions bribery scheme that became known as Varsity Blues. The college consultant has apologized for concocting a plot that helped wealthy families, including some Hollywood celebrities, secure admission for their children to prestigious universities. But he isn’t slinking into the shadows. Singer says he’s already back in the consulting business. And he has come out of prison swinging, blasting the FBI, the college-admissions system, and anyone who might question the credentials of the students he represented.
Related Reading:
‘It’s an Aristocracy’: What the Admissions-Bribery Scandal Has Exposed About Class on Campus (The Chronicle)
Higher Ed’s Bribery Scandal Is Decadent and Depraved. Here Are 8 Truly Tasteless Allegations (The Chronicle)
We, the Privileged Parents That Matter, Applaud the Netflix College-Admissions Scandal Doc (The Chronicle)
Admission Through the ‘Side Door’ (The Chronicle)
Guest:
William (Rick) Singer, college consultant
For more on today’s episode, visit chronicle.com/collegematters. We aim to make transcripts available within a day of an episode’s publication.
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48:07
A Crunchy College Goes Conservative
More than two years after Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis installed a slate of conservative members to its governing board, New College of Florida has seen transformations large and small. In some of the first shots of what became a wider war on “woke” education, New College’s trustees ditched gender studies, endorsed a curriculum focused on the Western canon, and made the Sarasota, Fla. campus inhospitable to some faculty and students. New College is more appealing now to jocks, and it's flush with money appropriated by Florida’s Republican-controlled legislature. But what does all this mean for the quirky institution that had long been known as “Barefoot U.”?
Related Reading
The College That Conservatives Took Over (The Chronicle)
A Professor at New College Quits in Dramatic Fashion. Here’s Why He Felt He Had to Go. (The Chronicle)
Why I Am Joining the Reconquista: Taking back power from the academic left depends on storming the public institutions, not fleeing from them. (The American Conservative)
Will a Small, Quirky College Become ‘DeSantis U.’? (The Washington Post)
Guest:Emma Pettit, senior reporter at The Chronicle of Higher Education
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46:18
Why Faculty Hate Teaching Evaluations
On paper, student teaching evaluations make a lot of sense. Who is better positioned to say whether a professor did a good job than the students who took the course? But dig a little deeper, and there’s good reason to question whether colleges should be relying on teaching evaluations to inform big decisions about an instructor’s promotion, pay, or even continued employment. So what’s wrong with this system? And why do colleges still cling to it, despite research that shows it’s flawed?
Related Reading:
Sign up for The Chronicle’s Teaching Newsletter (The Chronicle)
Teaching Evaluations are Broken. Can They Be Fixed? (The Chronicle)
A University Overhauled Its Course Evaluation to Get Better Feedback. Here’s What Changed. (The Chronicle)
Meta-analysis of faculty’s teaching effectiveness: Student evaluation of teaching ratings and student learning are not related. (ScienceDirect)
Guest:
Beckie Supiano, senior writer at The Chronicle of Higher Education
For more on today’s episode, visit chronicle.com/collegematters.
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40:11
Future U: Making Sense of the First 100 Days
In this special episode, recorded live at the ASU+GSV Summit, Future U. hosts Jeff Selingo and Michael Horn dive into the rapidly evolving higher ed landscape in President Trump’s second term. They discuss massive cuts at the U.S. Department of Education, mounting challenges around international student enrollment, and looming threats to federal research funding. They examine the broader, longer-term implications of these shifts for colleges and draw from their recent research to discuss how leaders can nurture positive campus culture during these challenging times. This episode is made with support from Ascendium Education Group and the Gates Foundation.
Links We Mention
Mark Schneider: Blowing Up Ed Research is Easy. Rebuilding it is ‘What Matters’
Chapters
0:00 - Intro
7:32 - Cuts to the Department of Education
20:40 - Targeting International Students
23:48 - Withholding of Federal Research Grants
39:25 - Our Favorite Higher Ed Commentary
46:31 - Changing Campus Culture
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Everything happening in the world converges in one place: higher education. Political unrest, the future of AI, the dizzying cost of everything — all of it is playing out on college campuses. On College Matters, a podcast from The Chronicle of Higher Education, we explore the world through the prism of the nation’s colleges and universities.
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