Podcast Summary: Conversations With Coleman
Episode: The Viral Educator: Warren Smith on Wokeness, Campus Culture, and Losing His Job
Date: November 24, 2025
Host: Coleman Hughes
Guest: Warren Smith (professor, filmmaker, content creator)
Overview
In this episode, Coleman Hughes interviews Warren Smith, a former special ed and Emerson College instructor whose Socratic, open-minded style of teaching recently went viral—particularly the video where he respectfully questions a student about labeling J.K. Rowling a transphobe. Smith discusses the repercussions of going viral, his subsequent firing, and the ideological climate on elite college campuses. Together, Hughes and Smith compare campus experiences from 2016–2020, analyze the rise of "wokeness," and discuss challenges for higher education reform, including both policy and teaching culture.
Key Discussion Points & Insights
1. Warren Smith's Viral Moment & Firing
- Origin of the viral video: Smith recorded a spontaneous Socratic dialogue with a student about J.K. Rowling—a conversation intended as a classroom warmup (03:21).
- Going viral and what followed (05:54):
- Smith never expected the video to become public, but someone uploaded it to X (Twitter), catching widespread attention.
- He describes feeling at a crossroads: “A door kind of opened. You kind of reach a fork in the road…this is never going to happen again. So I’m going to try and make the most of this.” (03:21, Smith)
- After appearing on national media, such as Piers Morgan, Smith was fired by his school, not for breaking any written rule, but due to concerns of “liability” for the school’s reputation and community backlash. (06:01)
- The school attempted to get him to sign an NDA in exchange for severance, which he refused. Legal help came from Peter Boghossian, but Smith decided not to pursue litigation (08:46).
2. Campus Culture: “Wokeness”, Race, and Status
- Coleman and Smith recognize striking parallels between Emerson College (Smith) and Columbia (Hughes) in 2016–2020—particularly the dominance of progressive ideology and identity-based status hierarchies, dubbed the “oppression Olympics.”
- “The trans black disabled woman is at the top of the hierarchy… [and] the straight white male is at the bottom.” (12:41, Hughes)
- Smith describes how campus protests, faculty fear, and anonymous bias reporting shaped everything from grading policies to classroom discussions (15:02).
- Example: A professor tells Smith not to “hold [students] to account” if they are black, defining this as “taking into account…their lived experience...That’s why they weren’t coming to class and didn’t do any of their work.” (16:05, Smith)
- Hughes critiques the “bigotry of low expectations” and how the incentive structure can undermine achievement and integrity among minority students (17:08).
3. Narrative and Victimhood
- Smith explores why these narratives are so persuasive:
- “We are narrative creatures…when you’re being sold this story and everyone around you is buying into it...It feels good to be a victim.” (19:08, Smith)
- They discuss how campus activists ask white students to “just don’t talk” and “cede your space” instead of providing concrete policy solutions (20:29), a stark contrast with historical civil rights movements.
- Hughes critiques the shift from solving real, material inequities to a focus on subjective, unprovable mental states and “microaggressions” (24:24).
4. The Underbelly of Elite College Life
- Hughes analyzes how affirmative action and cultural/social differences can create real, if complex, feelings of alienation among minority students—leading some to blame the institution and peers for low status (25:23).
- Smith describes actual discrimination faced as a white, Southern, male student within classrooms heavily dominated by international students and progressive orthodoxy (29:38).
5. Suppression of Dissent & Academic Indoctrination
- Both share vivid stories of classroom environments where (non-ideological) dissent is unsafe, and challenging core concepts or assignments leads to ostracization (32:34, Smith recounts being alone on a thesis project).
- Hughes and Smith recount reading figures like Foucault and Marx—“dead white males” who are oddly immune from the supposedly anti-canonical critiques levied at others (50:44).
6. Postmodernism as Root Issue
- Smith: “People’s eyes glaze over because [postmodernism] can be so difficult…Everything’s malleable, there’s no objective truth” (52:44).
- The dangers of “there’s no objective truth”—Smith and Hughes agree this undermines both moral clarity and social cohesion.
- As Hughes says, “Postmodernism actually refutes itself. It is an incoherent philosophy.” (54:57, Hughes)
- Smith: “Morality is superstition…That’s the sentiment on campus…That’s the mainstream majority thought at my college.” (55:15)
7. Reactions to Political Life and Cancel Culture
- Discussion of campus reactions to major political events—including selective outrage at violence or death, depending on political allegiance (56:50).
- Hughes bemoans the lack of principle: “Either it’s true that we shouldn’t celebrate someone getting killed, or it isn’t, and you should be consistent with that principle.” (57:32, Hughes)
8. Fixing Higher Ed: Reform or Rebuild?
- Hughes describes his positive experience at the University of Austin—a new institution dedicated to heterodoxy and open dialogue. He highlights its contrast with legacy institutions’ inertia and credibility.
- Debate: Reforming from within (restoring classroom norms, fixing perverse financial incentives, e.g., student loans), versus building new institutions from scratch.
- Smith: “Honestly, I don’t think it’s that difficult to return to [open dialogue], but there are other problems at play…My personal advice is…nothing will improve your life more than living in accordance with the fabric of reality.” (69:52, Smith)
Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments
- “You realize it’s one of those moments. It’s probably a once in a lifetime opportunity to try and make something of it...So me and one other teacher set up this space where I am now. And once a week we would just kind of record and try to see where it would take us.” (03:21, Smith)
- On his firing: “They were like, congratulations, you didn’t break any rules. You handled it well...But that’s not how it felt. It felt like something else...They wanted me to sign an NDA. And then they were like, we’ll pay you if you sign this NDA. But you could never talk about being fired.” (08:46, Smith)
- “There is a way to get within their good graces if you’re a white guy, but...you’ve got to condemn yourself first on the basis of your race...I respected more the white people that didn’t do that.” (34:38, Hughes)
- “Morality is superstition...That’s the sentiment on campus...That’s the mainstream majority thought at my college.” (55:15, Smith)
- “My view is...[that] if you give [students] a total pass to get a good result without putting in any of the work, most people will go down that path.” (17:08, Hughes)
- “Postmodernism actually refutes itself. It is an incoherent philosophy.” (54:57, Hughes)
- “Nothing will improve your life more than living in accordance with the fabric of reality.” (69:52, Smith)
Timestamps for Important Segments
| Time | Segment | |---------|-----------------------------------------------------------| | 03:21 | Warren Smith describes the viral J.K. Rowling video origin story and the aftermath | | 06:01 | The firing: legal, ethical, and reputational dynamics | | 12:41 | Hughes introduces “oppression Olympics” and race-based status culture | | 15:02 | Emerson’s culture: anonymous bias reporting, faculty fear, protest stories | | 16:05 | Example of professor excusing black student’s lack of work on race grounds | | 19:08 | Why victimhood narratives are so persuasive | | 20:29 | “Just don’t talk”—being told to cede space as a white student | | 24:24 | Microaggressions, post-criminalized evidence, and subjective oppression | | 29:38 | Smith on being a cultural minority at Emerson and facing social/ideological exclusion | | 32:34 | Lack of peer support for non-conforming academic projects | | 50:44 | Hughes introduces the paradox of "dead white males" in the canon, focusing on Foucault and Marx | | 52:44 | Postmodernism's attack on objectivity and classroom consequences | | 54:57 | Critique of postmodernism’s logical incoherence | | 55:15 | Smith on campus morality and the consequences of postmodern thought | | 56:50 | Consistency and partisanship in moral judgment: Osama vs. Thatcher, Kirk’s death | | 66:27 | Hughes on fear of expressing dissent in class, even as a “speak my mind” student | | 69:52 | Solutions: reforming classroom culture, financial incentives, and technological impacts |
The Takeaway
This episode is a vivid, firsthand dive into the ideological transformation of college culture, the fragile state of academic freedom, and the complex roots of campus “wokeness.” Smith’s and Hughes’s reflections are illuminating for anyone interested in education, free speech, or the challenges of building healthy academic institutions. Their personal stories of alienation, courage, and relentless inquiry offer not only critique—but hope that a return to genuine, open-ended learning is both possible and necessary.
Follow Warren Smith: