School’s Out. Campus Political Wars Are Just Beginning

Summary

Podcast Summary: "School’s Out. Campus Political Wars Are Just Beginning"

How Is This Better?
Host: Akilah Hughes
Guest: Elise Joshi (Head of More Perfect University, a project from More Perfect Union)
Date: May 15, 2026

Episode Overview

This episode delves into the shifting landscape of campus politics and how young people—especially Gen Z—are reacting to the economic and social challenges they face today. Akilah Hughes is joined by Elise Joshi to discuss the surge of right-wing influence on college campuses, young voter disillusionment, the impact of AI, and the creation of More Perfect University (MPU), an initiative to strengthen progressive organizing among students through storytelling and substantive engagement, rather than outrage-driven content.

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Key Topics & Discussion Points

Disillusionment Among Young Voters

Timestamps: 00:01–06:17

• Widespread Disenchantment: Young people are becoming increasingly skeptical of traditional party politics and the promised economic ladder to success (“The mirage that you can climb up this ladder…that idea is crumbling and young people feel it.” - Elise Joshi, 02:05).
• Economic Pressures: Rising student debt, a not-so-strong job market, and the reality of juggling multiple jobs with low pay contribute to this disillusionment.
• Education Under Threat: Political maneuvers—like threats from the Trump administration to pull university funding—are leading administrations to cite external pressures as reasons to restrict student protest and cut programs (“We have seen a crumbling of the right to protest on campuses over the last three years.” - Elise Joshi, 03:54).

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The Rise of Right-Wing Campus Organizing

Timestamps: 06:17–07:23

• Turning Point USA as a Symptom: Joshi argues TPUSA’s rise is less about their unique message, and more about a void created by both major parties being “co-opted and controlled by corporations and billionaires.” (Elise Joshi, 06:17)
• The Conservative Pipeline: The right has invested in making conservatism culturally resonant with young people using influencers and viral content.

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Young People, AI, and the Future

Timestamps: 07:23–14:44

• AI Skepticism: Despite using AI for daily tasks, students are deeply anxious about how unchecked, corporate-driven AI implementation might further erode their agency and prospects.
  • Quote: “Students are using it actively and yet are so anxious and angry about not just AI, but the fact that we have no agency over its implementation.” – Elise Joshi, 08:25
• Mistrust of Tech’s Role: Students don’t trust “Big Tech” with their futures—fearing things like automated resume screening, AI-driven rent hikes, and the merging of AI with military or surveillance functions.
  • Notable moment: Clip of students booing a commencement speaker touting AI as the “next industrial revolution.” (07:32)
• Missed Political Opportunities: The left, says Joshi, is missing a populist moment as cross-ideological coalitions (including MAGA counties) oppose AI data centers and unchecked automation.
  • Quote: “This is across ideology ... Rural, urban, marginalized black communities, Trump supporting white communities. It’s incredible to see that a large coalition can form around this issue.” – Elise Joshi, 11:10

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Constructive Progressive Organizing: More Perfect University

Timestamps: 16:53–23:02

• Antidote to the Right-Wing Machine: More Perfect University is designed to empower students to be storytellers and organizers around issues that affect them, rather than to mimic right-wing content tactics.
  • Quote: “We are informed by their investment … but More Perfect University is not replicating Turning Point.” – Elise Joshi, 18:36
• No Figurehead Model: MPU is not about a singular “debate me” figure but decentralizes leadership—anyone can tell their story, host events, and organize.
  • “It’s not about one figure. It’s about supporting thousands of students everywhere to have a voice ... There's no, you know, one snake head to chop off and then the nation is done. And that's a nice feature too.” – Elise Joshi, 19:16
• Narrative Over Rage: Unlike the “debate me bro” and rage-bait approach, MPU focuses on substance and lived experience. (“It’s not so much about ideology as it is telling stories that are under-told.” – Devin Maroney, 20:31)
• Real Stories, Real Impact: More Perfect Union’s success in rural areas and among unlikely constituencies is due to centering local voices and economic struggle over ideological litmus tests.

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Concrete Steps & Strategies

Timestamps: 23:23–27:27

• Amplifying Student Voices: Providing training and support for students to make videos and report on issues affecting them and their communities. (“The biggest piece right now of More Perfect University is training, partnering with and supporting students who want to tell stories about the issues facing their university, their campus, and also their community.” – Elise Joshi, 23:23)
• Events & Organizing: Plans include small, student-led events and bigger campus-wide gatherings focused on economic and free speech issues—deliberately avoiding reactionary and culture-war framing.

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Contrasts with Conservative Media Strategy

Timestamps: 25:40–27:29

• Content Strategy Differences: The right’s “content farming” relies on outrage, debate, and figureheads. MPU counters this by centering substantive issues and genuine collective experience.
  • “I believe in the substance mattering … if you speak to what students are actually facing you can compensate for not doing rage bait.” – Elise Joshi, 26:08

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Disillusionment:
  • “Young people are being told the economy is strong while they're juggling three jobs, drowning in rent, and sending out hundreds of resumes into an AI filtered void.” – Akilah Hughes, 05:13
• On AI’s Unfulfilled Promise:
  • “Students aren’t buying it, and it’s really, really interesting to see that, like, yeah, we need to have control over the implementation.” – Elise Joshi, 09:31
• On Hypocrisy:
  • “For eight years plus, they were the free speech advocates, and now they're supporting universities cracking down on students who are peacefully protesting on their campus.” – Elise Joshi, 21:05
• On Building a Better Political Culture:
  • “When you treat people with respect and you uplift their struggles, you don’t just turn people to your side per se. … You begin a conversation that never existed before and you welcome more people into your tent.” – Elise Joshi, 22:37

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Main Takeaways

• Gen Z is not swinging right—they’re losing faith in the system altogether.
• AI is a flashpoint for cross-ideological mistrust in corporate and governmental priorities.
• The right’s media-fueled campus surge exploits a vacuum left by disconnected mainstream politics.
• More Perfect University’s approach emphasizes empowerment, local storytelling, and coalition-building—not spectacle or outrage.
• Success for progressive campus movements lies in substance, authenticity, and organizing—not mimicking the right’s rage-driven playbook.

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For Further Information

• Follow: @MorePerfectUniversity on socials
• Watch: More Perfect Union’s videos on YouTube
• Host: @AkilahObviously

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This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in the future of student activism, progressive organizing, and the evolving dynamics of political identity in the digital age.

Transcript

[Akilah Hughes]

Over the last few years, there's been a growing panic among left leaning politicos about young voters, especially young men drifting to the right. You see it in polling and voting data. You see it in the explosion of right wing influencers online. And you especially see it on college campuses where conservative organizations like Turning Point USA have spent years building a massive organizing and media operation aimed directly at students. That operation includes influencers, viral clips, live streams, campus chapters. It's an entire pipeline designed to make conservative politics feel culturally relevant to young people. Now a left leaning organization is building something to rival it, but with a very different pitch. Not through debate me bro rage bait clips with a figurehead owning the college freshmen instead through storytelling and organizing around issues that matter to young people. A group that increasingly feels like the workforce and economy that they're inheriting simply do not work for them. Today I'm talking to Elise Joshi, the head of More Perfect University, a new project from More Perfect Union. We talked about why so many young people feel politically disillusioned, why AI has become such a flashpoint on campuses, and whether the left is finally starting to understand how political identity is actually shaped in the Internet era.

[Devin Maroney]

Before we get into More Perfect University, because I have a lot of questions about that, I kind of want to talk to you about the polling and the trends that we've seen coming out pretty much since 2024. You know, you've been spending a lot of time on college campuses and we were hearing sort of in the lead up to 2024 that Gen Z, specifically men, they're trending more conservative. But you know, conservatives are the ones who are loudly against education universities. They insist that colleges are these sort of liberal indoctrination factories. So, so I'm curious what the actual vibe that you've seen in, sensed out is like on college campuses right now.

[Elise Joshi]

Yeah, I, I feel like it's less about what party young people young men are trending towards and more that young people in general are trending towards disillusionment with a system that isn't working for them. And the mirage that you can climb up this ladder and you're going to graduate and in time you're going to be an executive, you're going to make a living wage more than a living wage that you can buy a home. Like all of these ideas that have been told to us in, in various ways throughout our life, that idea is crumbling and young people feel it. How young people respond to these conditions goes different ways of like, you know, we just need a different Party, we need to disrupt, we need to protest. I just don't believe in politics anymore. There's so many different feelings as it relates to that, to that disillusionment. But that is definitely the core of it.

[Akilah Hughes]

Absolutely.

[Devin Maroney]

And you know, I feel like that is something that has been trending that direction for a long time. So I'm not surprised. And the numbers coming out of, you know, all of the polling about employment. Right. And how Gen Z is just like deeply unemployed or they have like a million part time jobs because they never get full time jobs with health insurance or anything like that. And so, you know, I think that the disillusionment makes a lot of sense. And at the same time, you have Trump like threatening funding for college campuses anyway. So it's like you have kids who don't want to go because they're like, why would I get in debt when I know I can't dig my way out? And Trump also just pulling the funding and a lot of universities capitulating to him however they need to. Whether that's cracking down on protests or changing, you know, their hiring practices or their, you know, how they look for students. How is that changing things on campus?

[Akilah Hughes]

Like, do, do you hear anything about

[Devin Maroney]

that from the kids? Like, are they aware of the fact that, like, there is this outside pressure on the institutions they're attending?

[Elise Joshi]

Absolute. It makes everything harder. Where your administration is often using the Trump funding cuts and just the adverse conditions that they're facing from the federal government as an excuse to crack down on student protesters, to cut funding in various departments, that can be interpreted as dei. And while those situations are definitely real, like the Trump administration definitely is attacking higher education, it's still no excuse. And it doesn't negate the absolute crackdown prior to Trump and continuing during the Trump administration that administrations have been doing as it relates to student protests and the right to protest on campuses. And students are absolutely feeling it. I mean, we have seen a crumbling of the right to protest on campuses over the last three years.

[Akilah Hughes]

Absolutely.

[Elise Joshi]

It has been absolutely terrible for students at the same time that there's so much uncertainty over whether this degree is actually going to result in a life that's prosperous and dignified. And yeah, students are absolutely feeling it. It's the same things that we've been seeing and trending towards over the last 20 years. And just worse now, this is the disconnect.

[Akilah Hughes]

Young people are being told the economy is strong while they're juggling three jobs, drowning in rent and sending out hundreds of resumes into An AI filtered void. So if a politician tries to show up now talking about hope and opportunity, it falls a little bit flat.

[Devin Maroney]

I love the term disillusionment because I think, you know, I'm a millennial. I'm 36. I remember my first election being Barack Obama. I think that like, hope was such a strong message, but I'm actually like, I. It actually makes a lot of sense to me if the idea is that people are sort of moving more to the right and they're disillusioned. It's like, how can a party that tries to represent hope and doesn't embody it right, but tries to represent hope and sel that message sell it in

[Akilah Hughes]

a place that feels so hopeless?

[Devin Maroney]

With that in mind, like, do you think that any of these things were a factor, like Turning Points USA and all of their sort of organizing efforts on campus? Do you think that, like, it's just generally the manosphere? Is it Covid? Like, is it all of it? Like, is it a perfect storm for people to not believe in the future? Or like, how would you sort of qualify it?

[Elise Joshi]

Yeah, Turning Point, in my opinion, is a symptom of the larger problem here. Turning Point success, in my opinion, is just simply the result of two parties that are completely co opted and controlled by corporations and billionaires. And if you don't have that, then you don't have a vacuum for Turning Point to fill and posture as working class champions, as people who are actually going to help you and champion policies that'll help you pay for your gas and lower your rent and, and deal with all these problems. And their SOL that they propose are just scapegoating the most marginalized people in this country. But that line, those solutions are only effective if you don't have an organization, a party that is actually championing the real solutions to deal with these crises that we're facing. And so Turning Point success, I feel, is only a result of that. And the way that we combat Turning Point is less acknowledging them and centering them in the conversation and more centering the actual solutions and vision that we need to have to build a better world.

[Akilah Hughes]

And it seems, it seems pretty clear that young people about to enter the workforce don't see AI as the magic pill that's going to create that better world.

[Devin Maroney]

I'm sure you saw the video of that commencement speech this weekend where the woman was talking about how AI is

[Commencement Speaker]

the future, the rise of artificial intelligence is the next industrial revolution. What happened? Okay, I struck a chord. May I finish? Only a few years Ago, AI was not a factor in our lives. Okay. All right. Okay.

[Akilah Hughes]

Yeah.

[Elise Joshi]

I find student sentiment around AI really fascinating because it's not an opinion that's born out of ignorance of the technology. Students are using AI all the time. I mean, for one, they're really busy. Students are, many of which are working at the same time that they're in school. Even if they're not, they have so many things that they're juggling at the same clubs, a bunch of classes, research, whatever. And, you know, AI offers a way to offload and make your work more efficient. And that's, you know, broadly summarizing AI, but, you know, students are using it, and, you know, we're young and curious, and so you're going to use new technologies that, that offer a different way to, to approach education. And so students are using it actively and yet are so anxious and angry about not just AI, but the fact that we have no agency over its implementation.

[Akilah Hughes]

Right.

[Elise Joshi]

You know, I can see that, you know, in terms of like, data cleanup or like very research where the AI might have use cases. I don't want it implemented in an AI surveillance state.

[Devin Maroney]

Right.

[Elise Joshi]

I don't want it to be integrated in our military industrial complex. I don't want it to be used to fix rent prices and, and jack up the cost of my rent when I already can't afford it. You know, it's about the fact that Big Tech has complete control over how AI is being used and that students are entering a job market that is the most fraught that it has ever been in years. And with all the uncertainty that they're facing upon graduation, you know, there's a commencement speaker who's offering it as this exciting venture, exciting new technology that's going to help us. Students aren't buying it, and it's really, really interesting to see that, like, yeah, we need to have control over the implementation. And it's not just like you can't put the toothpaste back in the tube. And I think that's what a lot of students understand. But that doesn't mean we have to accept that Big Tech gets to control how it's going to be operating.

[Akilah Hughes]

Absolutely.

[Devin Maroney]

And it is interesting. Like, you know, there's all of this reporting about how AI is reading everybody's

[Akilah Hughes]

resumes as they apply for jobs, and

[Devin Maroney]

then now you have these kids who cannot get jobs out of college with their fresh degrees. So it makes a lot of sense to me, just like, logically, why students wouldn't be super jazzed about this AI future That's being sold to them.

[Akilah Hughes]

And I'm also just like, you know,

[Devin Maroney]

we were talking a little bit earlier about disillusionment, hope, the left versus sort of the right where they're at. And the left has a real opportunity to lead on a unifying message about AI, about data centers, about what that future looks like. Do you feel like they're taking the hint and taking the reins here, or are we just sort of letting that die on the vine?

[Elise Joshi]

Yeah, you know, I think the opportunity, you're right, is completely there. The left, broadly, is understanding that this is a populist issue. Before I was running More Perfect University, I was a producer for MPU's vertical video team. And so I would cover a lot of fights in rural communities against AI data centers. And these are like Trump towns, like some of the poorest counties and, for example, Indiana that voted 75% for Trump, that are unanimously not just demanding that this AI data center doesn't get approved. They're demanding a ban on AI data centers indefinitely. Yeah, this is across ideology. Rural, urban, marginalized black communities, Trump supporting white communities. It's. It's incredible to see that a large coalition can form around this issue. And so I think, like, the base understands this is something that we need to. To own. Not just a moratorium on AI data centers to slow down implementation, but also, you know, a positive vision of what does it mean for us to have control over this technology.

[Devin Maroney]

Yeah.

[Elise Joshi]

The Democratic Party, I would say, is not catching on to this. And, you know, one could argue that it may be donation or some capture here.

[Akilah Hughes]

Right.

[Devin Maroney]

They're the moneyed interests or maybe, you know, seeding the message they want to send.

[Elise Joshi]

Yeah, I guess.

[Akilah Hughes]

I don't know how you fix that problem.

[Devin Maroney]

I think you get new politicians. I think that you. We elect politicians that are going to be honest about what's happening and, you know, meet people where they actually are. Like, I think it's very silly to leave people who are saying, like, we don't want something, and we're being very clear about it, just like, left in the lurch while, you know, everyone else is like, it's the future, deal with a dumb ass. And it's also crazy because I think we have, like, I don't know how to say this. Like, we have a Republican Party at current. And I would say the MAGA movement, broadly talking about going back to an America was great, but I think that, like, it clashes with people's reality of being like, well, back then we didn't have AI and my Life is worse now and I can look at AI and see my life being worse. So like how can you sell me a future where it's better? It's just a lot of opportunity that's being missed. And so I mean, have you seen any effective messaging to the contrary? And like, you know, if there are people who are doing it, you can shout them out. But like what have you heard that is like, okay, that makes sense. And people are actually like their ears perk up when they hear this sort of message.

[Elise Joshi]

Yeah. I mean obviously Bernie Sanders and AOC are leading on the, the fight to slow down big tech rapid pace of AI implementation through an AI data center moratorium. I think that's really critical to even just if you slow down the process, we can all collectively come up with a better vision together. And we can't do that at the pace that AI implementation is happening. I would say also Rokana is doing a good job of trying to actually chart a positive vision. What does it mean for workers to have rights as it relates to employers implementing AI into their companies practices? You know the, we should have a federal jobs guarantee workers rights and centering that in this, in this conversation around AI. But you know, also it's, it's not just on the federal level. I think we need unions across this country to implement this at a faster scale than you know, Congress is going to be able to.

[Akilah Hughes]

Right.

[Elise Joshi]

I think it's just really critical that workers organize in their workplace under this like massive uncertainty and demand when they're fighting for a fair contract that they have protections as it relates to AI.

[Akilah Hughes]

When we come back, more perfect University's vision for how it can be better. I don't know about you, but I like keeping my money where I can see it. Unfortunately, traditional big wireless carriers also seem to like keeping my money too.

[Devin Maroney]

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[Akilah Hughes]

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[Devin Maroney]

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[Akilah Hughes]

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[Devin Maroney]

I want to talk a little bit more about more perfect university because I think that it's a really exciting prospect. It has been described as sort of this antidote to TP usa, which we'll get to. We did an episode just last week and we were looking at sort of the ways that Erica Kirk has moved as CEO of TP USA since the

[Akilah Hughes]

assassination of Charlie Kirk.

[Devin Maroney]

I mean, do you think that the new look of tpusa, the sort of girl boss aesthetic is going to fall flat with young people? Like, is their actual influence waning now?

[Elise Joshi]

Yeah, I, I think the fundamental issue with Turning Point is that they are bankrolled by the very people that they're admitting, like they're admitting that the economy is rigged, right. And they're blaming immigrants, they're blaming trans people, they're blaming the most marginalized people. But the people who are actually rigging this economy against us are funding Turning Point, right? Oil tycoons, real estate. Peter Te these are big tech. They have no true intention of actually supporting working people because they're bought out.

[Akilah Hughes]

Right?

[Elise Joshi]

And so of course it's going to fall flat. Of course, when the person that they elected to be the working class champion to be the anti war candidate who's, when he's actually in office, he's doing, he's, he's doing what, what we know he was going to do because he's bought out by big oil. He's going to war with Iran, like. Right, yes. Turning Point. It is revealing itself to what, you know, a lot of us have seen it to be this whole time. And then also when you don't have the charismatic figure to compensate for the lack of substance. Right. Then you're left with absolutely nothing.

[Devin Maroney]

Yes.

[Elise Joshi]

And, and so, you know, we, I think it's really critical that, I mean, more perfect university is not replicating Turning Point.

[Devin Maroney]

Right.

[Elise Joshi]

We are informed by their investment and the rights investment on campuses. And it's critical that the left invests in young people and provides and sees them as an important cohort in our politics. That's as far as it goes.

[Devin Maroney]

Yeah, absolutely.

[Elise Joshi]

And not just the vision and what we're actually fighting for. We have substance to like, like, you know, what we want to see in this world and how to unrig our economy, but also in practice and structure. Like, I'm not going to be on campuses debating college students.

[Devin Maroney]

Right.

[Elise Joshi]

And it's not about one figure. It's about supporting thousands of students everywhere to have a voice and give them a voice and train them on how to use video, host events that can empower them and the students around them. And, you know, it's nice that you can't. There's no, you know, one snake head to chop off and then the nation is done. And that's a nice feature too. But I also think it's like it parallels with our values or it matches our values in believing that students are, you know, leaders in their own right and we don't want to speak for them.

[Akilah Hughes]

Yeah.

[Devin Maroney]

And I think that that's something that's kind of crucial. Like part of the backlash to Erica Kirk that is to me, like a little unspoken about or not spoken about enough, is the fact that, like, she kind of represents a deep hypocrisy. And I think that like, where the

[Akilah Hughes]

right was winning was pointing out these

[Devin Maroney]

hypocrisies on the left. Right. You know, you talk about this, but you're banning protests on campus, so like, how can you be in support of, you know, any freedom of speech? Right. But then you have an organization that has a lot of sort of market share of young people. I mean, they're online and they're saying women should go to college to get married and they shouldn't have positions of power. And then Erica Kirk is now leading and.

[Akilah Hughes]

And how do you square that?

[Devin Maroney]

And she's always had a career, you know, and so I think that, like, what I've appreciated watching, you know, more Perfect Union in just the past few months is like, it doesn't seem like you all are really invested, like you said, in a figurehead, but also in so much as, like, it's not really about ideology. And like, correct me if I'm wrong, it's not so much about ideology as it is telling stories that, like, are under sort of told. And you have like, the real opinions of people who are local, who are, you know, invested in the outcome of a data center or water rights or, you know, this, that or the other.

[Elise Joshi]

Yeah, I, I really agree with your point on, on the hypocrisy and it's, it spans from Erica Kirk being the CEO and also trying to continue her points that, you know, the woman belongs in the kitchen and, but then also in what they're advocating for as well. I mean, the, for, for eight years plus, they were the free speech advocates, and now they're supporting universities cracking down on students who are peacefully protesting on their campus.

[Akilah Hughes]

Right.

[Elise Joshi]

Because they, they don't support what students are protesting for. Right. How do you square that?

[Devin Maroney]

Exactly, exactly.

[Elise Joshi]

Of course. I mean, like, the hypocrisy shines through, especially when they're trying to square the. Trump is being hypocritical every single day. When you compare what he campaigned for and what he said and what he's actually. But, yeah, I think with More Perfect Union, I mean, for five years, we've proved that when you tell stories of people that are largely unnoticed by mainstream media, by politicians on both sides of the aisle, you can persuade people who may have been interested in Turning Point or the right or voted Republican, that you can, you can speak to them because you're, you're talking about their communities, like, you're highlighting their struggles that they're dealing with every day. They voted for Trump, but they can't afford groceries. And now they're going to this AI data center hearing and saying, I don't want to not afford my utility bills too.

[Devin Maroney]

Right.

[Elise Joshi]

Yeah. I really believe that when you treat people with respect and you uplift their, their struggles, that you don't just turn people to your side per se. You just, you, you begin a conversation that never existed before and you welcome more people into your tent. And I really love that about More Perfect Union and, and I'm really excited to apply that in the lens of campuses.

[Devin Maroney]

Totally.

[Akilah Hughes]

Well, I would love to talk more

[Devin Maroney]

about, more permit university. Like, how does it work? How are you all organizing and working to sort of counteract that rightward momentum or perceived momentum. Right. Like, it seems like the more the economy tanks, the more people are waking up.

[Akilah Hughes]

But how do you sort of, you

[Devin Maroney]

know, what is your business model and how are you all working?

[Elise Joshi]

Yeah, for sure. Thank you for asking. So, More Perfect Union. Like I said, for five years we've been covering these issues. And the thing is, we can't just, we can't be everywhere. We can't cover every campus and every town. But these fights that we're talking about of, you know, tenants organizing rent strikes in Appalachia and win, you know, of rural communities fighting AI data centers like these are popping up all over the country. And the truth is what More Perfect Union does is not rocket science again. It is really just uplifting the struggles of working class people. And we can show students and amplify students who want to do this too. And so the biggest piece right now of More Perfect University is training, partnering with and supporting students who want to tell stories about the issues facing their university, their campus, and also their community. You know, if students are flooding a town hall about an AI data center, we want to cover that, even though it's maybe not the university making a decision about something. Students are members of their own community and we're really excited. And I've already started partnering with students who, you know, they're tech savvy, like they know how to use, know how to film and create videos. And so we're really just helping them talk about these issues and learn from More Perfect Union journalists. And so really excited about that and where that's already going. And then we also want to bring More Perfect Union onto campuses and connect directly with students. Yeah, so we're helping students host their own, like lower lift student led events that highlight these economic issues, free speech issues. But we also, in the future, students are leaving campus now, but hosting larger scale events on campuses where we can bring a ton of students together, the frat bro and theater kid coming together. And it's not about cultural issues, it's not about reactionarily, like trying to own the libs and own the right the way that the Turning Point tries to own the libs, but rather, how can we bring all these people in different corners of campus life together to talk about these issues and the nuances of them, like AI and the fact that students use it but are still concerned about it. And so, yeah, stay tuned for a lot of different events upcoming when students are back on campus. And in the meantime, we'll be partnering students on stories.

[Devin Maroney]

Cool. And I guess my last question is really about the sort of content strategy because I think the Right has really figured out this very pointed content farming.

[Akilah Hughes]

Like, you know, as you discussed earlier,

[Devin Maroney]

the sort of debate me, bro, I'm owning a college student. And like that's how I somehow, you know, spread my influence and also like build it, I guess. Like how is it, how is the approach different? Like how do you get students to care if you're not owning them?

[Elise Joshi]

I guess because you're talking about the issues that actually affect them. I really believe in the substance mattering and when you offer a genuine vision and you speak to what students are actually facing that you can, you know, maybe compensate for not doing rage bait in rage bait and clip farming. All of this, it's required on the right because they don't have substance. You know, having a charismatic figure that can debate really out like eloquently or not.

[Devin Maroney]

Sorry, you know, in their own mind, in the. Yeah, like listen, if that's their strategy,

[Elise Joshi]

it's their strategy and anything because they have nothing that they're standing on. And in reality, young people are some of the most economically vulnerable people in this country.

[Akilah Hughes]

Absolutely.

[Elise Joshi]

They're first time renters. They're entering this fraught job market. We like everything about our economy that we're feeling. Like students are entering this world and extremely anxious and worried about it. And so when you talk about these issues and you put them at the center of it, I believe that that's going to resonate with people. And More Perfect Union has shown that and we're just apply that in a student context and yeah, the videos are already resonating with students and. Because it's made by students for students.

[Devin Maroney]

Exactly.

[Elise Joshi]

Yeah. I'm really excited about it.

[Akilah Hughes]

More Perfect University's mission gets at the heart of a much bigger battle happening right now. A battle over who gets to shape the political identity of the next generation. Young people are being pulled in a hundred different directions at once by influencers, algorithms, political movements, media ecosystems, billionaires, tech companies and institutions that increasingly feel disconnected from their actual lives. And with this project backed by More Perfect Union, who does a brilliant job of telling stories that matter about issues affecting all of us, I actually have hope that this can be better. Imagine that. I want to thank Elise Joshi for coming on today. Make sure to follow More Perfect University's journey at MorePerfect University on social and check out More Perfect unions videos on YouTube. You won't be sorry. As always, please subscribe to this show on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts. Leave us a comment, leave us a review, Tell a friend and I'll see you next time. How Is this Better? Is a production of Courier. It's written and hosted by me, Akilah Hughes. It is produced by Devin Maroney. Video editing is by Shane Verkus. The rest of the team at Courier includes Marianne Kuga, Sam Hollows, and Charlotte Robertson. Please subscribe to follow How Is this Better? On all the platforms YouTube, Apple, podcasts, Spotify, etc. And tell someone about your favorite episodes. If you're interested in sponsoring Episodes are giving us products to try and try to sell. Reach out to advertiseurriornewsroom.com thanks for listening and until next time, see ya.