This American Life, Episode 867: College Disorientation

Airdate: September 14, 2025
Host: Emmanuel Berry (filling in for Ira Glass)

Overview of the Episode’s Main Theme

This episode of This American Life explores how dramatic changes in national and state policies are rapidly reshaping life and identity on American college campuses. Through personal narratives, the episode focuses on the struggles of students and educators—especially international and Black students—coping with new barriers, anti-DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) laws, and government interventions. The storytelling is raw, intimate, and conveys both the uncertainty and resilience required to navigate this evolving landscape.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The New Reality for International Students (00:22–07:42)

• The episode opens with scenes from Arizona State University’s orientation for nearly 400 international students. The challenges of making friends in a new culture are keenly felt, underlined by activities designed to ease social anxieties.

• Visa rejections have become widespread due to new Trump administration policies. This creates sudden heartbreak for students whose U.S. plans dissolve overnight, leading to last-minute scrambles and disappointment.

  Notable Segment: Karthik’s Story

  • Karthik, an Indian student, planned meticulously for a U.S. education but was denied a visa despite all preparations. The episode highlights how these denials often lack clear explanation, and the emotional toll is profound.
  • [05:49] “I had five guys in front of me and I can hear everyone... The visa officer was a lady and she rejected all five of them. Under two minutes.” — Karthik

• Policy Impact: Over 150,000 fewer visas expected this year due to stricter government screening. This is not just an international issue—domestic students, staff, and entire campus cultures are abruptly affected.

2. Anti-DEI Laws and the Battle for Black Student Spaces (08:27–36:00; Main: 10:24–37:25)

Act One: “My Black President” — Nevaeh Parker and the University of Utah BSU

• Nevaeh Parker is introduced as a force for positive change—a student who has always started something when she saw a void. She was a high school Black Student Union founder and student body president before attending the University of Utah.

• The Black Student Union (BSU), a tight-knit group providing comfort and belonging on a predominantly white campus, becomes a case study in how anti-DEI laws ripple through campus life.

• Utah’s new law (one of 28 similar state laws) bans funding, scholarships, spaces, or mentorship targeting specific identity groups, framing such support as “discriminatory” and instead mandating everything be “open to all.”

  Notable Quotes:

  • [12:56] “I could literally just walk around through the back door, and I felt like I was wanted there... You could just be a Black person on a college campus.” — Nevaeh Parker
  • [16:33] “They basically just said that every single thing would have to be ran by them... We can’t talk about anything having to do with, like, racism... Can we still say, like, Black Student Union?” — Nevaeh Parker

• The university responds by dissolving DEI offices, programs, scholarships, and even attempted to rename the BSU or erase the “Black” label from event titles.

  • [17:32] “Let’s think of other ways to say this, like, so people don’t get upset and so we don’t get flagged by the university... Radical joy. Radical love... Instead of Black love. Black joy.” — University staff advice to BSU

• Nevaeh leads the BSU’s painful transition into an independent, unfunded student group, fundraising for events and scrambling for basic space access.

  Personal Toll:

  • Nevaeh becomes overwhelmed by the total responsibility: grades slip, mental health suffers, and the isolation deepens.
  • [23:34] “There were moments where I would just be... very, very overwhelmed with the week ahead ... I didn’t know how to communicate how bad I was struggling mentally.” — Nevaeh Parker

• Despite the barriers, Nevaeh and BSU rally students and organize successful events like Skate Night, drawing over 300 attendees, tripling membership, and maintaining community.

  • [26:38] “I definitely felt like a big sense of, I guess, pride... So many people are having a great time and enjoying themselves. That’s what we want.” — Nevaeh Parker

• The symbolic erasure culminates when the Black Cultural Center is quietly renamed “The Center for Community and Cultural Engagement.” The exclusion is cemented without communication to BSU leadership.

  Memorable Scene (28:21–35:20):

  • Tour of the former Black Cultural Center, filled with BSU memorabilia yet stripped of its identity by administrative decree.
  • [33:02] “Inclusive without saying inclusive, so... It’s very sad. It’s very sad to me.” — Nevaeh Parker (upon learning the name change is official)
  • [34:22] “It just comes back... the exact thing I was talking about, the word ‘Black’ being so weaponized… taking that off the list of acceptable words is a way of saying, ‘you don’t decide, we do.’” — Emmanuel Berry

3. Government Crackdown and Academic Freedom under IHRA (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance) at Columbia (40:48–57:08)

Act Two: “The Art of the Deal”

• A detailed case study of the Trump administration’s intervention at elite universities.

• Columbia was forced to settle with the government:

  • $400 million in funds withheld until the university agreed to new federal oversight and formal adoption of the IHRA definition of antisemitism, which blurs criticism of Israel with antisemitism.

• Professors’ strategies for coping:

  1. Cancelling classes altogether out of fear of accidental violations.
     • [43:53] “I didn’t see how I could teach this course without teaching about the present-day images of the war in Gaza... putting those images... is implicitly a comparison of IDF soldiers with Nazis.” — Prof. Mariana Hirsch
  2. Altering syllabi to avoid specific topics, especially contemporary or controversial analysis. Professor Haider drops Hannah Arendt (who critiqued Zionism) in favor of less risky subjects.
  3. Refusing to censor themselves and risking consequences.
     • [50:51] “We could either close the Center of Palestine Studies, or we can just take it head on... Want to fire me, fire me. I’m not going to cave.” — Prof. Nadia Abu El-Haj

• Uncertainty reins: The presence of a federal monitor at Columbia, with undefined powers, chills teaching. Professors and administration alike do not know what future enforcement will look like.

  • [53:00] “If you ask them a question and you say, can this person sit in on my classroom?... They’re not going to say like, ‘no, they can’t.’ There are no limits that have been set.” — Prof. Najm Haider

• Counterpoint: Some administrators (Professor Fuchs) downplay the risks, arguing the government will not police curricula, just as the agreement states no direct faculty interference. But almost all faculty interviewed fear broader indirect pressure is now institutionalized.

Memorable Moments & Quotes

• [02:40] “There’s a thing that I really like, I don’t like about myself, that I don’t really greet people or approach people. I need people to approach me, but at the same time, I really want to meet new people but I don’t know how to do that.” — Nile, International Student
• [26:31] “Somehow we’re going to have to just make this work, right? Like, you know, we just gotta do it because... everyone was so excited about it, too. People would say maybe I’m a pushover in that sense, and I don’t regret it.” — Nevaeh Parker
• [34:22] “It just comes back... the word ‘Black’ being so weaponized. Like, it is so incredibly weaponized... taking that off the list of acceptable words is a way of saying, ‘you don’t decide, we do.’” — Nevaeh Parker
• [43:53] “I didn’t see how I could teach this course without teaching about the present-day images of the war in Gaza... putting those images... is implicitly a comparison of IDF soldiers with Nazis.” — Prof. Mariana Hirsch

Important Timestamps

• International student orientation and visa issues: 01:22–07:43
• Introduction to Nevaeh and the BSU story: 10:24
• Passage of Utah anti-DEI law and first consequences for BSU: 13:17–17:57
• Nevaeh’s personal struggle, club fundraising, toll of new responsibility: 18:10–26:56
• Skate Night as turning point: 25:31–26:56
• Black Cultural Center’s erasure and emotional fallout: 28:21–35:36
• Aggregator on anti-DEI laws and impact on campus programs nationwide: 14:00–17:17
• Act 2, Government oversight at Columbia, IHRA example: 40:48–56:10

Episode Tone and Language

This episode embodies This American Life’s signature blend of intimacy and clarity. Emotional, often raw first-person accounts from students and faculty are underscored by investigative reporting and social context, maintaining the speakers’ voices. The tone vacillates between hopeful tenacity (Nevaeh’s steadfastness), sadness (BSU erasure), and quiet, sometimes urgent, questioning (faculty at Columbia). Direct, personal, and poignant language grounds the political abstractions in everyday lived experience.

Final Reflections

• As colleges become battlegrounds for national politics, students and educators must navigate abrupt and bewildering policy changes—from denied visas to vanished safe havens and uncertain academic freedoms.
• The future of campus belonging, support, and intellectual freedom seems to hinge on the resilience of individuals and communities, like Nevaeh at Utah, or the quietly defiant professors at Columbia.
• [37:57] “This year in this post-DEI era, I think on a lot of campuses... The difference between feeling like you belong or don't belong will depend on if you have a Nevaeh or not.” — Emmanuel Berry

Reported by: Emmanuel Berry, with Miki Meek, Ike Suresh Khandaraja, and others.

For further stories of this shifting American landscape, tune in next week for coverage of the immigration judges’ crisis.