My guest this week is Rajiv Sethi, Barnard and Columbia economist, proprietor of the Imperfect Information Substack, and frequent guest here at The Glenn Show. Rajiv has been an incisive analyst of the Trump administration’s actions against elite universities, and I wanted to have him on to discuss the recently negotiated payments of $221 million and $50 million agreements from Columbia and Brown, respectively, which (in Columbia's case) includes a third-party monitor who will keep tabs on admissions, faculty, and curriculum. Trump claims he’s forcing universities to take action against antisemitism and discrimination, but Rajiv believes that’s not all that’s at work. He thinks the antisemitism charges against Columbia are mostly pretexts that allow the administration to exert control over the university, with probable consequences for free speech on campus
Without a doubt, the Columbia deal marks a major victory for Trump. But how it will affect Columbia remains to be seen. It will almost certainly include changes to admission policies, and Rajiv worries about that. He's concerned that attempts to ensure “merit-based” admissions risk freezing out some students with great relative merit and future potential. Beyond that, we’re in the midst of a crisis of expertise at a time when real experts are more valuable than ever. We go on to speculate that attempts to crack down on the alleged antisemitism problem risks creating a backlash where, ironically, anti-antisemitic witch hunts fuel a more authentically antisemitic response from the public!
Are we ready for that when and if it comes?
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0:00 Columbia’s $221 million deal with the Trump administration
4:11 Rajiv: The charges about antisemitism at Columbia are mostly pretextual
13:34 How is Columbia’s resolution monitor going to assess merit in admissions?
25:31 What really matters in college admissions?
29:47 Why Brown’s agreement differs from Columbia’s
34:16 Rajiv: If the Trump administration wants to destroy universities, it has the resources to do it
40:07 Is Columbia’s Middle East Studies department cooked?
43:15 Free speech is dying in universities and flourishing on podcasts (and Substack)
50:19 Is a full-scale antisemitic backlash on the way?
55:25 The question of genocide
59:45 The Gaza War’s historical legacy
Recorded August 1, 2025
Links and Readings
Rajiv’s post, “The Columbia Deal” at Imperfect Information
Rashid Khalidi’s open letter announcing the withdrawal of his course
Khalidi’s book The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917-2017
Roland Fryer’s WSJ piece, “DEI Is Worth Saving from Its Excesses”
Glenn’s new book, Self-Censorship
Colin Wright’s WSJ piece, “Cornell University Discriminated against Me”
Dave Smith and Douglas Murray on the Joe Rogan Experience
Green Beret vet Tony Aguilar on the Tucker Carlson Show
Israeli journalist Emmanuelle Elbaz-Phelps speaks with The Daily about starvation in Gaza
Avi Shlaim’s book, Genocide in Gaza: Israel, Hamas, and the Long War on Palestine
Omer Bartov’s NYT piece, “I’m a Genocide Scholar. I Know It When I See It.”
