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An episode built around an interview with Tressie McMillan Cottom, author of Lower Ed (New Press, 2017) covers what lessons the rest of Higher Ed can learn from HBCUs [3:00], the vectors of financialization in the New Gilded Age [19:00], the migration of the for-profit model into not-for-profit institutions [60:00], and how Modern Monetary Theory might invigorate the Black University Concept [84:00].

To receive transcripts and other updates related to The American Vandal Podcast, please subscribe to Matt Seybold’s newsletter.

Cast (in order of appearance):

Jared Loggins is Assistant Professor of Black Studies & Political Science at Amherst College and the co-author of Prophet of Discontent (U. Georgia, 2021).

Tressie McMillan Cottom is an Associate Professor of Information & Library Science at University of North Carolina, as well as Senior Faculty Researcher at the Center For Information, Technology, & Public Life. She is the author of Lower Ed: The Troubling Rise of For-Profit Colleges in The New Economy (New Press, 2017) and a New York Times opinion columnist.

Andrew Douglas is Professor and Chair of Political Science at Morehouse College and the co-author of Prophet of Discontent (U. Georgia, 2021). He is also author of “Modern Money & The Black University Concept” for Money On The Left.

Kelly Grotke is a founding co-partner in the Pattern Recognition Research Collective. She has written about education finance for American Prospect, Inside Higher Ed, and The Oberlin Review.

Dominique Baker is Associate Professor of Education & Public Policy at University of Delaware. She has published extensively on intersections of race, political economy, and education funding.

Matt Seybold is Associate Professor of American Literature & Mark Twain Studies at Elmira College, as well as resident scholar at the Center For Mark Twain Studies and executive producer of The American Vandal Podcast.

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Soundtrack:

All music for this season of The American Vandal Podcast comes from the Tennessee-based roots ensemble DownRiver Collective. Most of the tracks come from their most recent EP, Off The Shelf. You can purchase it direct from the band here. It’s also available on Spotify and Apple Music.

Tracks featured in this episode include “Dead To Me,” “As It Was,” “Steam Whistle,” and “Daylight Breaks.”

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Narration:

Excerpts from Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner’s The Gilded Age come from the audiobook edition produced by SNR Audio and narrated by Nathan Osgood. Available at Audible, as well as other audiobook retailers. SNR has an extensive catalog of professionally-narrated adaptations of 19th-century Anglophone fiction, including The Complete Mark Twain Collection.

Nathan Osgood is an actor and voice artist who has being appearing in films, scripted television, video games, podcasts, and audiobooks since the mid-’90s. In 2018, he played Mark Twain in the Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly vehicle, Holmes and Watson.

Excerpts in this episode come from chapter 15 and 22.

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Episode Bibliography:

James D. Anderson, The Education of Blacks in The South, 1860-1935 (UNC Press, 1988)

Davarian Baldwin, In The Shadow of The Ivory Tower: How Universities Are Plundering Our Cities (Bold Type, 2021)

Dominique Baker et al, “Expanding The Student Persistence Puzzle to Minority Serving Institutions: The Residential Historically Black College & University Context” Journal of College Student Retention (February 2021)

Dominique Baker & Tolani Britton, “Hate Crimes & Black College Student Enrollment” Education Finance & Policy (Spring 2024)

Dominique Baker, “A Case Study of Undergraduate Debt, Repayment Plans, & Postbaccalaureate Decision-Making Among Black Students at HBCUs” Journal of Student Financial Aid (June 2019)

Rob Copeland, The Fund: Ray Dalio, Bridgewater Associates, & The Unraveling of A Wall Street Legend (Macmillan, 2023)

Tressie McMillan Cottom, Lower Ed: The Troubling Rise of For-Profit Colleges In The New Economy (New Press, 2017)

Tressie McMillan Cottom, “The Way Harris Lost Will Be Her Legacy” New York Times (November 6, 2024)

Tressie McMillan Cottom & Lydia Polgreen, “Democrats Had a Theory of the Election. They Were Wrong.” The Opinions (November 7, 2024)

Emanuel Derman, My Life As A Quant: Reflections On Physics & Finance (Wiley, 2016)

Emanuel Derman, Models. Behaving. Badly. (Free Press, 2012)

Cory Doctorow, “‘Enshittification’ is Coming For Absolutely Everything” Financial Times (February 8, 2024)

Andrew Douglas, “Modern Money & The Black University Concept” Money On The Left (April 19, 2024)

Andrew Douglas & Jared Loggins, Prophet of Discontent: Martin Luther King Jr. & The Critique of Racial Capitalism (U Georgia P, 2021)

Andrew Douglas & Jared Loggins, “The Lost Promise of Black Study” Boston Review (September 28, 2021)

Andrew Douglas, Scott Ferguson, & Billy Saas, “The Black University Concept” Money On The Left Podcast (June 2, 2024)

W.E.B. Du Bois, “The Field & Function of the American Negro College” (1933)

W.E.B. Du Bois, The Education of Black People: Ten Critiques, 1906-1960 (1973) [2001 Monthly Review Edition]

Jelani Favors, Shelter In A Time Of Storm: How Black Colleges Fostered Generations of Leadership & Activism (UNC Press, 2020)

Todd Feathers, “This Private Equity Firm Is Amassing Companies That Collect Data on America’s Children” The Markup (January 11, 2022)

Bryant Morey French, Mark Twain & The Gilded Age: The Book That Named An Era (Southern Methodist UP, 1965)

Kelly Grotke, “Why The Student Push To Get Schools to Disclose, Divest Faces Uphill Battle.” TRT World (May 20, 2024)

Kelly Grotke, “Are Endowments Damaging Colleges & Universities?” The American Prospect (February 12, 2021)

Kelly Grotke & Stephen Hastings-King, “Broadening The Divestment Debate Beyond DOI” Inside Higher Ed (October 11, 2024)

Kelly Grotke & Stephen Hastings-King, “The Yale Model (Reading David Swensen), Part I & Part II” Pattern Recognition (February, 2023)

Kelly Grotke, et al. “College Finances Lack Adequate Transparency” The Oberlin Review (December 3, 2021)

Kelly Grotke, Ashley Monk, & Sloane Ortel, “Divestment Without Dissonance” Free Money (August 2, 2024)

Vincent Harding, “Toward The Black University” Ebony (August, 1970)

Anna Kornbluh, “Academe’s Coronavirus Shock Doctrine” Chronicle of Higher Education (March 12, 2020)

Ludovic Phalippou, “Is Yale A Model?” SSRN (September, 2011)

Dominic Russel, Carris Sloan, & Alan Smith, “The Financialization of Higher Education: What Swaps Cost Our Schools & Students” Roosevelt Institute (June 2016)

Crystal R. Sanders, A Forgotten Migration: Black Southerners, Segregation Scholarships, & The Debt Owed to Public HBCUs (UNC Press, 2024)

Matt Seybold, “Jason Wingard’s EdTech Griftopia” Los Angeles Review of Books (February 23, 2023)

Matt Seybold et al, “Philanthropcapitalism U” The American Vandal Podcast (November 12, 2024)

Matt Seybold et al, “The Black University Concept & The Second Curriculum” The American Vandal Podcast (October 31, 2024)

Matt Seybold et al, “Ponzi Austerity in The Age of Cultural Abundance” The American Vandal Podcast (August 21, 2023)

Matt Seybold et al, “Ed Tech, AI, & The Unbundling of Research & Teaching” The American Vandal Podcast (November 2, 2023)

[Robert Shireman] “Is Your Master’s Degree Useless?” The Economist (November 18, 2024)

Mark Twain & Charles Dudley Warner, The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today (1873) [2006 Modern Library Edition]