Jonathan Zimmerman teaches education and history at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of The Amateur Hour: A History of College Teaching in America, published by Johns Hopkins University Press. He is the co-author (with Signe Wilkinson) of Free Speech, And Why You Should Give a Damn, which will be published in the spring by City of Light Press.
The Chaos Is The Point
What motivates Trump followers? Racism? Conservatism? Cruelty? Part of it may be simple disruption. A historian explains.
Princeton, Betsy DeVos, And The Need For a Real Debate About Race
I don’t want Betsy DeVos telling Princeton what to say about racism. But I also don’t want our universities to squelch discussion.
Trumpism Is the Real Cancel Culture
Why the president threatens free speech more than any of the Republican convention’s bogeymen.
Riots Will Not Solve America’s Racism Problem
Protests are an important way to initiate change—but not at the expense of creating more victims of injustice.
Trump Thinks Fear Is Good—Except When It Comes to Coronavirus
How Republicans strategically decide which threats to maximize and to minimize.