867: College Disorientation
This American Life
09/14/25
•57m
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Things are different on college campuses this year. We see inside the drama, with students and staff.
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- Prologue: We go to orientation at Arizona State University and meet international students who are trying to make friends. (6 minutes)
- Act One: The president of the Black Student Union at the University of Utah fights to keep the B in BSU. (30 minutes)
- Act Two: A definition of antisemitism, canceled classes, and angry professors at Columbia University. (16 minutes)
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866: Watch Out for That Tree
September 5, 2025
•67m
Small human plans that run into much larger obstacles.
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- Prologue: Angela's dad, an accountant, made a spreadsheet to prepare for their family trip to a national park. But there are things you never think to put in a spreadsheet. (7 minutes)
- Act One: A young couple, excited to start a new chapter in their lives, is suddenly put on a very different trajectory. (30 minutes)
- Act Two: A sixteen-year-old plans out a prank, and a complete stranger from Honduras ends up in a million-dollar deal. What could go wrong? (25 minutes)
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Next Episode
868: The Hand That Rocks The Gavel
September 21, 2025
•60m
A group of immigration judges, who almost never speak to the press, describes the dismantling of our immigration court system from the inside.
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- Prologue: Zoe Chace gives an eyewitness account of what has been happening at 26 Federal Plaza, an immigration courthouse in New York City. (5 minutes)
- Act One: The judges walk us through how different their jobs have become in just the past few months, because of sweeping policy changes by Trump’s Department of Justice. (26 minutes)
- Act Two: It gets extremely personal for the judges. Also, the story of one person who got pushed through the new immigration court system this summer. (23 minutes)
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