918 - Welcome to Wonderland feat. Grant Miner (3/20/25)
We’re joined by Grant Miner, a student organizer and president of Student Workers of Columbia UAW 2710, who was recently expelled from Columbia for activist activities on campus. We discuss pro-Palestine student activism on campus, federal crackdown on the school & Columbia’s craven response, Mahmoud Khalil, and other threats to organizers on campus. Plus, a reading series from Franklin Foer on Columbia’s “anti-Semitism problem,” AND: Trump vows to bring non-woke musicals to the Kennedy Center.
Free Mahmoud event this Saturday 3/22 in NYC @ The People’s Forum: https://peoplesforum.org/events/fight-for-our-rights-free-mahmoud/
The Encampments, a new documentary covering the last year of activism at Columbia, will be playing at Angelika Film Center starting on Friday, March 28th featuring Q&As with directors Kei Pritsker and Michael T. Workman for the Friday and Saturday night screenings. Tickets here:
https://angelikafilmcenter.com/nyc/movies/details/the-encampments
Comments (109)
Grant was hilarious. Great guest and fantastic ep
Many people are saying it — Phantom of Mar-a-Lago was HUGE. A lot of talk about a sequel coming in 4 years. It’s a video like no one’s ever seen before. Absolutely incredible!
Glad Felix's Malaysian friend from when he first went online got another shout out.
I've been annoyed by this idea that people have a right to feel safe. You have a right to be safe. Those are two very different things
V good point
this might be the greatest episode you’ve ever produced. my blood is curdling. i’m ready to smash the israeli state into a million pieces with my own two hands. love you guys so much. nowhere else in this shit hole country can we get anything even comparable to being this informative. unconditional solidarity with Grant, Mahmoud, and everyone else fighting alongside us the end the 21st century holocaust. One day Palestine will be free. 🙏💗🇵🇸
A point about endowments - the odd Lots episode about NIH had some very good info on that. Columbia just can't dip into the endowment money. A lot of it is earmarked by contract to fund only certain activities - scholarships, aid, professorships, etc. That's why they really needed the NIH grant money held hostage by the Feds. While the administration at the University is complicit, they didn't really have a choice if they wanted to keep lifesaving and core-science research going.
God, Trump is so queenie. Our gayest president ever
Istg not to make it sound like poor me, but as a Russian in America give me a break. You are a Jew in NYC for fucks sake. They haven't experienced literally an iota of any hate or vitriol I or my family have for our country of origin in the Southern US, and what we have has been VERY MINOR. Like omfg
The convo about students preemptively hiding Jewish signifiers reminded me of how post-Columbine Christians fantasize about being in a mass shooting where the shooter forces them to reject god or become a martyr. I was so scared of that happening as a kid but there was little chance of that happening in my extremely safe neighbourhood in Canada
My uncle was a very weird guy who “worked for the State Department.” The government gave him a condo in Lincoln Park in Chicago where he lived out the rest of his years and he would call it “Abelard’s Memory” in his email signature. Like who names their condo?
(Looking forward to Franz Liebkind brave reimagining of "The sound of music" at the non-woke kenedy center)
My namesake
This guy is a horrible advocate for single parents at Columbia not getting a livable wage.
It's 2000 a month for childcare. Did he want that?
It’s not surprising that the far right believes that anti-Zionism has been imported from “hostile” countries. They thought the same about the civil rights movement and blamed “Communists” for that movement.
A grad student named Grant Miner, nominative-determinism heads stay winning.
Honestly, the more I hear about current events, the more I am convinced I need to track down english translations of Karl Schmidt. Theres certainly some determination of exceptions going on here in the US.
As much as they say the right doesn't care about these guys, neither does most of America I'm sorry but the firing of a grad student from an ivy league school isn't gonna get much sympathy. But what do I know I'm just a rock breaker in alaska
I think it's more the precedent it sets than anything. If they lose the right to free expression then anyone else can too.
Trump is such an eternal little musical theatre twink. Just like his Daddy Roy.
grant was so good!!! fit right in with the boys :)
Grant went kinda viral for a quote he gave to some paper last year and I noticed then he looks exactly like me and we have the same initials, so in a way I was on Chapo
Some of these claims made by the Trump administration against these students sound like they cross the line into defamation. Of course it will take years to settle these claims and U.S. taxpayers are the ones who will eventually be on the hook, but I've got to imagine there will be a reckoning for these actions someday. Absolute insanity.
Idk about that- america cyclically rekindled red scares, and my understanding is that this is just the most recent iteration of this.
It’s very good representation for the graduate student population to have a real normal cool person on. Nice ep!
Sorry to be that guy but a university's Endowed Funds are typically not as malleable as the boys and guest think they are, or as you'd hope they would be. Most funds in an endowment are restricted to a specific purpose (e.g. athletics or the history department) as specified by the donor, and as such they are legally only able to be used for that purpose. To un-restrict funds requires the consent of the donor, who are often sticklers about this sort of thing and will refuse - or are dead. It was very disappointing to learn this after I started working in development (jargon word for fundraising) because I also liked to point to my alma mater's enormous endowment.
Im pretty sure a big part of the Columbia endowment in particular is in real estate. If i remember the WTYP episode on the american university right, columbia is the biggest landlord in its local municipality. like. Sure, most of the nominal funds arent liquid, but columbia specifically should be able to generate plenty of liquidity.
Really hope you unlock this one. Great episode guys!
Excellent episode, please make it public.
Yo TS Eliot woke AF.
M
Oh sacrtomato
I really appreciate the time spent nerding out on medieval lit. Really great episode..Another vote for unlocking it
At this point it’s naive to pretend these big universities are anything other than a private equity fund. Endowment money rarely gets touched save for sports facilities
Ballsackramento
This episode is incredible. Thank you, Chapos!
Your student body is a jewish wonderland
We’re witnessing rapid Turkeyification of the US…
Now the title greywolves is gonna make more sense
Bring this person back on at some point they’re genuinely hilarious along with being very insightful
Ready or Not DLC level 'The Raid on Hinds Hall'. It's like the inverse of the school shooting level, and your goal is to flashbang the student class president.
sacto’s bravest son… 916 expats represent
💜 light the beam
I'm trying not to be the classic jaded leftist, but why are we surprised that higher education and private higher education is goose steeping at the orders of empire? Hasn't higher education always sought to reproduce the labor of the empire?
That is true but with education being supressed this much allows for political literacy to also be forgotten. We have a similar situation in Turkey forever where the government closely controls the colleges and in several generations the revolutionary spirit have been successfully distinguished. Considering that college age is when people start gaining political awareness, the supression of free speech in these institutions can do irreversible harm.
how not a big deal the Kennedy center is: I FUCKING PERFORMED THERE WHEN I WAS 15!
"RUM TUG TUGGER FOLKS! HES A CURIOUS CAT!!!"
Hey fellas please unlock this one 😘
I don't know if anyone mentioned this yet, but Max Blumenthal shared that he was in the same elementary school class as Franklin Foer!! But yeah, Franklin was never around other DC Jews?
His brother is also the corny novelist who left his wife for Natalie Portman, without checking with Natalie Portman first.
As a furry and fan of chapo I can confirm that many online furries are the most autistic combination of asinine right wing beliefs and views
god yeah, its such a problem. Theres plenty of straight up far right furries, but tbqh, the number of right-libertarian furries is just as troubling.
Columbia university serves the interest of capital??
[tiny dancer playing]
Trump voice “A lot of babies were made to Banana Pancakes, some say millions but at least in the tens of thousands I’d think. Ladies and gentlemen, Jack Johnson!”
That was inspired by a guy at the barber shop I heard talking about how his kid was conceived to that song. My wife and I were big JJ fans twenty some years ago so that comment just stuck in my head all these years until I needed it lol. It’s amazing what you overhear in the barber shop and how our brains retain the dumbest shit hahaha.
I saw the 2019 CATS movie in an empty theater a few weeks before COVID, definitive Trump 1.0 film. Also better than Anora.
boutique issue huh? sure went above and beyond revoking mahmoud's green card over protected free speech, which is completely unprecedented, really not serious tho...
you are all coming at this argument from a faulty foundation, liberal arts ivy League schools have never wanted working class students especially in graduate schools the whole system is set up to ruin the lives of working class students you come out of grad school as a working class student with nothing but debt next to your ruling class classmates who were able to work unpaid no problem who have all the resources in the world to go and do whatever the fuck they want, and they take the jobs while you are stuck as a slave doing adjunct work for the rest of your life. these are institutions of class power above all else, they are Banks and hedge funds after that nothing that they exist for has anything to do with educating the working class or empowering people. by working within and around these institutions all we are doing is killing ourselves, working people need our own independent institutions we need to stop playing games and assuming that we can gain anything from these hedge funds and class enemies dressed up as public services.
dual power: higher education edition. I like it.
Thank you for repping Sacramento Grant!
Light the beam!
SACTOOOOOO
Glad the medieval literature wasn't totally elided but needed more Chretien de Troyes references
I'd support unlocking this one to provide the public with (1) an understanding of the situation on the ground at the forefront of the protests in support of Palestine, and (2) the joke that Trump wants to become the Phantom of the Kennedy Center.
Cats is the ULTIMATE choice to bear the standard of unwoke musicals today. It's from a book of cutesy poems for children by TS Eliot, the ultra-repressed proto-facist patron saint of every First Things author who wears a cape, turned into a ridiculous simulacrum of an elite high-art-style opera. It's the dream state of every traditionalist who yearns for an imagined history when you could be a traditionalist straight man who does gay furry stuff with your boys and have the respect of the community. Finally it's now nostalgic for the 1980s like the 80s was the classical age, though at the time it came out everyone thought it was fucking weird.
For real though i love it, it's a problematic fav
I’ve been listening to chapo for years and I still have no idea what a jug hooter is. Are they rural people who actually hoot into jugs?
Google "country bear jamboree ted"
Getting deported back to Sacramento is the reverse Ladybird
'Grant Miner' is such a good name for a phd student/professor
Chef's kiss 💯💯
To make the Kennedy Center great again, hear me out: Cobra the Musical (The Song Arm of the Law.)
The 2000s Malaysia furry poster continues to haunt Felix
When God made theatre he made it with only two genders: Cats and Phantoms.
An all white production of The Wiz
(As in my jewish summer camp doing The Wiz in hebrew with a bunch of white kids...)
Deerfield, IL represent 🤓
Trump obviously has his finger on the upcoming trend of Broadway musicals... Next comes the fire side chats on the A.M. radio. Trump will refer to these as "programs".
Hell ya assert those Weingarten rights
Mengele studied philosophy in Munich. Then they basically just gave him a medical degree.
Only non-woke musicals https://youtu.be/EOZlp-gjw68?si=cIuNsbvAM0OTwZ-E
deported wo due process to sacramento and forced to watch Trey Lyles take 10 threes a game
The executives' ideal school teaches no courses and has no students
We needed Matt on this one just to yell at Felix about the flash bangs and call him a nerd.
a musical called EAST SIDE STORY about chilling with Jeffrey Epstein
"We didn't make it Doc"
Cat faced people are my one true phobia. Horrifying image
Halloween c. 2008-2011 must have been hell, I’m sorry.
"After all, why not? Why shouldn't I host it?"
Somebody please make the "I will not protest Israel" chalkboard Bart Simpson meme for me to use as banner image. I have carpal tunnel.
Nevermind. https://www.ranzey.com/generators/bart/
Representing the 916!
Boy, this medieval Spanish Christianity thing sounds, uhhhh. What's the word. Fucking Evil
just say it! “who are your guys!?”
I agree. Open bargain. Because there is a contingent of people that think you can accept the first inflationary exceeding contract, and fail to comprehend that it is a competition between 2 diametrically opposing interests. They honestly do not get that by accepting the first deal to avoid delays will only cause worse deals with the same amount of delay. They are some of the dumbest people and won't change their mind, but open bargaining would keep their idiocy isolated to them. Otherwise they sow doubt and a lot of bullshit.
Was listening to this driving to work and the siren nearly gave me a heart attack
Jellicle President
Felix begins speaking at 1 minute and 28 seconds
It’s all love
So what pedos drink hot sauce on twitch?
Look up Pipe Rock Theory
S**p is served
Slop
wow what a guest
Hero
Tsirt
Slop time