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Our second episode from the “Public Bugets, Public Good” workshop, hosted by Wayne State University and co-sponsored by Labor@Wayne, AAUP, HELU, and Public Good U features Christopher Newfields ”AI & The Public Good,” followed by a lengthy Q&A [21:00], then the Bluestone Labor Workshop helps us make the most of FOIA requests [45:00].
Cast (in order of appearance): Elizabeth Faue, Jamie McQuaid, Christopher Newfield, Bruce Simon, Brian Deyo, Matt Seybold, Sean O’Brien, Sofya Aptekar, Yasmeen Hishmeh, Justin Flores, Stephen Hastings-King
Date Recorded: April 30, 2026
Music: Danny Weiss Quartet, Moby
Featured Speakers
Yasmeen Hishmeh is a student at Wayne State University, an intern for Labor@Wayne, a member of the Bluestone Labor Workshop, and the lead author of its “Annual Review of the State of Unions in Michigan, 2024-2025.”
Christopher Newfield is Director of Research at the Independent Social Research Foundation. He was formerly Distinguished Professor of English at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His books include The Great Mistake: How We Wrecked Public Universities, and How We Can Fix Them (Hopkins UP, 2016), Unmaking the Public University: The Forty Year Assault on the Middle Class, (Harvard UP, 2008), Ivy & Industry: The Business & Making of The American University, 1880-1980 (Duke UP, 2004), and The Emerson Effect: Individualism and Submission in America (U Chicago, 1996).
Sean O’Brien is an Academic Services Officer at Wayne State University, an advisor in the Employment & Labor Relations program, and the director of the Bluestone Labor Workshop.
Matt Seybold is Associate Professor for American Literature & Mark Twain Studies at Elmira College, resident scholar at the Center For Mark Twain Studies, host of The American Vandal Podcast, and a member of the AAUP subcommittee on Artificial Intelligence & Academic Professions.
Episode Bibliography
Daron Acemoglu, Dingwen Kong, & Asuman Ozdaglar, “AI, Human Cognition, & Knowledge Collapse” NBER Working Papers (February 20, 2026)
Coalition Against Campus Debt, Lend and Rule: Fighting the Shadow Financialization of Public Universities (Common Dreams, 2024)
Coalition Against Campus Debt, “Debt Audit Toolkit”
Dominique Baker, Anna Kornbluh, & Matt Seybold, “Theory At The Bargaining Table” The American Vandal (January 7, 2026)
William Bowen & Eugene Tobin, Locus of Authority: The Evolution of Faculty Roles In The Governance of Higher Education (Princeton UP, 2015)
Alexander Hartley, “To Whom Does The World Belong?” Boston Review (December 10, 2024)
Yasmeen Hishmeh et al, “Annual Review of the State of Unions in Michigan, 2024-2025.” Wayne State Labor Workshop (2025)
Walter McMahon, Higher Education, Greater Good: The Private & Social Benefits of Higher Education (Johns Hopkins UP, 2009)
Christopher Newfield, “AI & The Public Good” Remaking II: Long Revolution (May 2, 2026)
Christopher Newfield, “Academics Must Seize The Means of Knowledge Production” Public Books (October 6, 2025)
Christopher Newfield, The Great Mistake: How We Wrecked Public Universities & How We Can Fix Them (Johns Hopkins UP, 2018)
Christopher Newfield, Unmaking The University: A Forty-Year Assault On The Middle Class (Harvard UP, 2008)
Christopher Newfield, Matt Seybold, & Whitney Trettien, “Criticism & The Chatbot Bubble” The American Vandal (October 31, 2025)
Britt S. Paris, Radical Infrastructure: Imagining The Internet From The Ground Up (U. California, 2026)
Matt Seybold, “Mamdani Win Could Be The First Step Towards Seizing The Means of Knowledge Production” The American Vandal (November 5, 2025)
Matt Seybold, “After OpenAI” The American Vandal (May 12, 2026)
Matt Seybold et al, “The Secret History of Canvas LMS, Corporate Raiders, & The Chatbot Bubble” The American Vandal (March 24, 2026)
David Stromberg, Victor Lei, & Yanhai Wu, “The Generative AI Learning Penalty” SSRN (June 3, 2026)
Owen K. Terry, “I’m a Student. You Have No Idea How Much We’re Using ChatGPT.” Chronicle of Higher Education (May 12, 2023)
Ted Underwood, “AI is The Future. Higher Ed Should Shape It” The Chronicle of Higher Education (November 4, 2025)
Event Copy
