S1E5: The Things We Cannot Say

In this episode, Dr. Rhon takes a deep dive into a broader American historical narrative and UNC-Chapel Hill's place within it. She considers: are we returning to "The Great Resegregation"?  

This episode confronts the realities of historical regression; its chilling effects on the learning spaces of higher education; and the long-term impact on academia’s role as a place for critical thought. Dr. Rhon invites a frank but necessary conversation about the future of higher education. In the end, the things we cannot say may just be what needs to be said.  

Sources:  

• Adam Serwer, “The Great Resegregation.” The Atlantic. February 22, 2025.
• Alice Walker, In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens: Womanist Prose (Mariner Books [reprint edition], 2003).  
• Anthea Butler, White Evangelical Racism: The Politics of Morality in America (UNC Press [second edition], 2024). 
• Origin, directed by Ava DuVernay (Array Filmworks, 2023). Based on Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson (Random House, 2020).  
• “Paving the Way: Carolina’s Black Pioneers.” 
• J. Brian Charles, “The Evolution of DEI." The Chronicle of Higher Education (June 23, 2023.)