New Histories

The centenary of The New School offers a chance to look at a university that began as an educational experiment and critique of higher education. Nothing has changed more than the school’s shift away from its original mission as a school devoted to adult education. In this episode, we listen to people who took classes at the New School in the 1950s and ‘60s and interview the person directing initiatives in life-long learning now. The absence of older folks in our once intergenerational classrooms raises questions about inclusion and diversity. What does age add to learning?

The New School has been a place of visionary innovation in education, but also one of endless starts-and-stops, failed initiatives, and cut-off successes. In this episode we chart the troubled path of Gender Studies with Ann Snitow, the celebrated feminist thinker and activist who started a program in Gender Studies at the school—twice.

The centenary celebration has prompted a flurry of books, exhibitions, marketing campaigns, and festivals. But the history of The New School gets told every day, in less official but perhaps more far-reaching ways. We follow a student who gave tours of the school, converse with the archivists who collate and seed our histories, and talk with a student activist who uses the past to ground his protest and critique of the institution.