ZadekpediaThe university as the guests’ home institution
George Mason University is named on the show chiefly as the employer or academic affiliation of Bob Zadek’s guests. In the 2009 episode on insider trading, Zadek introduces Don Boudreaux as a professor at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, and notes that Boudreaux had been chair of the economics department from 2001 until August of 2009; Boudreaux also writes the blog Cafe Hayek, which Zadek calls must-reading Legalize Insider Trading (2009). In the 2018 episode on higher education, Zadek introduces Bryan Caplan as an economist who teaches economics at George Mason University, a blogger at EconLog, and the author of three books, the last being The Case Against Education; Zadek also mentions Caplan’s The Myth of the Rational Voter, which he says The New York Times labeled the best political book of that year, and Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids Bryan Caplan’s Case Against Higher Education (2018).
Two later episodes place law professors at the university. In the 2021 episode on vaccine mandates, Zadek introduces Todd Zywicki as a professor who teaches law at George Mason University’s School of Law, the Antonin Scalia School of Law, and as the plaintiff in the litigation discussed that morning Vaccine Mandates, George Mason, and the Bill of Rights (2021). In the 2022 episode on racial classification, Zadek introduces David Bernstein as a Foundation Professor of Law at George Mason University and a blogger at the Volokh Conspiracy, and as the author of Classified: The Untold Story of Racial Classification in America Exploring the Borderlands of Legal Whiteness with David Bernstein (2022).
The vaccine mandate litigation
The 2021 episode is the only one on the show in which the university is a party rather than a backdrop. Zadek frames the hour as a case of David against Goliath in which Goliath caved as soon as David put a rock in his hand, and says the guest took issue with his employer requiring that he be vaccinated as a condition of teaching law at his law school Vaccine Mandates, George Mason, and the Bill of Rights (2021). According to Zadek’s introduction, Zywicki objected not because he is an anti-vaxxer but because he had had the COVID virus and therefore had at least the same level of immunity as if he had been vaccinated; Zadek puts the question as whether the goal was to increase profits for Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, or the like, or to make sure the college professor was not endangering students and other faculty members, and says the danger did not exist because of the natural immunity created by having COVID. Zadek states that the university would have none of it, that a rule is a rule and nobody gets to violate the rule, and that litigation started and stopped as quickly, with the university conceding the point — but not quite. Zadek says he calls the outcome a victory of sorts because the university caved rather than allow the case to establish a precedent.
Zadek identifies Jenin Younes as Zywicki’s counsel in the litigation and as a lawyer with the New Civil Liberties Alliance, which he describes as a relatively new public interest law firm that had only been around for a short period of time; he recalls having had Professor Philip Hamburger on the show and describes Hamburger as one of the founders, perhaps the founder, of the New Civil Liberties Alliance Vaccine Mandates, George Mason, and the Bill of Rights (2021). Zywicki himself says only that it is great to be back with Zadek. The excerpt of the episode’s second section, headed “The GMU Vaccine Mandate,” contains Zadek’s label and no further text, so the details of the mandate and the litigation beyond Zadek’s introduction are not available here.
Across episodes
The episodes that touch the topic are the insider-trading episode, the Caplan episode, the vaccine-mandate episode, and the Bernstein episode, and the episodes show no development between the earlier and later treatment.
Guests and episodes
28 appearances by 12 guests, 2009–2023. Guests A–Z by first name.
- Adam Thierer (Mercatus Center Senior Research Fellow) — Finding Freedom in the Permission Society (2021) — Evasive entrepreneurs and the future of governance.
- Alex Tabarrok (Mercatus Center at George Mason University) — FDA (2020) — Systemic failures of CDC and FDA during COVID-19.
- Bryan Caplan (Professor of Economics at George Mason University) — Bryan Caplan’s Case Against Higher Education (2018) — The Case Against Education and Signaling.
- David Bernstein (George Mason University Law Professor) — Exploring the Borderlands of Legal Whiteness with David Bernstein (2022) — Government racial classification in America.
- Don Boudreau (George Mason University economics professor) — Trump’s War on Trade (2019) — Common myths and misconceptions about international trade.
- Don Boudreaux ×4 (Professor of Economics at George Mason University) — Legalize Insider Trading (2009) — Legal and economic arguments for legalizing insider trading.; The Second American Revolution – NOW (2011) — Debt Ceiling Government Spending and Default.; The Single Most Common Economic Fallacy in COVID-19 Reporting (2020) — Economic trade-offs of COVID-19 government responses.; Liz Warren’s Crusade against “Big Grocery (2022) — Economic fallacies of inflation and price controls.
- Frank Buckley ×5 (Professor of Law at George Mason University) — F.H. Buckley on The Way Back: Restoring the Promise of America (2016) — Restoring American economic and social mobility.; Secession: A How-to Guide (2020) — Secession and the potential for a national breakup.; Curiosity & American Capitalism (2021) — The decline of curiosity in modern America.; Progressive Conservatism with F.H. Buckley (2022) — Progressive Conservatism and the Republican Party Future.; Trumpism After Trump (2022) — Progressive Conservatism and the Future of the GOP.
- Ilya Somin ×6 (Professor of Law at George Mason University) — Is America Doomed by Voter Ignorance? (2013) — Voter ignorance and the impact on democratic governance.; Ilya Somin on Democracy and Political Ignorance (2016) — Democracy and Political Ignorance and Smaller Government.; How to Create a Legitimacy Crisis (2019) — Court packing and Supreme Court reform.; Foot Voting > Ballot Voting (2020) — Foot Voting Migration and Political Freedom.; Hard Questions About Asylum and Afghanistan (2021) — Immigration and asylum policy in the Afghanistan crisis.; 3 Libertarian Ideas to Strengthen Democracy (2022) — Libertarian proposals for the Guardrails of Democracy project.
- Jenin Younes (GMU and New Civil Liberties Alliance) — Vaccine Mandates, George Mason, and the Bill of Rights (2021) — Legal challenge to university vaccine mandate.
- Mark Lutter (PhD Candidate at George Mason University) — Mark Lutter on Proprietary Cities (2016) — The Free City Movement and proprietary cities.
- Todd Zywicki ×3 (Professor of Law at George Mason University) — Repeal the 17th Amendment? (2012) — The 17th Amendment and the Death of Federalism.; Vaccine Mandates, George Mason, and the Bill of Rights (2021) — Legal challenge to university vaccine mandate.; The Weaponization of Consumer Finance (2022) — Government Control and the Consumer Credit Market.
- Veronique de Rugy ×3 (Mercatus Center Senior Research Fellow) — Crime Down: Prison Costs Up (2011) — Costs of the American criminal justice system.; Veronique de Rugy on the Gender Pay Gap (2019) — Reality and myths of the gender pay gap.; Shining a Spotlight on the Stealth Airline Bailouts (2023) — Bailouts and Cronyism in the Airline Industry.