NYU appears in The Bob Zadek Show primarily as an institutional affiliation attached to guests, not as a topic the program examines on its own terms. Across four episodes aired between 2017 and 2023, the university is named as the academic home of Professor Richard Epstein, as the source of host Bob Zadek’s law degree, and as the faculty affiliation of Professor Rachel Barkow. In each case the reference serves an introductory function: the host names NYU to establish a guest’s standing before turning to the episode’s actual subject.
Richard Epstein at NYU
The most frequent reference to NYU in the excerpts concerns Richard Epstein. In the 2017 episode on climate change, Bob Zadek introduces him by saying that “Richard teaches law at NYU Law School,” adding that Epstein has a trained scientific background and is schooled in economics as well Richard Epstein on Climate Change (2017). The guest’s own contributions to that episode concern the stability of the climate system, the relative roles of carbon dioxide and water vapor as greenhouse gases, and his self-description as a mild skeptic rather than a denier; he does not discuss NYU itself.
Epstein’s NYU affiliation recurs in the 2020 episode devoted to his book The Dubious Morality of the Modern Administrative State, where the excerpt’s speaker list identifies him as Professor of Law at NYU and Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution The Dubious Morality of the Modern Administrative State (2020). The episode’s summary describes a conversation about the historical shift from a constitutionally limited administration to an expansive fourth branch of government, the erosion of the nondelegation doctrine, and the economic consequences of centralized regulation. As with the climate episode, the university appears only as part of the guest’s identification.
The 2023 episode on the California FAST Recovery Act gives the fullest account of Epstein’s institutional position at NYU. The introduction states that he teaches law at NYU School of Law, where he founded and heads the Classical Liberal Institute, which the excerpt describes as run through the university California Passes the Worst Piece of Legislation Since AB 5 (2023). The same passage identifies him as a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and a senior lecturer at the University of Chicago, and presents his combined background in economics and law as the reason he is suited to discuss the newly enacted California legislation, which the host characterizes as seeking to socialize the entire California fast food industry by putting it under strict governmental control.
NYU as a credential in other episodes
NYU also enters the program through the host’s own biography. Introducing David Kaplan in the 2019 episode on the Supreme Court, Bob Zadek notes that “David is an NYU Law graduate,” then lists Kaplan’s other credentials: former legal affairs editor of Newsweek, more than a decade covering the Supreme Court, and author of several books including The Most Dangerous Branch Demystifying the Supreme Court (2019). The NYU degree is one item in a sequence of credentials, and the conversation that follows concerns the Court’s power rather than the university.
In the 2019 episode on criminal justice, Zadek introduces Rachel Barkow as the Segal Family Professor of Regulatory Law and Policy and faculty director of the Center for Administration of Criminal Justice at New York University School of Law, which he identifies as his alma mater rachel_barkow_on_fixing_the_fundamentals_of_criminal_justi. The host also notes her membership on the United States Sentencing Commission and on the Manhattan DA’s Conviction Integrity Policy Advisory Panel, and that she has clerked for Justice Scalia and Judge Larry Silberman. Barkow’s first substantive remark in the excerpt is a clarification that she is no longer on the Sentencing Commission, so that she will be able to speak freely about it. The episode’s stated subject is why the United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world despite stable crime rates, and how political dysfunction and tough-on-crime rhetoric have displaced empirical evidence in sentencing and pre-trial detention.
Across episodes: no development
Four episodes touch on NYU — the 2017 climate conversation, the 2019 Supreme Court conversation, the 2019 criminal justice conversation, and the 2023 FAST Act conversation — and the excerpts show no development in how the university is treated. In every instance NYU is named in an introduction to establish who the guest is or where the host studied, and in no instance does the conversation turn to the university as an institution.
What the sources do not cover
The excerpts do not describe NYU’s history, governance, curriculum, enrollment, finances, or any controversy involving the university. They do not state when the Classical Liberal Institute was founded, what it does, or how it is funded, beyond the statement that Epstein founded and heads it and that it is run through the university. They do not say what Epstein teaches, what courses any guest has taught, or what either the law school or the wider university is known for. Nothing in the excerpts indicates that any guest spoke on NYU’s behalf or that the university had any role in the episodes beyond supplying an affiliation.
Guests and episodes
6 appearances by 2 guests, 2017–2022.
- Richard Epstein (Professor at NYU School of Law) — Trump Vs. Free Trade with Richard Epstein (2017) — Economic principles of foreign trade and mutual gain.; Richard Epstein on Climate Change (2017) — Science and Politics of Climate Change.; Elizabeth Warren’s Socialist Dogwhistle (2018) — Elizabeth Warren Accountable Capitalism Act and Corporate Governance.; The Dubious Morality of the Modern Administrative State (2020) — The Dubious Morality of the Modern Administrative State.; Which Side Are You On? (2022) — California FAST Act and minimum wage laws.
- Rachel Barkow (NYU School of Law) — Rachel Barkow on Fixing the Fundamentals of Criminal Justice (2019) — Mass Incarceration and Criminal Justice Reform.