I joined Jon on the #RaceClass Podcast, and he came ready. No easy scripted questions, no softballs, and no protected territory. He asked whatever he wanted. The difficult questions came fast and heavy, and I’m glad Jon did.

Of course, we had to talk about the recent controversy I found myself in the middle of on the front page of The Chronicle of Higher Education. A LinkedIn post, the president of Columbia University, an accidental “like,” and a question I never expected to contemplate publicly: Can your thumb 👍 be the villain in a story?

For the first time publicly, I also talked about family ancestry I have only recently discovered and how learning about the people who came before me has helped me better understand why I do this work.

We talked about the Jason Arday tragedy, Tyler Austin Harper’s appeal to white liberals, and what it means to lead institutions when Trump’s political pressure is intensifying.

And we talked about voice. When I became an institutional leader, I was told that my voice no longer belonged to me. Every public word, every post, every opinion could supposedly become an institutional liability. The expectation was surveillance followed by self-censorship: watch what you say, watch what you write, watch what you like, watch who might be watching you.

That tension runs through much of this conversation: How do you lead without disappearing? How do you accept responsibility without surrendering your expertise? And what happens to institutions when the safest leader is the one who is “unreadable” and says almost nothing at all?

The episode is challenging, sometimes funny, sometimes uncomfortable, and at points deeply personal.

🎧 The new #RaceClass Podcast is fresh off the press. Give it a listen.

Please share.

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Julian Vasquez Heilig is a nationally recognized public scholar, commentator, and civil rights advocate whose work has appeared on Democracy Now!, MSNBC, Al Jazeera, NBC News, PBS, and Univision. He brings clarity, urgency, and public relevance to complex issues in education, policy, and leadership. For consulting, speaking opportunities, and collaborations, contact jvh@alumni.stanford.edu.