Reorientation is a narrative podcast from the Center for Campus History. Each season we’re taking a deep dive into a historical topic with new archival research, interviews with experts and scholars, and stories of campus community members.
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Season 2 — Campus Housing
A decent place to live – It’s one of the most basic things people need when they go to college.
So why is housing in Madison so expensive? And competitive? And stressful to find? High rents, sketchy apartments and crowded conditions are practically a right of passage. And it’s been that way year after year, decade after decade. But how did it get this way? From the birth of urban planning in the late 1800s to the post-WWII college enrollment boom, midcentury land grabs to modern high-rises, hosts Kacie Lucchini Butcher and Alexandra Pasqualone dig into the history of campus housing at UW–Madison.
You can find full teaching guides for each episode here.
Season 1 — Campus Police
What’s the deal with campus police? How did UW–Madison and hundreds of other universities across the country end up with their own deputized law enforcement agencies? And what does their existence mean for the communities they police, both on and off campus? From private detectives in the ragtime era to rogue security officers in the postwar years, antiwar demonstrations in the turbulent late 60’s to campus protests in 2024 — hosts Kacie Lucchini Butcher and Siobhan Ryan dive into the history to answer those big questions.
You can find full teaching guides for each episode here.
