Conor Friedersdorf
Before joining The Atlantic in 2010, he was the features editor at Culture11 and a reporter for the Los Angeles News Group. He is the founding editor of The Best of Journalism, a newsletter devoted to exceptional nonfiction.
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Illustration by Matteo Giuseppe Pani Abolish DEI Statements
Assessing a debate about a controversial hiring practice
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Kim Raff / The New York Times / … The State That’s Trying to Rein in DEI Without Becoming Florida
How should public institutions in a diverse society treat identity?
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Illustration by The Atlantic: Sources: Getty. What ‘Luxury Beliefs’ Reveal About the Ruling Class
An orphan’s unlikely journey from foster care to Yale, and its lessons for the upper crust
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Illustration by The Atlantic. Source: Win McNamee / … The Strongest Case Against Donald Trump
Trump brings out the worst in Americans. Nikki Haley wouldn’t.
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Jessica Rinaldi / Reuters Apathy Loses
If reasonable people disengage from politics, the zealots win.
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H. Armstrong Roberts / Retrofile / Getty A Farewell to Up for Debate
This newsletter is coming to an end, but my inbox stays open to all of you.
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Homer Sykes / Alamy Readers Share the State of Their Local Journalism
“It is painful to watch as our once-proud newspaper has become a shell nearly devoid of meaningful content,” one reader says.
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Illustration by Matteo Giuseppe Pani. Source: Getty. ‘A Constant Drumbeat’ of Racial Essentialism
A lawsuit alleging racial discrimination in Penn State’s approach to DEI can go to trial, and could shape the future of diversity programs on campus.
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Sam Wolfe / Bloomberg / Getty Why the Media Shouldn’t Write Nikki Haley Off
Plus: A revisionist history of Beavis and Butt-Head
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Illustration by The Atlantic. Source: Millennium Images / … Readers on the Morality of Pornography
“I regard pornography as the fast food of sex: A little bit here and there won’t hurt anyone, but it’s not something to consume regularly,” one reader argues.
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Millennium Images / Gallery Stock Is Pornography Immoral?
Plus: Malaise among Americans
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Illustration by The Atlantic. Source: Coneyl Jay / … Readers Share Their Most Misunderstood Views
Voting age, atheism, abortion, language education, and more
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Illustration by The Atlantic. Sources: Ernst Haas / … Don’t Fire People for Making Pornography in Their Free Time
The counterintuitive case for ignoring a university chancellor’s X-rated flicks.
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Coneyl Jay / Getty What Conversations About DEI Are Missing
Plus: Is declining fertility a failure of capitalism?
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Adam Glanzman / The New York Times / … Readers’ Toughest Questions for University Presidents
Contending with higher education in America
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Adam Glanzman / The New York Times / … The Debate That Claudine Gay Is Evading
Plus: An argument for life after death
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Alex Kent / AFP / Getty How October 7 Changed America’s Free-Speech Culture
The identitarian left cannot go on as it did before the attacks.
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Illustration by The Atlantic. Source: Archive Photos / … How Teens Spend Their Free Time
“I’ll take my kid playing PlayStation all night over getting drunk and driving around, that’s for sure,” one reader says.
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Illustration by The Atlantic. Source: Gallery Stock Reader Views on Gender-Divided Social Spaces
“Gender defined every generation until Gen X,” one reader argues. “It has been both challenging and wonderful to see those barriers become more permeable.”
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Julio Gamboa / Gallery Stock The Role of Gender Divides in Social Spaces
Plus: A theory of the baby bust
