On June 23, 2016 a slim majority of the people of the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union by national referendum. The reasons that led to this historic vote, ending forty-three years of UK membership in the EU, are still being widely debated, as are the potential ramifications. Columbia University organized a two-day event (December 1 - 2, 2016) which brought together journalists and scholars from European and American universities to discuss both the underlying issues that precipitated the UK’s decision to separate from the EU as well as the ongoing fallout from the “Brexit” vote, especially for those of us working in global universities.

This video is a recording of a conversation between John Lanchester, journalist and novelist, and Susan Pederson, Adam Tooze, and Sam Wetherell, Professors at Columbia University, on the first day of the conference Brexit Before & Beyond.