Subscribe Today For Premium Access

A New History of the Right Has Become an Intellectual Flashpoint

By Marc Parry July 19, 2017

Critics call Nancy MacLean’s Democracy in Chains sloppy and ideologically driven. Defenders praise its insights.

The Chronicle Review

Climate Scientists Should Embrace Public Debate

By Christopher J. Ferguson

Ducking the skeptics only fuels conspiracy theories and increases the credibility of outlandish views.

The Chronicle Review

Nancy MacLean Responds to Her Critics

By Marc Parry

“Such rhetorical bullying would be laughable if it weren’t part of a pattern on the right,” says the Duke professor of history and public policy.

The Chronicle Review

Harvard’s Long History of Going Too Far

By Ted Gup

The proposal to ban final clubs is illogical, illiberal — and totally in character.

The Chronicle Review

Choosing Status Over Love

By Donna Freitas

We all want to be popular, and for good reason. A lot rides on it.

Recent Essays on the State of Higher Education

How Right-Wing Billionaires Infiltrated Higher Education

By Jane Mayer

The secret history of conservative foundations' plans to co-opt scholars and scholarship.

Has Higher Education Become an Engine of Inequality?

A Chronicle Forum

Education, long praised as the great equalizer, no longer seems to be performing as advertised. Why? We asked 10 experts to weigh in.

The Past and Future of Higher Education

The Chronicle’s 50th anniversary is an occasion to take stock of the world we cover. What ideas and arguments might shape the next 50 years?

The College Sex Bureaucracy

By Jacob Gersen and Jeannie Suk Gersen

To fight assault, the feds have made colleges clumsy monitors of students’ sex lives. Will the Trump administration reverse that trend?

Writing After Academe

By Andrew Kay July 10, 2017

Even though I couldn’t land a tenure-track job, I still had the capacity to capture people’s attention, offering them some repast that was both pleasurable and provocative.

The Ferocity of Fandom

By John Kaag

Sports spectating brings out the bigoted, sexist clannishness in us. Might it bring out something better?

Lyft and Learn

By Shaul Bakhash

Why settle for a ride to the airport when you can also get a lecture on Descartes?

The Myth of ‘Cultural Appropriation’

By Walter Benn Michaels

Arguing that certain people don’t have the right to tell certain stories is a distraction from the real menace: inequality.

Reassessing Thomas Jefferson

By Marc Parry

Remove statues of the nation’s third president? A historian says that would be shortsighted.

Can Feminist Scholarship Stop Sexism?

By Becca Rothfeld

Sexism is rampant in academe. If only theorizing would provide a remedy.

Why I Resigned From Duke

By Paul J. Griffiths

A professor steps down after a dispute over diversity training.

How to Avoid a Post-Scholar America

By Keisha N. Blain and Ibram X. Kendi

Academics can recapture the trust of the public — but only if they are willing to write for it.

To My Student, on the Death of Her Grandmother(s)

By Shannon Reed

How tragic that she died inconveniently right in the middle of Finals Week.

Recent Essays on Academic Culture

Intimidation Is the New Normal on Campus

By Jonathan Haidt

Is someone challenging the dominant narrative? Shut ’em down and run ’em off.

What It Feels Like to Be a Black Professor

By John L. Jackson Jr.

The senior African-American scholars I meet are bitter and disheartened. Am I doomed to the same fate?

Academe’s Poisonous Call-Out Culture

By Suzanna Danuta Walters

There are real, imminent threats to freedom and social justice. So why are scholars attacking an ally?

How the Ivies Went Coed

By Maggie Doherty

Administrators took credit, but it was students who forced their hand.

Have Tenure? Quit Complaining

By Noam Shpancer

Just because our way of life is nearly extinct doesn’t mean we can’t relish it.

The Academy’s Assault on Intellectual Diversity

By Robert Boyers

Open society ends at the campus gates. Watch what you say — and what you think.

Also in the Review

What the ‘Conceptual Penis’ Hoax Does and Does Not Prove

By Alan Sokal

The latest academic fake-out making headlines says less about scholarly standards than you may think.

Higher Education for a Post-Growth World

By Michael Maniates

Sustainability is not enough: Colleges and universities must reorient themselves for a future of limited growth.

Teaching Humility in an Age of Arrogance

By Michael Patrick Lynch

Democracy can’t function if we don’t inhabit a common space where we can listen to one another.

The Future of the University Press: A Forum

We asked publishers, press directors, editors, scholars, and other insiders for their views on the state and future of academic publishing. We got back a surprisingly wide range of views — and good ideas on how university presses are preparing for an uncertain future.

A New History of the Right Has Become an Intellectual Flashpoint

Climate Scientists Should Embrace Public Debate

Nancy MacLean Responds to Her Critics

Harvard’s Long History of Going Too Far

Choosing Status Over Love

Get Chronicle Review

This Week's Issue

How Right-Wing Billionaires Infiltrated Higher Education

Has Higher Education Become an Engine of Inequality?

The Past and Future of Higher Education

The College Sex Bureaucracy

Writing After Academe

The Ferocity of Fandom

Lyft and Learn

The Myth of ‘Cultural Appropriation’

Reassessing Thomas Jefferson

Can Feminist Scholarship Stop Sexism?

Why I Resigned From Duke

How to Avoid a Post-Scholar America

To My Student, on the Death of Her Grandmother(s)

The Gadfly

Intimidation Is the New Normal on Campus

What It Feels Like to Be a Black Professor

Academe’s Poisonous Call-Out Culture

How the Ivies Went Coed

Have Tenure? Quit Complaining

The Academy’s Assault on Intellectual Diversity

What the ‘Conceptual Penis’ Hoax Does and Does Not Prove

Higher Education for a Post-Growth World

Teaching Humility in an Age of Arrogance

The Future of the University Press: A Forum

Why We Fight Wars

Better College, Better Scholars, Right? Not So Much

Why Walking Out Is Better Than Shouting Down

Buried History