Volume 62, Issue 15: December 11, 2015

What you need to know about the past seven days.

The presidents of Columbia and Penn had the largest paydays, reaching $4.6 million and $3.06 million per year, respectively.

A basic mission of the American research university is eroding, with predictability prized over boldness at almost every level — hiring, promotion, publishing, and grant making.

Hanging on to the people who agree to come aboard is a major challenge for many colleges.

The institution wants to allow departments to set the upper limit on stipends. But critics say the move violates a long-held principle at Madison of “equal pay for equal work.”

The takeover of a family-run press by an industry giant has its authors worried anew about consolidation in scholarly publishing.

Critics say the for-profit company benefits from universities without giving back, but its chief executive points to Google as his role model.

Bruce Shepard of Western Washington University speaks out about his efforts to calm racial tensions following an anonymous threat on Yik Yak to lynch the student body’s black leader.

A team of experts organized by the American Law Institute is writing guidelines for college officials on responding to sexual misconduct.

Nine out of 10 colleges reported no rapes on their campuses in 2014 under the law known as the Clery Act. What that means depends on who’s weighing in.

Thomas A. LaVeist, who will join George Washington University, explores poor outcomes for blacks in his research and film.

A college president sees, in George Eliot’s famous novel, a guide for students on how to choose the best way to live.

For starters, they must understand that change takes time and that open dialogue is tough to create in the middle of a crisis.

College leaders should engage their students and respond to their legitimate concerns with the respect they deserve.

How to prepare a Ph.D. for faculty and nonfaculty jobs.

No one has invented a better educational tool than a superb teacher.

Defanged distribution requirements, faux interdisciplinarity, and applied AP credits are denying students the curricula they deserve.

Scholarship doesn’t usually change our lives — but why shouldn’t it?

Rather than resigning ourselves to our students’ digitally frayed attention, let’s figure out how to win it back.

He put Washington savvy in the service of his utilitarian ethics.

An anthropologist mourns the loss of her discipline’s citation customs.