
Peter Schmidt
Senior Writer (former)
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Peter Schmidt was a senior writer for The Chronicle of Higher Education. He covered affirmative action, academic labor, and issues related to academic freedom. He also is the author of Color and Money: How Rich White Kids Are Winning the War Over College Affirmative Action.
Prior to joining The Chronicle, Schmidt was a staff writer for Education Week, where he covered school desegregation, urban education, and immigrant education. He has also reported for the Associated Press, the Detroit Free Press, The Northern Virginia Daily, and the Ann Arbor News, and he has contributed editorials to The Boston Globe, USA Today, and The Wall Street Journal.
Stories by this Author
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The Review
How Higher Ed Can Stop Affirmative Action for Rich White People
Fixing academe’s race and class inequality must be at the top of the list. -
News
Charlottesville Violence Sparks New Worries About Safety During Campus Protests
Texas A&M University canceled an outsider’s planned “White Lives Matter” event as experts warned colleges to be prepared for violence like what occurred this past weekend in Virginia. -
Government
Trump May Find No Easy Targets if He Attacks Race in Admissions
Any federal challenge to colleges that consider applicants’ race will bump up against the Supreme Court’s repeated blessings of such policies. -
News
Is Academic Freedom’s Watchdog Losing Its Bite?
Many colleges’ administrations shrug off being censured by the American Association of University Professors, confident they won’t pay much of a price. -
Legal
A Wave of Disability-Lawsuit Threats Against Colleges May Have Receded
A Pittsburgh law firm appears to have walked away after telling dozens of colleges it might sue them over their online courses’ inaccessibility. -
News
One Activist Has Hundreds of Colleges Under the Gun to Fix Their Websites
A Michigan woman says it takes her only half an hour to alert the Education Department that a college appears to be violating disability-rights laws. -
News
Professors’ Growing Risk: Harassment for Things They Never Really Said
Faculty members are facing not just online backlash but also threats of violence as a result of how conservative media characterize their views. -
News
A Divided AAUP Lifts Censure on U. of Illinois
The professors’ group does the same for Phillips Community College, but it rebukes Spalding University and the Community College of Aurora for firing dissenting faculty members. -
The Ticker
AAUP Considers Paying Adjuncts in Its Leadership Posts
A proposed amendment to the constitution of the American Association of University Professors would spare adjuncts from sacrificing earnings for holding national office in the group. -
News
Consultant Controversy Drives Out President of Northern Illinois U.
The university’s chief, Douglas D. Baker, resigned in response to an uproar over his circumvention of state bidding rules to pay top advisers handsomely.