Sept. 15, 2017

News

How Design Thinking Can Be Applied Across the Campus

By Lee Gardner

The idea shows promise even in tougher campus settings — like the faculty senate.

Professors from around the world work together in teams during a workshop on design thinking at Stanford’s d.school.

News

Can Design Thinking Redesign Higher Ed?

By Lee Gardner

Many academics are drawn to the philosophy’s reputation as a fount of innovation. But can colleges really get on board with “a bias to action”?

News

Gauging an Academic Unit’s Performance

Enrollment, finances, and more: Here are some examples of how colleges assess a department’s viability.

"The more I learned," says Bret Danilowicz, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Oklahoma State U., "the more it seemed natural to have the departments develop their own criteria and do their own assessments."

News

Applying the Yardstick, Department by Department

By Michael Anft

An effort to measure academic units passes the test at Oklahoma State University.

News

Sizing Up Departments, Dollar by Dollar

By Michael Anft

At colleges where enrollment is stagnant or falling and public funding is scarce, some administrators have responded by measuring the financial viability of each academic unit.

The Review

Don’t Let Faceless Complaints Replace Reasoned Discourse

By Maria Brandt

Anonymous hotlines undermine collegiality and pose a threat to academic freedom.

News

Appointments, Resignations, Deaths (September 15, 2017)

Compiled by M.J. Prest

Michael A. Baston is the new president of Rockland Community College, and Robert Blouin is the new provost of the University of North Carolina.

The Review

How to Do a Better Job of Preparing Students for Life After College

By Mark Peltz

Career centers haven’t been very effective, surveys show, but some colleges are trying to shift the status quo.

The Review

Shred the Files, Savor the Career

By Dwight E. Watson

On retiring, do I have the strength to let go?

The Review

A Marriage of Minds

By Tom Bartlett

Hilary Putnam’s most surprising philosophical shift began at home.

The Review

The Real Victims of Anti-Intellectualism

By Aaron S. Lecklider

Hint: They aren’t professors.

News

Weekly Book List, September 15, 2017

Compiled by Nina C. Ayoub

Descriptions of the latest titles, divided by category.

Chronicle List

Top Chinese-American Donors to American Colleges, 2008-17

By Chronicle Staff

Major gifts from Chinese-Americans and their foundations has soared in recent years, and higher education has benefited.

The Review

Close the Frats

By Vanessa Grigoriadis

One university’s quest to curb sexual assault.

Betsy DeVos, the education secretary: "Survivors, victims of a lack of due process, and campus administrators have all told me that the current approach does a disservice to everyone involved."

News

Citing Obama-Era Failures, DeVos Will Replace Landmark Directive on Sexual Assault

By Adam Harris and Eric Kelderman

After a speech by the education secretary, a spokeswoman said that, until the revision of the 2011 “Dear Colleague” letter, the department would “make clear to schools how to fulfill their current obligations under Title IX.”

Alex Ortiz, who came to the United States from Honduras at age 10, works as an admissions recruiter for Southwest Tennessee Community College. "I love what I do," he said, "using my job as a platform for undocumented and minority kids to access higher education."

Immigration

For Students Imperiled by Trump’s DACA Rollback, a Scramble for Answers

By Katherine Mangan

Although the president later appeared to ease his hardline stance on undocumented “Dreamers,” many remained worried about a memo directing them to “prepare for and arrange their departure from the United States.”

Members of the international-office staff help students register during orientation for this term at Indiana U.-Purdue U. at Indianapolis. The campus had a small rise in overall international enrollments, although there was softening, particularly at the master’s level.

News

Many Colleges See a Drop in International Students, Chronicle Survey Finds

By Karin Fischer

The impact of President Trump’s policies and other issues may not have been “catastrophic.” But about 40 percent of respondents said undergraduate enrollment had declined. And next year could be worse.

A student protest last November at the U. of California at Berkeley. Like them, colleges have almost unanimously opposed President Trump's decision to end a program that's protected many students from deportation. In the long run, though, it's not clear what colleges can do.

Administration

Colleges Deplore Trump’s Threat to DACA. How Far Can They Go to Fight It?

By Adam Harris

In the short term, institutions are moving to provide students with financial help and mental-health services. For the longer haul, they’re researching their legal options.

Sweet Briar College expects to enroll about 335 students this fall. Its leaders hope that a new pricing plan and a curricular revamp will help bring enrollment to a viable level.

News

After All but Closing, Sweet Briar Will Shift Curriculum and Pricing

By Lawrence Biemiller

Three months after its new president started, the women’s college refocuses its academic program and resets its tuition in an effort to widen its appeal.

Sexual-Assault Prevention

In a Session on Sexual Assault, a College Suggested Masturbation. Was That a Mistake?

By Fernanda Zamudio-Suarez

Last week the Rochester Institute of Technology caused a stir during an orientation for new students on sexual-assault prevention.

Sorry, That Hilarious Tweet About an Instructor’s Embarrassing Mistake Is Almost Certainly Fake 1

Technology

That Hilarious Tweet About an Instructor’s Big Mistake? Almost Certainly Fake

By Chris Quintana

The internet went wild over a student’s tale of the professor who got mad when no one showed up in the classroom for an online course.

Anti-fascist counterprotesters rallied in August against white nationalists, neo-Nazis, and members of the "alt-right" in Charlottesville, Va. A new organization, the Campus Anti-Fascist Network, is bringing together faculty, staff, and students.

News

Faculty Members Organize to Fight ‘Fascist’ Interlopers on Campuses

By Nell Gluckman

The Campus Anti-Fascist Network is a new coalition of faculty, staff, and students who want to push back against far-right speakers and websites that call out their peers for perceived liberal bias.

Julian Schmoke Jr., the new enforcement chief, was a dean at DeVry U., which paid $100 million to settle a federal lawsuit.

Government

Education Dept. Appointee’s For-Profit Past Draws Flak, but It’s Complicated

By Adam Harris

Julian Schmoke Jr., a former dean at DeVry University, will lead enforcement activities at the Department of Education, which cracked down on fraud among for-profit colleges.

Rashauna Johnson stands outside Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop, a bar symbolically connected to multiple histories of slavery.

The Chronicle Review

How Should We Memorialize Slavery?

By Marc Parry

A case study of what happens when research collides with public memory.

Jordan Schuh is coordinator of a new program this fall for autistic and other students at Dakota State U. With students on or around the autism spectrum enrolling in ever greater numbers, colleges are trying to identify them, set them up for success, and figure out how to pay for it all.

News

Colleges Are Trying a Broad Approach to Autistic Students. What Will That Cost?

By Paul Basken

Students on or around the autism spectrum are enrolling in ever greater numbers. Colleges are trying to identify them, set them up for success, and figure out how to pay for it all.