June 8, 2018

Cathy Sandeen will become chancellor of the University of Alaska at Anchorage

News

Transitions: U. of Alaska at Anchorage Chooses New Chancellor, Smith College’s First Female President Dies at 83

Compiled by Julia Piper

Cathy Sandeen, chancellor of the University of Wisconsin Colleges and the University of Wisconsin-Extension, will lead the Anchorage campus.

Admissions

How Admissions Competition Brought New Rivalries, Strange Bedfellows, and ‘An Us-Versus-Us Lawsuit’

By Eric Hoover

CollegeNET, which is suing the sponsor of one admissions form, is powering a competing group’s admissions form. Oh, it’s awkward.

The Review

The Best Freshman Year Is a Gap Year

By Abigail Falik and Linda Frey

A purposeful year off before college is the best way to ensure that more students arrive on campus prepared to declare both a major and a mission.

Bryan Dewsbury, assistant professor at the U. of Rhode Island: "My job is to ensure that no matter who you are or where you’re coming from, you’re going to learn biology really well."

News

Freshmen ‘Are Souls That Want to Be Awakened’

By Kelly Field

“I know your doubts and fears, and I’ll have your back till the end of the semester.” That’s the message that Bryan Dewsbury, a biology professor at the University of Rhode Island, wants to get across to first-year students.

Cassidy Nelson (left), a peer mentor at Southern Utah U., introduces Abby Geddes, an incoming freshman, and her mother, Shelly, to Jodi Lee Simmons, the university’s coordinator for parent and family services.

News

A Third of Your Freshmen Disappear. How Can You Keep Them?

By Kelly Field

Colleges redesign the first-year experience to improve retention, learning outcomes, and students’ sense of belonging.

News

What Do ‘White Guys’ Think About Race? This Professor Is Trying to Find Out

By Chris Quintana

In more than 100 interviews with students, Nolan L. Cabrera has heard strong beliefs they don’t feel they can share publicly.

Chronicle List

Colleges With the Best 4-Year Graduation Rates, 2014

By Chronicle Staff

Only three private nonprofit institutions had four-year graduation rates exceeding 90 percent for students who began their studies in 2010.

News

Weekly Book List, June 8, 2018

Compiled by Nina C. Ayoub

Descriptions of the latest titles, divided by category.

Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, a conservative advocacy group, speaking at Indiana U. of Pennsylvania in April. He said a professor’s attempt to remove a disruptive student from her class exemplified how "free speech is under attack in college campuses."

News

How a Student Got Kicked Out of Class — and Became a Conservative Hero

By Michael Vasquez

When Lake Ingle got in trouble with his professor, he waged a right-wing media campaign against her. She paid a fearful price as the target of the internet outrage machine.

Shirley Lawler became chancellor at Missouri State University at West Plains

News

Transitions: Missouri State Campus Selects Its First Female Chancellor, U. of Southern California President Resigns

Compiled by Julia Piper

Shirley Lawler, former provost at Ozarks Technical Community College, will lead Missouri State University at West Plains.

The president of George Mason U., Ángel Cabrera, has said that some of its past agreements with the Koch Foundation and other funders were “problematic.” The foundation has increased its spending on higher ed in recent years, according to a report by the Associated Press.

Academic Freedom

Undeterred by Criticism, Koch Foundation Increases Spending in Higher Education

By Nell Gluckman

The Associated Press found that the conservative fund laid out 47 percent more in 2016.

International students take part in orientation at Lehigh U.

News

This Admissions Officer Changed Her Recruiting Strategy in the Trump Era. It Worked.

By Karin Fischer

Lehigh University’s Morgan Volkart focused on new countries in Latin America and Africa this year, and the resulting group of international freshmen will be more diverse than ever.

Terry Karl, an emeritus professor at Stanford U. who filed a complaint against Jorge Domínguez in 1983, said she was pleased with the association’s action.

Sexual Misconduct

A Scholarly Group Had Avoided Talk of Harassment in Its Midst. Now It Seeks to ‘Start Anew.’

By Nell Gluckman

The Latin American Studies Association announced the creation of an anti-harassment task force at its annual meeting last week.

Commentary

Are You in a ‘BS Job’? Thank You for Your Work. No, Really.

By Brian Rosenberg

Despite fashionable opinion to the contrary, 21st-century administrators are crucial to the smooth running of a college.

News

This Nepali Teenager Sees His Future Vanishing. Can an American University Save Him?

By Eric Hoover

After losing their full scholarships at the University of Texas at Tyler, dozens of students from Nepal have scrambled to find other colleges. Here’s how one young man has fared.

Hundreds of people gathered in an Istanbul park last year to protest government actions, including the oppression of academics.

The Review

The Criminalization of Knowledge

By Judith Butler

Why the struggle for academic freedom is the struggle for democracy.

The U. of Southern California’s president, C.L. Max Nikias, will resign, the institution announced on Friday.

News

USC President Steps Down Over Sexual-Misconduct Scandal Involving Gynecologist

By Jack Stripling

C.L. Max Nikias, president of the University of Southern California, will step down, the institution announced on Friday.

Timothy Renick of Georgia State U.: "What we’re really doing is delivering common sense at scale."

Backgrounder

Georgia State U. Made Its Graduation Rate Jump. How?

By Beth McMurtrie

A student-success expert shares seven principles that underlie the university’s high-tech, high-touch approach.

A food bank at Columbia College, a two-year institution in California.

News

While Congress Squabbles, Some States Take Their Own Steps to Help Hungry Students

By Goldie Blumenstyk

California and Massachusetts are working within the limits of existing law to expand students’ access to a key federal nutrition-assistance program.

Students and alumni of Brigham Young U., including Kaitlynn Wright, Benjamin Schilaty, and Sarah Langford, spoke at a university-sponsored panel in March about what it’s like to be LGBTQ or "same-sex attracted" at the Mormon institution.

News

Inside Gay Students’ Fight to Be Heard at BYU

By Emma Kerr

In March, the Mormon university sponsored a panel on LGBT issues — something it had never done before. How it got there is a story of mixed motivations and incremental progress.