Oct. 19, 2018

BACKGROUNDER

How Henrietta Schmerler Was Lost, Then Found

By Nell Gluckman

Almost 90 years ago, a young anthropologist was murdered in the field. The case still speaks volumes about sexual assault and how we explain it away.

Chronicle List

Colleges That Reported the Most Liquor and Drug Violations

By Chronicle Staff

Colleges tended to have far more referrals to student-conduct programs than arrests for suspected violations.

Michael McRobbie, president of Indiana U.

News

How a Low-Profile Leader Made Big Changes at Indiana U.

By Eric Kelderman

With little fanfare, Michael McRobbie has brought about a renewal on a campus where many once felt progress had halted.

News

New Roles Focus on First-Generation Students’ Issues

By Julia Piper

More four-year colleges are hiring managers to foster a sense of community among first-generation students.

Ching-Hua Wang will lead Samuel Merritt U.

News

Transitions: Samuel Merritt U. Selects New Leader, U. of Mississippi Names Chief of Research

Compiled by Julia Piper

Ching-Hua Wang will become Samuel Merritt’s second president in November. Josh Gladden has served as Ole Miss’s interim vice chancellor of research since 2016.

After two faculty members at the U. of Michigan at Ann Arbor declined to write letters of recommendation for political reasons, and one of them was disciplined, it turned out that professors are often unaware of campus policies on the letters — if such policies even exist.

Academic Freedom

How Should Colleges Respond to Politics in Letters of Recommendation?

By Steven Johnson

Professors who decline to write such letters for moral or political reasons are often unaware of campus policies to guide them — if they even exist.

Andrew Arato, an internationally known professor of political and social theory at the New School, was recently sanctioned for what the administration deemed to be uncollegial and bullying behavior.

Collegiality

‘My Fights Are With My Peers’: When a Professor Gets Banned for Bullying

By Katherine Mangan

This scholar at the New School won’t be allowed to attend faculty or committee meetings, or public events where other faculty members’ work is being presented.

Graduate Students

One Way to Be a Better Mentor to Grad Students? Try an Advising Statement

By Vimal Patel

The relationship between advisers and advisees is a crucial one, but the two often have different expectations. A graduate dean has a way to improve communication.

News

How Faculty Advisers Can Be First Responders When Students Need Help

By Alexander C. Kafka

Professors can’t be experts in everything that can go wrong for a student. But they should know how to make referrals to necessary campus resources.

Three Ways to Reach Those Elusive Millennial Donors 1

Commentary

3 Ways to Reach Those Elusive Millennial Donors

By Jacqueline Pfeffer Merrill

Young alumni, even the wealthy ones, are not supporting their alma maters the way their parents did. Colleges need new strategies to turn them into philanthropists.

Helen Pluckrose, one of three scholars who carried out a publishing hoax that targeted several journals in identity-studies fields.

News

Scholar Who Pulled Off Publishing Hoax Defends It: ‘Papers Are Either Sound or They Aren’t’

By Alexander C. Kafka

“Scholarship should not depend on the identity or motivation of the writers,” said Helen Pluckrose, one of three academics whose scheme targeted journals in identity-studies fields.