Skip to content
ADVERTISEMENT
Sept. 27, 2019
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Volume 66, Issue 4

Cover Story

Backgrounder
The administrators who handle sexual-misconduct investigations aren’t sticking around for long. That’s because they have one of the toughest jobs on campus.

Highlights

News
By Kristen Doerer
“Reacting to the Past” began as one professor’s experiment to enliven a dull class. Now it’s at 500 colleges and counting.

Diversity in Academe: Do Colleges Quash Conservative Views

News
By Katherine Mangan September 22, 2019
Outside of the most highly publicized campus-culture clashes, students and professors are more open-minded than critics give them credit for.
News
By Sarah Brown September 22, 2019
2013 September 9 Students at the City U. of New York protest the institution’s appointment of David Petraeus to a teaching position, calling the former head of the Central Intelligence Agency a “war criminal” and a “scumbag.” Some of them are arrested. October 29 Student activists at Brown U.…
By Brian O’Leary September 22, 2019
Among students, liberals do outnumber conservatives. But a large share are moderates, and different types of institutions see different proportions of students claiming one of five political identities.
News
By Vimal Patel September 22, 2019
They are less likely to tolerate some hateful viewpoints than previous generations. But that doesn’t mean they’ve completely abandoned free-speech principles.
News
By Jonathan Zimmerman September 22, 2019
The concept is complicated, but you wouldn’t know that by walking around college campuses.
Commentary
By Wayne Journell September 22, 2019
It’s pretending to be politically neutral that hurts teaching and learning.
Commentary
By Joseph P. Viteritti September 22, 2019
I used to say, “This is my opinion; you may differ.” No more.
News
By Alexander C. Kafka September 22, 2019
Beyond identity politics, cultural and educational immersion and solidarity draw students to residences geared toward ethnic, sexual, religious, and other minority groups.
News
By Emma Pettit September 22, 2019
What happened at the University of Chicago shows how much campus debates over thorny political issues can escalate in 2019.
News
By Beth McMurtrie September 22, 2019
They have created courses to teach students how to think critically about divisive topics, examine their own biases, and better understand why some people think differently than they do.
News
By Amy Binder, Jeffrey L. Kidder September 22, 2019
Colleges can do more to guide students toward productive forms of political engagement.

Commentary

The Review
By Robert Witt, Kevin P. Coyne
We examined every closure, merger, and acquisition from the last few years. The results aren’t promising.
Advice
A new academic year means lots and lots of meetings. Here’s how to make them more productive and less contentious.

Also in the Issue

News
By Will Jarvis
The experience of one recent president is an object lesson in why most leaders “hold on for dear life and just hope that athletics doesn’t take them down.”
News
Records obtained by The Chronicle show that Beth Cabrera was paid by George Mason University for contract work while her husband, Ángel Cabrera, served as its chief. The case sheds light on a gray area of college leadership.
Campus Criticism
After three letters, two town halls, and one sit-in, the president finally responded.
News
How professors can make their geekiness work for them in the classroom, and families’ difficulties with the admissions process are among the latest book topics.
Admissions
Two weeks is too meager, an example of white privilege, and another nail in the coffin of meritocracy, according to the Twitterati.
News
A retired professor who started teaching college students in his mid-50s offers advice on the best ways to prepare students for the real world.
News
By Rachel Wagner
An essay by a journalist who earned a Ph.D. reminds a writing instructor that academic writing shouldn’t forsake good storytelling.
Chronicle List
By Chronicle Staff
One of the few remaining men’s colleges in the country received a $30-million gift for the construction of a new science facility.
News
Peter Goplerud was previously dean of Florida Coastal School of Law. Teresa Sullivan will become interim chief academic officer at Michigan State.
News
Amid heightened scrutiny of America’s research relationship with China, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy will bring together different agencies to devise guidelines and best practices.
Libel on the Quad
A lawsuit accuses Wesleyan University of “aiding and abetting” defamatory claims that a faculty member was a sexual predator.
News
Despite serving high-risk populations, the offices that oversee fraternities and sororities have long been a low priority on many campuses.
News
Like other colleges, the University of Arizona has pledged to offer four years of free tuition to all Pell Grant-eligible, in-state freshmen. It’s part of a course correction after the Great Recession.
News
The logistical reality of the Fair Pay to Play Act looms. Several experts envision what legal and economic scenarios await both the NCAA and the colleges affected.
Campus Life
When Hampshire College failed to meet its enrollment needs this past spring, it made the drastic decision to slash its freshman class. Now, its students — and its new president — hope the unconventional institution can rise from the ashes.
Campus Safety
By Grace Elletson
Six Title IX coordinators have worked at the college in the past three academic years. One lasted only a month.