Jan. 3, 2025

The Chronicle of Higher Education

Volume 71, Issue 9

Cover Stories

The former Wells College campus in Aurora, N.Y., sits on the shores of Cayuga Lake, Tuesday, December 10, 2024. Wells College, which served only women until 2005, closed on June 30, 2024 as the school struggled to retain students and faculty and maintain facilities as the cost of higher education has continued to rise. At the time of it's closure, 357 students attended the college and 36 full-time faculty were employed.
(Photo by Heather Ainsworth)

Breaking Up

Can a College Town Survive the Closure of Its College?

By Karin Fischer

For communities surrounding small institutions, the losses are more than economic.

Elnathan Hall on Knoxville College's campus after a fire was set to the building on Nov. 4.

Still Holding On

A Black College Lost Its Accreditation Almost 30 Years Ago. Why Won’t Its Leaders Pull the Plug?

By Jasper Smith

Alumni and local residents disagree on the role the college plays today.

Highlights

Vector-based illustration of a mortarboard splitting in half with silhouetted people on both sides of the rift

New Agenda

A Firestorm Against the AAUP

By Garrett Shanley

The advocacy group has found itself in a feud with scholars and others over how to defend academic freedom during the incoming Trump administration.

Also in the Issue

Students, faculty and other individuals gather with signs gather for a rally to protect funding for the Diversity Equity & Inclusion program at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan U.S., on December 2, 2024.

Diversity Efforts

U. of Michigan Bans Use of Diversity Statements, Recommits to Broader DEI Goals

By Katherine Mangan

A vice president warned at the tense meeting that the incoming Congress will “use whatever tools they have” to eliminate identity-conscious diversity initiatives: “We may have to trim sails.”

An AI-generated graphic representing material in Zrinka Stahuljak’s course, and the digital textbook’s cover. The image was created by UCLA officials promoting Stahuljak's choice to use an AI-generated textbook for a forthcoming literature course.

AI in the Classroom

The Course Is About Literature. Its Textbook Was Generated by AI.

By Christa Dutton

News of the UCLA course has spurred worry and criticism, but its professor is unfazed. “I feel more empowered by this process,” she says.

Ally Louks, a Cambridge University doctoral student’s seemingly benign social media post has sparked an unexpected, ongoing, and occasionally memeable discourse.

'Smell-Gate'

Her Thesis on the ‘Politics of Smell’ Stirred the Online Masses. Here’s What She Thinks About It.

By Garrett Shanley

A Cambridge University doctoral student went viral after celebrating the completion of her thesis. She spoke to The Chronicle about the bizarre, overwhelming response.