Good morning, and welcome to Friday, January 17. Rick Seltzer wrote today’s Briefing. Julia Piper compiled Comings and Goings. Get in touch: dailybriefing@chronicle.com.
📅 The Daily Briefing will not publish on Monday in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. This newsletter will return on Tuesday.
Your questions for 2025
The first Daily Briefing of the new year shared the big questions our journalists are asking. Today, in the last Daily Briefing before Monday’s presidential inauguration, we’re featuring questions from you, our readers, beginning with a pair from Beth Ann Dobie, provost and chief operating officer at Alfred University. The following submissions have been lightly edited for format and style.
“Will higher ed continue to value the expansion of knowledge? As we move ever toward a consumer model with emphasis on activities and issues outside traditional learning spaces, will higher ed be committed to an emphasis on education as our primary goal?”
“Will we be effective in countering (or at least resisting) the public’s and Trump administration’s devaluing of education, making the case for a liberal arts education regardless of career pursuit?” — Beth Ann Dobie, provost and chief operating officer, Alfred University
“Will academia listen and respond to the signals from society at large that it must reform itself? Last year made it clearer than ever that academia is out of step with society in many ways. Will universities return to the search for truth, refocus on merit, be open to ideas and people from other than the left, and encourage constructive dialogue among faculty and students? Or will universities continue to ignore those signs and then be forced to reform by forces from outside academia?” — Mark McNeilly, professor of the practice, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
“Will humanities scholars and students use core skills to address current social, political, and economic problems in the U.S. and elsewhere in the world? If so, which skills and problems? Core skills in the humanities are deep research, close reading, full coverage of facts, critical analysis, and problem-solving.” — Ellen Messer-Davidow, professor, University of Minnesota
“What will be the outcome of the seemingly pro-Palestinian and antisemitic paradigm of the elite schools, students, and faculty on fund raising and enrollment?” — Glenn E. Meyer, professor emeritus, Trinity University
The bigger picture: Many of the questions readers and Chronicle journalists are asking expose a key tension. Outside forces are pressing higher ed to change, even as many in the sector want to preserve its core values.