50 Years of Headlines

For years after The Chronicle started, student protests, radical movements, and campus violence dominated our headlines.

Contrary to predictions in the 1980s of mass retirements, full-time, tenure-track positions have become the exception. The result: a transformation in the role, influence, and lifestyle of the college professor.

The Chronicle began publication aiming to write about American colleges and universities, but it quickly turned its eyes overseas.

Though the vocabulary of debates has changed, our coverage shows that campuses still struggle with a reluctance to talk about racist incidents, the pressure on minority faculty members and students to “fit in,” and questions about what responsibility colleges have to foster broader social change.

In the era of smartphones and social media, it’s sometimes hard to remember that only 50 years ago, colleges clattered with the sound of typewriters.