Leadership dramas. Controversies big and small that smoldered for months or burned brightly and vanished in a flash. Failing colleges. And the game of bingo.
Those are just a few of the themes that The Chronicle’s individual subscribers read about the most in 2017. Your top reads covered breaking news (hello, tax reform), provocative essays (do the humanities survive on exploitation?), and the just-plain bizarre (farewell, Yale Yelp dean).
Want to catch up on those great stories and others? Herewith, you’ll find a list of the top 15 most-visited stories by individual subscribers. Happy reading.
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Leadership & Governance
A Warning, a Crusade, and a Public Reckoning at the U. of Florida
A lawyer’s requests for records provide a rare look at the inner workings of a top public-research university. It’s not pretty. -
The Review
Eyewitness to a Title IX Witch Trial
Northwestern University’s prosecution of Peter Ludlow was a purification ritual dressed up as a civilized hearing. -
News
How One Leader Set a Toxic Tone, Spurning Allies She Needed Most
Shirley Ann Jackson, Rensselaer Polytechnic’s leader, has presided over the demoralization of a fund-raising office that is critical to the realization of her grand vision. -
Government
Passage of Senate Tax-Reform Bill Leaves Colleges Scrambling
As lawmakers prepare to hash out the differences in bills passed by both chambers of Congress, here’s what each would mean for higher ed. -
News
Here Are the Programs That Failed the Gainful-Employment Rule
High-profile institutions with programs that ran afoul of the Education Department’s new regulation include Harvard University, the Johns Hopkins University, and the University of Southern California. -
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News
177 Private Colleges Fail Education Dept.’s Financial-Responsibility Test
The number — for the 2014-15 academic year, the latest available — reflects a rise of 18 since the previous year. -
News
Fill Out This Bingo Card During Your First Faculty Meeting of the Year
Two years ago, McSweeney’s delighted higher ed with a “First Faculty Meeting of the Year Bingo” card. We’ve updated it. -
News
An Instructor Saw Digital Distraction in Class. So She Showed Students What She’d Seen on Their Screens.
A graduate student at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor cataloged every instance of students getting distracted in class, and then presented her findings to them. -
Faculty
How a Campus Fight Drove 2 Left-Leaning Professors to Fox News
For months Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying had worried that Evergreen State College was spiraling out of control. When Tucker Carlson’s producer came calling, they were “horrified” by the decision they faced. -
News
Should Alice Goffman’s Work Cost Her a Faculty Position?
A group of students and alumni of Pomona College, which named her a visiting professor, argues that it should. Scholars and administrators say that demand treads on dangerous territory. -
From the Archives
Behind Ugly Locker-Room Talk, Divisions of Class and Race
An ugly episode of locker-room talk at Amherst College exposes deeper divisions of class and race.